bus line . for greyhound bus lines in other countries see greyhound disambiguation . greyhound lines greyhound lines prevost x3 45 in new york city in august 2009 slogan go greyhound and leave the driving to us parent firstgroup founded 1914 ; 102 years ago 1914 by carl wickman hibbing minnesota u.s. headquarters patriot tower 350 north saint paul street dallas texas u.s. service area united states canada and mexico service type intercity coach service alliance trailways jefferson lines indian trails peter pan bus lines and others routes 123 routes 1 includes greyhound express routes destinations 2 700 2 stations 230 company operated 2 fleet 1 229 motorcoaches 3 mostly mci 102dl3 g4500 d4505 and prevost x3 45 fuel type diesel chief executive david leach website www.greyhound.com greyhound lines inc. usually shortened to greyhound is an intercity bus common carrier serving over 3 800 destinations across north america . the company s first route began in hibbing minnesota in 1914 and the company adopted the name the greyhound corporation in 1929 . since october 2007 greyhound has been a subsidiary of scottish transportation company firstgroup but continues to be based in dallas texas where it has been headquartered since 1987 . greyhound and sister companies in firstgroup america are the largest motorcoach operators in the united states and canada . 4 contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1914 1930 1.2 1930 1945 1.3 expansion desegregation and diversification 1945 1983 1.4 consolidation strikes and bankruptcies 1983 2001 1.4.1 1983 greyhound drivers strike 1.4.2 spin off merger and first bankruptcy 1986 1990 1.4.3 1990 greyhound drivers strike 1.4.4 early 1990s bankruptcy and antitrust cases 1.4.5 trailways laidlaw mergers and bankruptcy of 2001 1.5 laidlaw years 2002 2007 1.6 firstgroup ownership 2007 present 1.6.1 the new greyhound 1.6.2 addressing overbooking 1.6.3 services launched since 2010 2 services 2.1 greyhound express 2.2 greyhound connect 2.3 greyhound charter services 2.4 greyhound package express 2.5 special routes 2.5.1 lucky streak 2.5.2 quicklink 3 other brands and partnerships 3.1 boltbus 3.2 amtrak thruway motorcoach 4 security 5 fleet 6 stations and stops 7 notable incidents and accidents 8 in popular culture 8.1 films 8.2 songs 8.3 stage productions 9 see also 10 references 11 further reading 12 external links history edit early years 1914 1930 edit 1936 stock certificate number 0000 carl eric wickman was born in sweden in 1887 . in 1905 he moved to the united states where he was working in a mine as a drill operator in alice minnesota until he was laid off in 1914 . in the same year he became a hupmobile salesman in hibbing minnesota . 5 he proved unable to sell the car . in 1914 using his remaining vehicle a 7 passenger car 6 he began a bus service with andy bus andy anderson and c.a.a. arvid heed 7 by transporting iron ore miners from hibbing to alice known for its saloons 6 at 15 cents a ride . 8 in 1915 wickman joined forces with ralph bogan who was running a similar service from hibbing to duluth minnesota . the name of the new organization was the mesaba transportation company 9 and it made 8 000 in profit in its first year . by the end of world war i in 1918 wickman owned 18 buses and was making an annual profit of 40 000 . in 1922 wickman joined forces with orville caesar the owner of the superior white bus lines . four years later wickman purchased two west coast operations the pioneer yelloway system the operator of the nation s first transcontinental bus and the pickwick lines creating a national intercity bus company . 10 the greyhound name had its origins in the inaugural run of a route from superior wisconsin to wausau wisconsin . while passing through a small town ed stone the route s operator saw the reflection of his 1920s era bus in a store window . the reflection reminded him of a greyhound dog and he adopted that name for that segment of the blue goose lines . the greyhound name became popular and later applied to the entire bus network . stone later became general sales manager of yellow truck and coach a division of general motors gm which built greyhound buses . wickman as the president of the company continued to expand it so that by 1927 his buses were making transcontinental trips from california to new york . in 1928 greyhound had a gross annual income of 6 million . 6 in 1929 greyhound acquired additional interests in southland transportation company the gray line and part of the colonial motor coach company to form eastern greyhound lines . 11 greyhound also acquired an interest in northland transportation company and renamed it northland greyhound lines . 11 1930 1945 edit greyhound station in columbia south carolina built in 1938 1939 in the art deco style known as streamline moderne photo taken in 1986 . front view of a greyhound lines supercoach from the mid to late 1930s . by 1930 more than 100 bus lines had been consolidated into what was called the motor transit company . recognizing that the company needed a more memorable name the partners of the motor transit company decided to rename it after the greyhound marketing phrase used by earlier bus lines . 12 wickman s business suffered during the great depression and by 1931 was over 1 million in debt . as the 1930s progressed and the economy improved the greyhound corporation began to prosper again . in 1934 intercity bus lines of which greyhound was the largest carried approximately 400 000 000 passengers nearly as many passengers as the class i railroads . the 1934 hit film it happened one night the first movie to win the big five academy awards centered on an heiress traveling by greyhound bus . 13 the movie is credited by the company for spurring bus travel nationwide . 