Greyhound: 260 Stops, 150 Jobs Out

Greyhound Lines Inc. will stop bus service to many small towns between Chicago and Seattle to cut costs and focus on its most profitable routes.

The company announced Friday it would close 260 stops, leaving 99 in its 13-state northern region effective Aug. 18.

Greyhound will make similar changes in other regions over the next two to three years, said chief executive Stephen E. Gorman.

Gorman said Greyhound would also shift some service from long trips to routes of 450 miles or less, which account for about three-fourths of its customers. He said customers would see more frequent service on peak daytime and weekend times on those shorter routes.

The changes will result in about 150 layoffs and the elimination of about 100 buses from the company's fleet, Gorman said. He declined to say how much the company expected to save.

The cutbacks will affect service in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. Isolated routes in a few other states also will be affected, Greyhound said.

The changes were in the works for nearly a year. Greyhound tried to stabilize its business by increasing prices on longer trips, canceling an order for 200 buses, and cutting about 20 percent of its management and supervisory employees.

"Starting in the summer of 2001, Greyhound started seeing a decline, particularly in the long haul," Gorman said. "That decline accelerated after Sept. 11 (2001), and we needed to cut overhead."

The downturn in travel coincided with a dramatic increase in insurance and security costs for airlines, train and bus lines, adding to Greyhound's troubles.

Dallas-based Greyhound is a subsidiary of Laidlaw International Inc. of Naperville, Ill.

The impact of Greyhound's move will be felt in towns such as North Bend, Wash., home of the cafe where Agent Cooper bought his cherry pie on "Twin Peaks."

Th eatery has also been known to North Bend residents as the restaurant around the corner from the Greyhound bus stop.

Those days will end Aug. 18, when North Bend is among the places losing its Greyhound service.

Kyle Twede, owner of Twede's, formerly called the Mar-T Cafe and known on David Lynch's TV series as the "Double R Diner," said the restaurant was the actual Greyhound stop, but now riders have to wait nearby for the bus.

"I remember years ago when I was a Greyhound bus rider, I rode across the country. It was fun to stop in the little towns and go to cafes," Twede said.

He estimated that Greyhound picks up five or six people a week from North Bend.

"It's nice having a bus come through town," Twede said, adding it's too bad the town will be losing this part of its history.