Greyhound Lines

Greyhound Lines

Greyhound Lines #8879, a Prevost Le Mirage XL, in the new blue-and-silver livery, departs New York City on Schedule 8535.
Parent	FirstGroup
Founded	1914 by Carl Wickman
Headquarters	Dallas, Texas
Service area	United States  Canada  Mexico
Service type	Intercity coach service
Routes	130 regular routes 1 NeOn route
Destinations	3,700+
Stations	2,400+
Fleet	MCI MC-12, 102D(L)3, G4500 Prevost X3-45, Van Hool C2045L
Chief executive	David Leach
Web site	Greyhound Lines

Greyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, USA, is an intercity common carrier of passengers by bus serving over 3,700 destinations in the United States, Canada and Mexico, operating under the well-known logo of a leaping greyhound. It was founded in Hibbing, Minnesota, USA, in 1914 and incorporated as "Greyhound Corporation" in 1929. Today, it is headquartered at 350 North St. Paul Street in Downtown Dallas, Texas,^[1] and under the ownership of Scottish transport firm FirstGroup, which operates Greyhound as an independent subsidiary, and a division of FirstGroup America.

History

Former logo of Greyhound Lines.

Early years

Carl Wickman was born in Sweden in 1887. In 1905 he moved to the United States where he was working in a mine as a drill operator in Alice, Minnesota until he was laid off in 1914. In the same year, he became a Hupmobile salesman in Hibbing, Minnesota.^[2] He proved unable to sell the car. In 1914, using his remaining vehicle, a 7-passenger car,^[3] began a bus service with Andy (Bus Andy) Anderson in where he transported iron ore miners from Hibbing to Alice (known for its saloons)^[3] at 15 cents a ride.^[4]

In 1915, Wickman joined forces with Ralph Bogan, who was running a similar service from Hibbing to Duluth. The name of the new organization was the Mesaba Transportation Company, and it made $8,000 in profit in its first year.

By the end of World War I Wickman owned 18 buses, and was making an annual profit of $40,000. In 1922, Wickman joined forces with Orville Caesar, the owner of the Superior White Bus Lines. Four years later, Wickman reached an agreement with two West Coast operations, the Pickwick Lines and the Pioneer Yelloway System.

In 1926, Wickman's bus operations became known as the Greyhound Lines. Ed Stone, who set up a new addition from Superior to Wausau, Wisconsin - during his inaugural run, passing through a small northern Wisconsin town saw the reflection of the '20s era bus in a store window - it reminded him of a greyhound dog and he renamed that segment of the "Bluegoose Lines", as the Wickman lines were known - later the entire system became Greyhound. Stone later became General Sales Manager of GM's Yellow Truck and Coach division, which built Greyhound buses. (At the Greyhound Bus Museum in Hibbing, a plaque displays this information.) Wickman, who was president of the company, continued to expand it, and by 1927 his buses were making transcontinental trips from California to New York. In 1928, Greyhound had gross annual income of US$6 million.^[3]

Wickman's business suffered during the Great Depression, and by 1931 was over $1 million in debt. However, with the improvement in the economy, the Greyhound Corporation began to prosper again. In 1935, Wickman was able to announce record profits of $8 million. By the outbreak of World War II the company had 4,750 stations and nearly 10,000 employees.

Wickman retired as president of Greyhound Corporation in 1946, and was replaced by his long-time partner, Orville Caesar. Carl Wickman died at the age of sixty-seven in 1954.

Postwar expansion and diversification

A Greyhound GMC PD-3751 "Silversides" the 1950s livery.

An ole GMC PD4106, ready for boarding in Salem, Oregon for a trip north on new Interstate 5 in Autumn 1965.

After World War II, and the building of the Interstate Highway System beginning in 1956, automobile ownership and travel became a preferred mode of travel in the United States. Along with a similar downward trend in public transportation in general, ridership on Greyhound and Trailways bus routes began a long decline.