14 in 1935 national intercity bus ridership climbed 50 % to 651 999 000 passengers surpassing the volume of passengers carried by the class i railroads for the first time . 15 in 1935 wickman was able to announce record profits of 8 million . in 1936 already the largest bus carrier in the united states greyhound began taking delivery of 306 new buses . 16 to accommodate the rapid growth in bus travel greyhound also built many new stations in the period between 1937 and 1945 most of them in a late art deco style known as streamline moderne . 17 in 1937 greyhound embarked on a program of unifying its brand identity by acquiring both buses and terminals in the streamline style . 18 by the outbreak of world war ii the company had 4 750 stations and nearly 10 000 employees . citation needed expansion desegregation and diversification 1945 1983 edit a greyhound gmc pd 3751 silversides in the 1950s livery a gmc pd 4106 ready for boarding in salem oregon for a trip north to seattle on the then new interstate 5 in the fall of 1965 wickman retired as president of the greyhound corporation in 1946 being replaced by his long time partner orville caesar . 19 wickman died at the age of 66 in 1954 . 20 after world war ii and the building of the interstate highway system beginning in 1956 automobile ownership and travel became a preferred mode of travel in the united states . 21 this combined with the increasing affordability of air travel spelled trouble for greyhound and other intercity bus carriers . 21 in 1955 the interstate commerce commission ruled in the case of keys v. carolina coach co. that u.s. interstate bus operations such as greyhound s could not be segregated by race . 22 in 1960 in the case of boynton v. virginia the u.s. supreme court found that an african american had been wrongly convicted of trespassing in a whites only terminal area . 23 in may 1961 civil rights activists organized interracial freedom rides as proof of the desegregation rulings . on may 14 a mob attacked pair of buses a greyhound and a trailways traveling from washington d.c. to new orleans louisiana and slashed the greyhound bus s tires . 24 several miles outside of anniston alabama the mob forced the greyhound bus to stop broke its windows and firebombed it . 25 26 the mob held the bus doors shut intending to burn the riders to death . sources disagree but either an exploding fuel tank 25 or an undercover state investigator brandishing a revolver 27 caused the mob to retreat . when the riders escaped the bus the mob beat them while warning shots fired into the air by highway patrolmen prevented them from being lynched . 25 title ii and title iii of the civil rights act of 1964 broadened protections beyond federally regulated carriers such as greyhound to include non discrimination in hotels restaurants and other public accommodations as well as state and local government buildings . 28 greyhound bus ticket from august 1975 later in the 1960s greyhound leadership saw a trend of declining ridership and began significant changes including using the profitable bus operations to invest in other industries . 21 by the 1970s greyhound had moved its headquarters to phoenix arizona and was a large and diversified company with holdings in everything from the armour meat packing company which in turn owned the popular dial deodorant soap brand acquired in 1970 ; traveller s express money orders mci bus manufacturing company and even airliner leasing . indeed greyhound had entered a time of great change even beginning to hire african american and female drivers in the late seventies . 29 in 1972 greyhound introduced the special unlimited mileage ameripass . the pass was initially marketed as offering 99 days for 99 equal to 560.05 today or in other words transportation to anywhere at any time for a dollar a day . for decades it was a popular choice for tourists on a budget who wanted to wander across the cities and towns of america . 30 over time greyhound raised the price of the pass shortened its validity period and rebranded it as the discovery pass before finally discontinuing it in 2012 . 30 greyhound acquired premier cruise line in 1984 . 31 between 1985 and 1993 premier operated as the official cruise line of walt disney world with onboard disney characters . 32 consolidation strikes and bankruptcies 1983 2001 edit 1983 greyhound drivers strike edit in 1983 greyhound operated a fleet of 3 800 buses and carried about 60 percent of the united states bus travel market . 33 starting november 2 1983 greyhound suffered a major and bitter drivers strike 34 35 with one fatality in zanesville ohio when a company bus ran over a worker at a picket line . 36 37 a new contract was ratified december 19 and drivers returned to work the next day . 38 spin off merger and first bankruptcy 1986 1990 edit by the time contract negotiations with the amalgamated transit union atu were due again at the end of 1986 the bus line was in the process of being sold to dallas based investors . by early 1987 greyhound lines had returned to being a stand alone bus transportation company . under ceo fred currey a former executive of rival continental trailways greyhound s corporate headquarters relocated to dallas texas . 39 in february 1987 greyhound lines new ownership and the atu agreed on a new 3 year contract . 40 in june 1987 greyhound lines acquired trailways inc. formerly continental trailways the largest member of the rival national trailways bus system effectively consolidating into a national bus service . greyhound was required by the icc in their action approving the merger to maintain coordinated schedules with other scheduled service operators in the u.s. 41 between 1987 and 1990 greyhound lines former parent continued