frequentflyer
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https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/30/business/greyhound-firstgroup/index.html
Will be interesting to see if there is any interest.
Will be interesting to see if there is any interest.
While a national bus service is important, the Greyhound mode of transportation seems to cater to the low end audience traveling on a budget. Nothing was done to update and upgrade the service to make it more comfortable and attractive. As a result, only the people that must use bus service with few alternatives take it. If Greyhound does go belly up will this open the door for expanded passenger train service? Where will their customers go?
As I've said before: In this country, if you're physically and financially blessed with the ability and the means to own and operate a motor vehicle, all of North America is your oyster. But if not, then you're not even a third class citizen.
"Coast Capital said in a statement Thursday that it has "no confidence in the ability of the current board to deliver the changes needed to best effect, as there is precious little expertise in surface transport among the current lineup, especially in a US context.""
Above quoted from that linked story...
I would say that is an understatement...I am underwhelmed by the way the current management has let the once standard bus line of the world, slip into the sorry state it is in today. To be fair, the time for a national bus network in North America has probably come and gone, but they have not adopted to the changing market, and maintained a service that would sell.
The pioneer's that founded that great American (and Canadian) institution are probably spinning in their graves as to what happened to their once proud company. I myself am proud to have served that company on a couple of occasion's in the past.
I would love it if some 'white knight' with deep pocket's, would come and resurrect it to its former glory, but realistically that is highly unlikely.
Indeed, if someone with the means to buy it does so, I am afraid they will 'milk' whatever assets they can glean, and then liquidate the rest...
Sadly, this is so true that one is often SOL for traveling, if they don't have access to a car. Especially if you want to travel to rural areas, there's much less of a likelihood you can travel there via bus, if the smaller city or town you want to visit isn't right off of an expressway. Granted there are some exceptions, i.e. the bus that goes up to Traverse City, MI, or the bus that goes up to Marquette, MI and Escanaba, MI.
Greyhound does serve a role in transportation in the US, so I'd hate to see them bite the dust. And on a side note, it's too bad that last year Greyhound cut most of their Canadian bus service, except in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia.
I rode the Greyhound once from Chicago to Escanaba Mi. and then Hitchhiked to Powers where my father picked me up and brought me the rest of the way to Iron Mountain Mi. An interesting part of the trip home from ROTC summer camp at Indiantown Gap Military Reservation.
Actually Greyhound made a number of improvements under (British) First Group control. However, their efforts were subverted by the corporate culture they inherited and public image that they inherited.While a national bus service is important, the Greyhound mode of transportation seems to cater to the low end audience traveling on a budget. Nothing was done to update and upgrade the service to make it more comfortable and attractive. As a result, only the people that must use bus service with few alternatives take it. If Greyhound does go belly up will this open the door for expanded passenger train service? Where will their customers go?
"I do wonder if in the pre-Amtrak days, if places like Escanaba, Marquette, and Iron Mountain ever had any sort of passenger rail service?"Just looked up the distance between those towns, and I'm impressed you walked that far(23 miles, per google maps) to get to Powers, MI! I do wonder if in the pre-Amtrak days, if places like Escanaba, Marquette, and Iron Mountain ever had any sort of passenger rail service? Even if for all I know, it was short lived?
On one occasion, c.1964, a friend and I missed the southbound evening train at Woodruff, so our friend drove us at high speed to Rhinelander. We were heartened by the fact that we beat the train to an overpass just W of Rhinelander, and indeed, we got to the station a few minutes before the train. We then enjoyed 2 days in Chicago, seeing classic Eisenstein movies at the fabled Chicago Theater and going to Ravinia Park to hear Beethoven's Ninth with the Chicago Symphony, before taking the overnight train back to our jobs at Region Seven Explorer Canoe Base in Boulder Jct., WI, just N of Woodruff."I do wonder if in the pre-Amtrak days, if places like Escanaba, Marquette, and Iron Mountain ever had any sort of passenger rail service?"
Yes indeed! The Northwestern ran two trains/day, as I recall, from Chicago to Rhinelander, Woodruff, and ending in Duluth/Superior, as of 1962. At least one had a dome car. On the southbound run, a perplexity was that the day train stopped for lunch for 20 minutes in Antigo, WI, as I recall, and then at the very next stop, the NW added a diner!
The Milwaukee Road also boasted a route map that still showed vestiges of ITS route, which also curved toward Ironwood, MI, and I think ended there. Certainly it did not get to Duluth/Superior. The map showed all the stops, and there were many, but no connecting line, because by 1962 it no longer ran.
I think Amtrak still runs a bus connecting Milwaukee to Green Bay and then all the way to Marquette, and if so, that probably parallels a train route prior to Amtrak.
Just looked up the distance between those towns, and I'm impressed you walked that far(23 miles, per google maps) to get to Powers, MI! I do wonder if in the pre-Amtrak days, if places like Escanaba, Marquette, and Iron Mountain ever had any sort of passenger rail service? Even if for all I know, it was short lived?
I didn’t walk, I hitch hiked. A family picked me up outside the bus terminal(I had my army duffle and didn’t even have my thumb out!). They asked me where I was going and said they’d take me to the outskirts of town where it would be easier to get a ride. They dropped me off and a Canadian couple, out for a Sunday drive, picked me up and took me all the way to Powers.
I don’t think that would happen today and I’m not sure how safe it would be for either the hitchhiker or driver!
On one occasion, c.1964, a friend and I missed the southbound evening train at Woodruff, so our friend drove us at high speed to Rhinelander. We were heartened by the fact that we beat the train to an overpass just W of Rhinelander, and indeed, we got to the station a few minutes before the train. We then enjoyed 2 days in Chicago, seeing classic Eisenstein movies at the fabled Chicago Theater and going to Ravinia Park to hear Beethoven's Ninth with the Chicago Symphony, before taking the overnight train back to our jobs at Region Seven Explorer Canoe Base in Boulder Jct., WI, just N of Woodruff.
On one occasion, c.1964, a friend and I missed the southbound evening train at Woodruff, so our friend drove us at high speed to Rhinelander. We were heartened by the fact that we beat the train to an overpass just W of Rhinelander, and indeed, we got to the station a few minutes before the train. We then enjoyed 2 days in Chicago, seeing classic Eisenstein movies at the fabled Chicago Theater and going to Ravinia Park to hear Beethoven's Ninth with the Chicago Symphony, before taking the overnight train back to our jobs at Region Seven Explorer Canoe Base in Boulder Jct., WI, just N of Woodruff.
"I do wonder if in the pre-Amtrak days, if places like Escanaba, Marquette, and Iron Mountain ever had any sort of passenger rail service?"
Yes indeed! The Northwestern ran two trains/day, as I recall, from Chicago to Rhinelander, Woodruff, and ending in Duluth/Superior, as of 1962. At least one had a dome car. On the southbound run, a perplexity was that the day train stopped for lunch for 20 minutes in Antigo, WI, as I recall, and then at the very next stop, the NW added a diner!
The Milwaukee Road also boasted a route map that still showed vestiges of ITS route, which also curved toward Ironwood, MI, and I think ended there. Certainly it did not get to Duluth/Superior. The map showed all the stops, and there were many, but no connecting line, because by 1962 it no longer ran.
I think Amtrak still runs a bus connecting Milwaukee to Green Bay and then all the way to Marquette, and if so, that probably parallels a train route prior to Amtrak.
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