For many young people from Europe, Greyhound was the way they got to know America because of a special unlimited mileage offer: "99 days for $99" or, in other words, a dollar a day, anytime, anyplace, and anywhere. However, young African-Americans faced segregated buses and facilities in the South, as well as intolerant bus drivers. Prior to the Civil Rights reforms of the sixties, black passengers were often forced to give up their seats to white riders and stand by until a seat became available in the back of the bus. In 1961, Freedom Riders boarded Greyhound and Trailways buses to test court-ordered desegregation of buses, trains and planes, because previous Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) rulings and Presidential mandates to integrate interstate travel had been largely ignored by southern carriers. Black and white integration activists faced persecution and violence, and buses which attempted to conform to the new rulings were, in some cases, burned by pro-segregationist mobs.

Greyhound leadership saw the trend, and began significant changes including using the profitable bus operations to invest in other industries. By the 1970s, Greyhound had moved its headquarters to Phoenix, Arizona, and was a large and diversified company, with holdings in everything from the Armour meat-packing company (which in turn owned the popular Dial deodorant soap brand), acquired in 1970; Traveller's Express money orders, MCI bus manufacturing company, and even airliner leasing. Indeed, Greyhound had entered a time of great change, even beginning to hire African American and female drivers in the late seventies.^[5]

Greyhound established the Premier Cruise Line in 1983. It would last until 2000, and at one time billed itself as the "Official Cruise Line of Walt Disney World".

In late 1984, Greyhound had a major driver's strike, typified as bitter, with one fatality in Zanesville, Ohio. By the time contract negotiations were due again, three years later, the bus line had been spun off from the parent company to new owners. This resulted in Greyhound Lines becoming solely a bus transportation company headed by Fred Currey, a former executive with the largest member of the National Trailways Bus System. Greyhound's corporate headquarters then relocated to Dallas, Texas. The old parent changed its name to the Dial Corporation.

Spin-off from Dial Corporation

Greyhound MCI MC-12 Americruiser #2119 in Indiana, summer 2003.

Greyhound station in Columbia, South Carolina, built in 1938-1939 and shot here in November 1986. Greyhound stopped using it the next year.

Under new ownership in 1987, led by Currey, Greyhound Lines acquired Trailways, Inc. in June of that year (formerly Continental Trailways), the largest member of the rival National Trailways Bus System, effectively consolidating national bus service. Greyhound was required by the ICC in their action approving the merger, to maintain coordinated schedules with other scheduled service operators in the U.S.

Three years later there was another costly strike beginning in March 1990. It was during that strike, combined with the loss of diversification and strength of the former parent company, and labor-law violations, that caused Greyhound to file for bankruptcy in June 1990. This strike was as bitter as the strike of the 1980s with violence against both strikers and their replacement workers, with one striker in California killed by a Greyhound bus hired by a strikebreaker.^[6] At the same time, Greyhound had to contend with the rise of low-cost airlines like Southwest Airlines, which reduced further the market for long-distance inter-city bus transportation. The strike would not be settled for 38 months, under terms favorable to Greyhound, as while the National Labor Relations Board had awarded damages for unfair labor practices to the strikers, this liability was discharged during bankruptcy reorganization.^[6][7]

In 1997, Greyhound Lines acquired Carolina Trailways, one of the largest members of the National Trailways Bus System. Following the acquisition, most of the other independent members of the Trailways System began interlining cooperatively with Greyhound, discontinued their regular route services, diversified into charters and tours or went out of business.

Laidlaw ownership and reorganization of the route network

A Greyhound MCI G4500 in the early 2000s livery.

In 1999, Burlington, Ontario-based transportation conglomerate Laidlaw Inc. acquired Greyhound Lines, Inc. (U.S. operations) including Carolina Trailways and other Greyhound affiliates. It had previously acquired Greyhound Canada.

After incurring heavy losses through its investments in Greyhound Lines and other parts of its diversified business, Laidlaw Inc. filed for protection under both U.S. and Canadian Bankruptcy laws in June 2001 .

Naperville, Illinois-based Laidlaw International, Inc. listed its common shares on the New York Stock Exchange (Ticker: LI), on February 10, 2003, and emerged from re-organization on June 23, 2003, as the successor to Laidlaw Inc. In the wake of this bankruptcy filing, Greyhound would exit a number of areas, particularly rural areas, turning routes in those areas over to local operators (often with government subsidies), particularly in the Plains states^[8], parts of the upper Midwest such as Wisconsin, and the Pacific Northwest.^[9] During these route changes in 2004 and 2005, a number of routes were eliminated altogether, most notably the Interstate 90 route between Chicago and Seattle.^[10][11]

FirstGroup ownership

A Greyhound MCI 102DL3 in the Western United States. The latest branding has not yet been introduced outside of the Northeast.

