Hello Nature and Nature Shuttle | Small buses to nature

A little hike in Lanaudière would be nice. And the lack of a car won’t stop us. There are shuttle services that allow those who don’t have a car, or who don’t want to drive, or who want to reduce their ecological footprint to access very beautiful parks.

Bonjour Nature specializes in destinations in Lanaudière, while Navette Nature targets the Laurentians, Montérégie, Estrie, Mauricie, and even the major parks of Montreal. In both cases, it’s simple: book online, show up at the meeting point, and off you go, into the great outdoors.

Bonjour Nature began offering excursions at the end of 2018.

“This had been a topic of discussion in the tourism community in the region for a long time, especially in Mattawinie,” explains Marylou Pelletier, coordinator of Bonjour Nature. “A lot of businesses mentioned the lack of accessibility to their attractions and accommodations. At one point, the MRC, Tourisme Lanaudière and a few major players said they had talked enough, that they were going to put a solution in place, and that’s how the cooperative was born.”

The main product of this cooperative is day trips from Montreal.

The cooperative has started offering three-day stays. “We choose accommodations that have a lot of activities on site,” says M.^me Furrier.

Thanks to financial assistance from Tourisme Lanaudière, the cost of transportation is reasonable.

“The Lanaudière en bus program is an incentive program to encourage the use of public transportation,” explains M^me Pelletier: Agencies like us can submit activities with collective transportation to Tourisme Lanaudière. If the products are accepted, it allows us to apply a 25% discount. It’s really a great offer.”

Bonjour Nature’s clientele is divided roughly equally between Montrealers and international travelers passing through Montreal.

“These travelers might not have had the chance to leave the city during their stay,” notes Marylou Pelletier.

Bonjour Nature does business with concierges at several hotels in Montreal, with youth hostels, in addition to listing its activities on resale sites such as GetYourGuide, Viator and Manawa.

For its part, Navette Nature offers a transportation service to parks located in several regions of Quebec. Simon Girard, involved for years in tourism in Mauricie, took over the small business founded by Catherine Lefebvre and Sarah Bernard-Lacaille after the forced pause of the pandemic.

“I had followed the development of Navette Nature, I knew what the mentality was behind it and I didn’t want to distort that,” says Mr. Girard.

One of the foundations of the service is its accessibility. To reduce costs, Navette Nature uses school buses for nearby destinations. For longer trips, it can use 40-seater buses or coaches.

Agreements with SEPAQ and the City of Montreal allow for reduced prices for visiting national parks and large Montreal parks.

At the beginning, the co-founders were mainly targeting a tourist clientele, only to realize that the need was also elsewhere, within the local population.

“The tourism side is perhaps 15 to 20% of our clientele,” says Mr. Girard. “Otherwise, we have a core of ultra-loyal customers since the beginning.”

After serving Montreal for years, Navette Nature began offering destinations from Quebec City. “There is a good pool of people who do not have vehicles and there are a lot of tourists. We tested the service last fall and the results were really excellent.”

Navette Nature arrived at a time when Quebec’s tourism industry was looking to relieve congestion in Old Quebec and offer tourists the opportunity to get out of the city and into nature.

“We are entering a timing “It’s a strategically interesting thing,” says Mr. Girard.

In Quebec, the clientele is made up of approximately one third local residents, one third tourists and one third students.

Navette Nature is considering the idea of ​​a service in other regions, but this is a very long-term project, which will have to be done in partnership with local public transport.

“We don’t have a recipe yet, it’s a work in progress,” concludes Simon Girard.

Visit the Bonjour Nature website

Visit the Navette Nature website