# Thin grey (hound) line



## Willbridge (Jan 14, 2022)

With the January 12, 2022 timetable, the transcontinental Greyhound line segment between Denver and Kansas City is back down to one daily trip. It had been bumped up to two daily trips in November. What is more remarkable is that Kansas City<>St. Louis express service is down to that same daily trip. There is one other daily trip that covers Jefferson City and other intermediate points.

Until May 2018 three trips ran daily Denver<>Kansas City<>St. Louis. From then until the last pre-COVID schedule, two trips ran the daily Denver<>Kansas City<>St. Louis run and a third trip ran Kansas City<>St. Louis.

The "COVID" schedule was the one daily Denver<>Kansas City run, but with a second run Kansas City<>St. Louis. So, this likely makes the new schedule the least service since Yellow Parlor Coaches had the engines in front.

In vintage GL style, the lone express Kansas City<>St. Louis trip remaining is in the same time slots in both directions as the lone Amtrak train.

Passengers waiting in 2015 in the Denver Bus Center (since sold to a developer) for an overnight segment (that no longer exists) of the NYC>St. Louis>Denver>Las Vegas>Los Angeles transcontinental route.


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## penguinflies (Jan 14, 2022)

St. Louis -Chicago is also down to 1 direct at 1030am vs what use to be up to 3 directs competing with 2 megabuses.

With the withdrawal of the second mo river runner, did greyhound add a bus kc to stl?


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## Willbridge (Jan 14, 2022)

penguinflies said:


> St. Louis -Chicago is also down to 1 direct at 1030am vs what use to be up to 3 directs competing with 2 megabuses.
> 
> With the withdrawal of the second mo river runner, did greyhound add a bus kc to stl?


No, _they took off one of the two._ Back into the 1970's a cutback by potential competitors has triggered either inaction or a service reduction by Greyhound.


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## Willbridge (Jan 15, 2022)

Willbridge said:


> No, _they took off one of the two._ Back into the 1970's a cutback by potential competitors has triggered either inaction or a service reduction by Greyhound.



Just to explore this more, I pulled out my Aug 1974 _Official Bus Guide._ For the Greyhound segments we've covered in this thread:

DEN<>KCY = 4 daily
KCY<>STL = 3 daily Non-Stop Executive Coach
KCY<>STL = 4 daily Express
KCY<>STL = 3 daily Locals
STL<>CHI = 1 daily Bus Plus one-stop, reserved, hostess, snacks
STL<>CHI = 4 daily Non-Stop
STL<> CHI = 4 daily one or two-stop
STL<> CHI = 3 daily Locals
I didn't include some Locals that covered segments of these segments.

And then there was Continental Trailways:

DEN<>KCY = 2 daily via US36
KCY<>STL = 4 daily via Jefferson City
STL<>CHI = 2 daily Express
STL<>CHI = 3 daily Locals
Things that were going on at this time included the Energy Crisis pushing customers onto public transport, whether they wanted to or not. A lot of the Express trips were running in multiple sections. At the same time, the 55 mph speed limit was raising operating and equipment costs on Express and non-stop services. Amtrak was beginning to work as a national system but had little new to offer the public except for national marketing and reservations.

Here's the Colorado rest area on US36, route of the Trailways Thru Buses between Kansas City and Denver.


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## west point (Jan 16, 2022)

What has happened to all the drivers not needed? Retired. Furloughed. or quit? Any present number of drivers? We had a couple Greys that were marked training 2 or 3 months ago.


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## Willbridge (Jan 17, 2022)

west point said:


> What has happened to all the drivers not needed? Retired. Furloughed. or quit? Any present number of drivers? We had a couple Greys that were marked training 2 or 3 months ago.


They were advertising for drivers when things began to pick up in mid-year last. I haven't seen that lately. (RTD in Denver is paying hiring bonuses, but in the meantime often cancels trips due to the pre-COVID shortage compounded by the pandemic.)

The decline from about 1975 to 2020 was fairly steady, with the exception of their strike. During the strike they dropped a lot of stuff that they had picked up with Trailways and then when they got underway with strikebreakers, they forgot to restore those routes. When they settled with the union a lot of drivers had gone on to other jobs. There were other big regional cutbacks, but I think they had enough turnover to use short furloughs. In the West, furloughs in the period from mid-January to mid-March weren't uncommon.


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