On February 7, 2007, FirstGroup plc of Aberdeen, Scotland, agreed to purchase Laidlaw International for US$3.6 billion (£1.9 billion). The deal closed on September 30, 2007.^[12] The Greyhound name has been retained by FirstGroup; the brands of its subsidiaries, however, are not being retained and will disappear as buses are retired.^[13]

Under the ownership of FirstGroup, other concerns have also been addressed. Greyhound had come under criticism for its bus assignment practices. Although bus tickets have times and dates printed on them, seating is not guaranteed, and is first-come, first-served. Greyhound will add additional "sections" (buses) in periods of high demand, but the threshold required to trigger an additional section varies. Passengers may have to wait for the next bus departure time.^[14] Shortly after the sale to FirstGroup closed, Greyhound began a program in select markets, most notably in the northeastern United States, where riders could reserve a seat for an additional $5. However, the $5 fee would have to be paid at the terminal, even if the ticket was bought online, and only a limited number of seats could be reserved.^[15]

Also under First ownership, Greyhound has sought to improve its image, spending $60 million to refurbish many terminals, add new buses, and staff terminals with associates who are able to help those who have questions about the bus system. Greyhound is initiating an advertising campaign with Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners aimed at attracting 18-24 year olds and Hispanics.^[16] As a result, after the FirstGroup acquisition, Greyhound began advertising as "The New Greyhound".

The "New Greyhound" also saw the introduction of a new livery with a navy blue and dark gray base (such as #8879 at the top of the article), with no white in the livery, which is currently in use on the Prevost fleet originating from New York City on routes to Toronto, Montreal, Boston, and Washington, D.C. (and in Canada within the province of Ontario), and which will be introduced in the rest of the United States in the future. In addition, the service, now marketed as Greyhound, Brought to You by First, saw a change in the logo for Greyhound. Buses in the new livery, like those in BoltBus service also in the Northeast, are also equipped with Wi-Fi, power outlets, and larger seat pitches, which reduce the seat count to 51, like buses in BoltBus service, making the paint the only material difference between those buses.

In 2009, the Greyhound brand along with the new livery introduced out of New York was exported to the United Kingdom, with parent FirstGroup to use the Greyhound nameplate for services designed to compete against its primary competitors in the British intercity bus travel market, National Express and Stagecoach's Megabus, with the first routes there operating from London to Southampton and Portsmouth.^[17]

Partnership and competition

Greyhound's scheduled services compete with the private automobile, low-cost airlines and other intercity coach companies. Greyhound is one of the major operators of Amtrak's Thruway Motorcoach service even though the two are competitors in some markets. The service compensates for lost intercity rail service in many instances and provides access to locations away from Amtrak's rail lines. In some cases the added convenience of through-ticketing is available for connecting passengers.

Discount services

Since the purchase of Greyhound Lines by FirstGroup, Greyhound has initiated two discount bus services, both radiating from New York City and servicing major cities in the northeastern United States, both of which began operations in 2008 and are operated in conjunction with other traditional operators. These services are designed to compete with Chinatown bus carriers, and more directly with Megabus. Both services offer Wi-Fi and outlets into which equipment can be plugged at every seat. Each service is offered in conjunction with another local bus carrier.

NeOn branding

NeOn

On May 29, 2008, a service based on the Megabus model used in the United Kingdom and United States and also the BoltBus service used by Greyhound in the US, was initiated to and from Toronto in association with Trailways of New York, operating between street stops at Penn Station in Manhattan and the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. The service was originally designed to attract a new demographic of traveler who had long ago stopped taking intercity buses but who had grown comfortable with the low cost and convenience of the Chinatown bus services in the northeastern US. NeOn was initially set up to directly compete with the Megabus M24 and M26 routes operating twice daily between New York and Toronto making very few stops (Buffalo twice-daily, and to Syracuse once-daily).

