Go Greyhound Bus!

Image Credit: http://greyhoundhistory.com/

When was the last time you took a bus ride to travel across the Americas? How many of you traveled by commercial motorcoach services like Greyhound or Trailways bus systems? While driving down the interstate last week, we rode past a Greyhound bus, and a flood of memories came back as I reminisced about riding the bus home during my freshman and sophomore years in college.

According to Wikipedia, Greyhound Lines, Inc., usually shortened to Greyhound, is an intercity bus common carrier serving over 3,800 destinations across the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The company's first route began in Hibbing, Minnesota in 1914, and the company adopted the name The Greyhound Corporation in 1929. Since October 2007, Greyhound has been a subsidiary of Scottish transportation company FirstGroup, but continues to be based in Dallas, Texas, where it has been headquartered since 1987. Greyhound and sister companies in FirstGroup America are the largest motorcoach operators in the US and Canada.

Along with its flagship Greyhound brand, the company also jointly operates BoltBus, the NeOn bus service and YO! Bus with other carriers. In the late 1990s, Greyhound Lines acquired two more members of the National Trailways Bus System. The company purchased Carolina Trailways in 1997, followed by the intercity operations of Southeastern Trailways in 1998. Following the acquisitions, most of the remaining members of the Trailways System began interlining cooperatively with Greyhound, discontinued their scheduled route services, diversified into charters and tours, or went out of business altogether.

On September 3, 1997, Burlington, Ontario-based transportation conglomerate Laidlaw Inc. announced it would buy Greyhound Canada Transportation ULC (Greyhound's Canadian operations) for $72 million (USD). Greyhound operates 123 routes serving over 3,800 destinations in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Greyhound's scheduled services compete with the private automobile, low-cost airlines, Amtrak, and other intercity coach companies.

And as the old slogan that started in 1956 goes, "Go Greyhound and leave the driving to us!"