Russell S Official National Motor Coach Guide

This report presents results of research conducted under Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Project B-21, "Effective Approaches to Meeting Rural Intercity Bus Transportation Needs." The project identified strategies for initiating, preserving, and enhancing effective rural intercity bus transportation. To identify recent projects and to identify barriers or issues affecting implementation, the research effort included surveys of state rural transit program managers, state rail program managers, and intercity bus carriers. The report includes three parts. Part I contains a review of recent developments affecting the intercity bus industry, an overview of potential funding sources, and a review of barriers to implementation of rural intercity projects. Part II provides strategies for rural intercity service improvements, including methods of identifying intercity carriers and services, planning, program development, operating assistance, capital assistance, marketing assistance, and combining approaches. Each strategy is described, and implementation examples are presented. Part III presents 50 project descriptions based on additional survey interviews with project contacts.

The bus system that came to be known as the Greyhound Bus Company was founded by Carl Eric Wickman, an enterprising Swede of Hibbing, Minnesota. The first bus was a seven-passenger Hupmobile touring car that was used to transport miners across the Mesaba Iron Range to and from work. Wickman was soon joined by another Swede, Andrew Anderson, and they began operating in earnest the route from a saloon in Hibbing to the fire-hall in Alice. From this lowly beginning grew the Greyhound Corporation, a multi-million dollar company which, through the years, has owned everything from a chain of hamburger restaurants to a soap company.