Poor performance led Greyhound to make adjustments to the service until the NeOn name became purely superficial, a marketing name for what was otherwise the exact same intercity local bus service that had always existed. Many departure times are now available as a result, though travel times have increased considerably. A "NeOn" bus will often physically be a New York Trailways bus, albeit with Wifi, making stops in, for example, Scranton, Binghamton, Ithaca, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo Airport, Buffalo, Customs/Border, Fort Erie, St. Catharines, Mississauga and finally Toronto. The name NeOn is now even used on completely different routes such as to Plattsburgh and Montreal, further reducing the brand differentiation. Many runs also terminate at the Trailways gates at the Port Authority rather than the former streetside drop off at Penn Station. With the loss of more direct, customized travel has come a reversion to the more traditional demographic of local bus traveler, the very sort of traveler that NeOn was supposed to grow beyond.

The service continues to be a joint operation between sister companies Greyhound Lines and Greyhound Canada, and Trailways of New York, the major inter-city bus carrier within most of New York State.

BoltBus

In March 2008, Greyhound announced a new service titled BoltBus into the Boston-NYC-DC megalopolis, modeled on the Megabus system in use at the time in Chicago metropolitan area and in the United Kingdom, offering fares as low as $1 USD, with lowest fares depending on how far in advance a trip is booked and demand for the trip, with fares increasing for trips booked closer to departure. On each trip, one seat is sold for $1, with prices increasing up to a maximum of $25 for a one way trip.^[18] The service began on March 27, 2008, with a New York City-Washington, D.C. route, with service to Boston and Philadelphia following soon after. Offered in partnership with Peter Pan Bus Lines, it (along with NeOn described above, offered in conjunction with Trailways of New York) competes directly with Coach USA's own discount express bus service, Megabus.

At the time of its introduction, the BoltBus fleet had features not on mainline Greyhound buses. Greyhound buses in the Northeast United States that are painted navy blue have been reformatted to match the BoltBus fleet (except for the paint).

Notable incidents and accidents

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Inside a Greyhound Lines station in Nashville, Tennessee during the morning of 24 May 2010.

Below is a list of major incidents and accidents on Greyhound buses and buses of subsidiaries in the United States.

