Bus History in Playthings

A look at how buses were viewed by their toys

Interesting how opinions end up getting passed via the toys people play with.

While the bus he saw probably was waiting for its new paint job, the paint job now on the buses is quite shadowy. I know they're trying to look striking in thier almost-invisible depiction of the Greyhound, but it almost looks like they're trying to disappear the image itself, as if they're embarassed to say they haul people around.

Maybe that would make sense, as they've been removing themselves from large parts of America. Already there's three states fully abandoned, four states mostly abandoned and probably another couple states Greyhound probably wishes they could abandon but are stuck with serving. How long before Greyhound becomes known as a Nationwide service only in reputation, a scattered service area and a couple of connections across the plains and mountains?

Two routes I remember fondly, having traveled over them -- I-80 through Pennsylvania and the DC-Cleveland-Detroit route -- no longer exist as such. There go two direct connections which probably added a number of rides over the years; and all because a company wishes to squeeze out another dime of profit from what remains before another round of cuts is needed.

How bad is it? Already some cities have decided to cast Greyhound out, knowing other companies (or their mass-transit authority) could do better service (or that no service is better than shitty service funded by them). Think I'm joking: Look at some of the notes near the bottom.

Again, I must ask: how long before Greyhound declares bankruptcy -- and to the cheers of the nation?