• August 4, 1952: In Greyhound's deadliest accident, two Greyhound buses collided head-on along the then-U.S. Route 81 near Waco, Texas. The fuel tanks of both buses then ruptured, bursting into flames. Of the 56 persons aboard both coaches, 28 were killed, including both drivers.^[19][20]
• December 21, 1959: A cattle truck collided head-on with a Greyhound bus on then-U.S. Route 80 east of Tucson, Arizona. Nine people died, including the cattle truck driver, as well as most of the cattle that were killed on impact or injured and had to be put down by Arizona Highway Patrolmen.^[20]
• August 28, 1965: A timber truck rammed head-on into a stopped Greyhound Scenicruiser near Vinton, Louisiana along US 90 while the truck was attempting to pass a car. Eleven people on the Greyhound bus died.^[19]
• May 13, 1972: In Bean Station, Tennessee, a Greyhound Scenicruiser hit a tractor-trailer head on. Fifteen people on the bus were killed, including the driver.
• May 9, 1980: A freight ship collided with the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, resulting in several vehicles including a Greyhound bus falling into Tampa Bay. All 26 people on the bus perished, along with nine others. This is the largest loss of life on a single Greyhound coach to date.
• October 3, 2001: At approximately 4:15 a.m. local time, a passenger, Damir Igric attacked the driver of his bus, attempting to slit his throat, and causing the bus to crash near Manchester, Tennessee, killing Igric and five other passengers and injuring 32 others. As the incident occurred weeks after the September 11 terrorist attacks, Greyhound shut down its entire system as soon as the company learned of the incident for fear that it may have been part of a larger co-ordinated attack. After investigation by the company and the FBI, it was confirmed that Igric had acted alone, and service resumed later that afternoon.^[21] After the incident, Greyhound bus stations increased security, though not nearly to the same level as airports or train stations.
• September 30, 2002: Arturo Martinez Tapia attacked another Greyhound driver near Fresno, California, resulting in two passenger deaths after the bus then rolled off an embankment and crashed.^[22] Following this attack, driver shields were installed on most Greyhound buses that now prevent passengers from directly touching the driver while the bus is in motion, even if the shield is forced open. On buses without the shield, the seats behind the driver are normally off-limits.^[23]
• November 27, 2005: At approximately 7:10 a.m. local time, a Greyhound bus traveling from Los Angeles to San Francisco crashed near Santa Maria, killing two people, one of whom was a 7-month-pregnant woman. While the cause remains unknown, at the time of the crash, driver fatigue was suspected.^[24] Later, an epileptic seizure was cited as a possible cause.^[25]
• August 28, 2006: At approximately 6:45 p.m. local time, a Greyhound bus traveling from New York City to Montreal overturned on the Adirondack Northway in Westport, New York after suffering a blown tire, killing five and injuring 48.^[26]
• July 3, 2007- ^[27] Around 10:45 AM EST a Greyhound bus headed to Baltimore from New York caught fire. All 48 passengers were evacuated safely.
• January 2, 2008: A Greyhound bus traveling from Richmond to Raleigh rear-ended a tractor trailer on U.S. Route 1 in Henderson, North Carolina that had slowed to make a turn. At least 50 people were injured.^[28]
• February 24, 2008 - A Greyhound coach with at least 50 passengers aboard crashed and rolled over in the early morning hours on the median of Interstate 380 near Scranton, Pennsylvania. Forty-one passengers were injured, two seriously.^[29]
• March 16, 2010 - An Americanos-branded Greyhound coach traveling to from San Antonio, Texas to Matamoros, Tamaulipas suffered a broken drive shaft along Interstate 37 in Atascosa County, Texas; the drive shaft fell off the bus, causing it to flip over, killing 2 and injuring 40.^[30]
• May 6, 2010 - A Greyhound bus from Bangor, Maine bound for Boston and New York was stopped in Portsmouth, New Hampshire at 11:15 am after a passenger called 911 to report a suspicious device on board. 16 of the 17 passengers exited the bus about two hours after its arrival, the 17th passenger refused to get off and a nine hour standoff ensued. The standoff ended peacefully just after 8:30 pm. Another bus was sent from Boston to the Portsmouth police department to continue the trip for the other passengers.^[31]
• June 3, 2010 - A female passenger on a bus traveling northbound along Interstate 71 north of Cincinnati told the driver there was a bomb on the bus. The driver pulled over and evacuated the bus. No bomb was found and the woman was arrested.^[32]
• July 22, 2010 - A Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma (TNM&O)-branded Greyhound coach, operating Schedule #6888 from Los Angeles to Sacramento, hit an overturned SUV on California State Route 99 in Fresno near Exit 135B and slammed into a tree just past the exit, killing the driver and two passengers, and injuring 33. Three passengers in the SUV also perished.^[33]

Security

Inside a Greyhound station in St. Louis, Missouri on the afternoon of 26 May 2010. A bus in the background is on its way to pick up passengers in another gate at this bus station to Los Angeles, California.

Increasingly, concern has been given to bus security. As a result of the September 11, 2001 attacks, train and airplane security have been substantially increased, but the same increase has not been provided to bus security. Baggage is not inspected, nor is identification checked. Greyhound says that metal detector wands have been deployed on buses, but they do not appear to be routinely used.^[34]

Greyhound announced in a press conference in 2007 that a pilot program to test various security measures would be implemented at select stations and on select coaches starting later in the year. Some of the stations included in this project, are in Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, and St. Louis. Measures may include:

• Requiring photo ID to be displayed by all adult passengers prior to boarding. Minors, in accordance with Greyhound's policy, must either be accompanied by a parent or a legal guardian, or obtain permission to travel from one ^[35], and when unaccompanied, have restrictions on traveling.
• In the United States, passengers who are not citizens will be screened to determine the legality of their presence within the country's borders. Also, some may be checked for outstanding felony warrants, and boarding may be denied to those who fit into one of these categories.
• Passengers may have their luggage visually searched. Devices similar to those used at airports may be used to check passengers and luggage prior to boarding buses for various banned items, including firearms, explosives, or other hazardous materials.
• On all newer coaches, operators are shielded from passengers while the coach is in motion. A gate prevents passengers from entering the driver's area. Though the gate does not prevent an emergency exit, it will continue to shield the driver if opened by a passenger while the coach is in motion. Shields were installed after two attacks on drivers in the early 2000s. In the absence of a driver shield, passengers are normally not permitted to occupy the seats behind the operator.^[23]
• Installing video surveillance on coaches and at stations.
• Installing GPS tracking devices on select coaches. In addition to providing emergency location of the vehicle, this may also alert supervisors of unsafe driving behavior on part of the operator, including speeding.
• Operators, at their own discretion, now reserve the right to prohibit or limit the use of cell phones while the coach is in motion.
• Greyhound already prohibits taking photographs, videotaping, or audiotaping while on board its own coaches or within its own stations.^[36]

Customer Service Issues

Greyhound Community Reflections Mural Program

"The Heart of Tex Mex," a mural that is a part of the Greyhound Community Reflections Mural Program - It is located in the Austin Greyhound Station in Austin, Texas

Greyhound Lines and the National Council for La Raza (NCLR) sponsor the Greyhound Community Reflections Mural Program, in which it has Latino American student artists paint murals reflecting the contributions of Latino Americans that are posted in Greyhound Stations across the United States.^[37] The bus line has had three painted in Texas by 2003.^[38]

Fleet

• Motor Coach Industries 102D(W)3
• Motor Coach Industries 102DL(W)3
• Motor Coach Industries MC-12
• Motor Coach Industries D4500
• Motor Coach Industries D4505 (Cruceros only)
• Motor Coach Industries G4500
• Prevost Car X3-45 (northeastern United States)
• Setra S217HDH (on lease)
• Van Hool C2045 (Michigan DOT and TMN&O only)

Past coaches with nicknames

Greyhound ticket kiosk in the Houston Station in Midtown Houston, Texas

• General Motors PD-4501-Scenicruiser
• MC 5A
• Motor Coach Industries MC 6 Supercruiser
• Motor Coach Industries MC 7 Scenicruiser Super 7
• Motor Coach Industries MC 8 Americruiser (aka Crusader)
• Motor Coach Industries MC 9 Americruiser II (aka Crusader II)

Later models such as the A series and the MC-12 bore only the Americruiser name. MCI D and G series, Prevost, and Van Hool coaches coaches do not carry nicknames. Greyhound also operated Eagles, which were usually thought of by the riding public as part of Trailways fleets. Whether Greyhound still operates them is unknown, but seems unlikely. Photos show Eagles with Greyhound paint schemes,^[39][40] a Trailways paint scheme with a dog logo,^{[41][42][43][44]} and a Trailways paint scheme with what is probably Greyhound legal lettering.^[45] Foreign examples are for Australia^[46] and apparently Costa Rica.^[47]

See also

• BoltBus
• Southeastern Greyhound Lines
• Capitol Greyhound Lines
• Dixie Greyhound Lines
• Teche Greyhound Lines
• Great Lakes Greyhound Lines
• Greyhound Mexico
• Florida Greyhound Lines
• Atlantic Greyhound Lines
• Tennessee Coach Company -- an independent carrier which cooperated with Atlantic GL and Southeastern GL (1928–56)
• Greyhound Bus Museum
• Peter Pan Bus Lines– interline partner in the northeastern United States
• Trailways Transportation System
• Greyhound Air– Defunct low-cost airline in Canada
• Greyhound Australia
• Greyhound Canada– related carrier
• First Avenue, a nightclub that currently operates out of a former Greyhound Bus Terminal in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
• BusJunction, a bus ticket search engine that includes Greyhound tickets
• The Simple Life: Interns
• Intercity bus driver

References

Bibliography and further reading

• Schisgall, Oscar (1985). The Greyhound Story: From Hibbing to everywhere. Chicago: J.G. Ferguson Publishing Company (Doubleday). ISBN 0-385-19690-3.
• Margolis, Richard J., "Sic paratransit gloria omnibus. (decline of rural bus service by Greyhound has led to services provided by vans and minibuses)", The New Leader, June 3, 1985.

External links

• Greyhound Lines home page
• Greyhound lines, non-flash homepage
• Greyhound Canada
• Greyhound Mexico
• Greyhound UK
• Greyhound Lines timetable
• Bluehounds and Redhounds, the histories of Greyhound and Trailways

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