too long for the length of the article . please help by moving some material from it into the body of the article . please read the layout guide and lead section guidelines to ensure the section will still be inclusive of all essential details . please discuss this issue on the article s talk page . january 2013 founded 1919 headquarters minneapolis minnesota service area north central united states service type intercity coach service routes daily ridership chief executive steve woelfel website www.jeffersonlines.com jefferson lines jl or jli is a regional intercity bus company operating in the united states . today the jefferson lines system extends from grand forks north dakota south to wichita falls texas . 1 the company is operated by jefferson partners l.p. based in minneapolis minnesota . jefferson partners also operates the jefferson tours charter bus service for tours and other group services . the company is the second largest bus company in the us that operates from fixed stations . 2 contents 1 background 2 details 3 coverage 4 management 5 see also 6 references 7 external links background edit founded in 1919 during the early days of motorcoach travel 3 the company serves 13 states as of 2014 1 the company s name originates in the jefferson highway a north south route in the early national auto trail system which once ran from winnipeg in manitoba canada south to new orleans louisiana . the service to winnipeg was cut back to grand forks north dakota on october 7 2010 . 4 by 1990 the company was believed to be the second largest intercity bus company in the country after continental trailways was bought by greyhound lines . 5 intercity bus lines underwent many changes in the 2000s decade after greyhound lines declined into bankruptcy and subsequently shed off many bus routes . jefferson lines has taken over operation of many former greyhound routes and has been able to improve ridership significantly on some of them . details edit according to the company website jefferson lines has 265 employees including roughly 150 drivers . jefferson lines is a member of the american bus association united motorcoach association and national tour association . 6 the company is reported to have over 100 buses in its fleet . 2 coverage edit arkansas iowa kansas minnesota missouri montana nebraska north dakota oklahoma south dakota texas wisconsin wyoming management edit the company s president and ceo is charlie zelle . he had been an investment banker in new york city until returning to minnesota in 1987 to take over the company from his late father louie . due to poor real estate investments such as in the st. anthony main project in minneapolis the company was in danger of floundering but zelle helped restructure the company under chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1989 and 1990 . 5 the company was founded by zelle s grandfather charlie zelle marks the third generation of his family to work at jefferson lines . he owned 60 % of the company as of 2010 with the remaining 40 % owned by business partner fred kaiser of texas . 2 as of 2011 charlie zelle is also chairman of the board of the minneapolis regional chamber of commerce . 7 see also edit jefferson highway references edit a b bus routes jefferson lines . jefferson lines . retrieved june 7 2014 . a b c neal st. anthony june 28 2010 . jefferson lines flying low . star tribune . retrieved october 4 2010 . neal st. anthony november 3 2000 . once shaky jefferson lines putting rough road behind it . star tribune . retrieved october 4 2010 . barry burns september 30 2010 . bus line puts the brakes on grand forks to wpg run . cjob . corus entertainment . a b jefferson lines jefferson tours emerge from chapter 11 protection . star tribune . july 17 1990 . retrieved october 4 2010 . bus history jefferson lines . jefferson lines . retrieved june 7 2014 . executive committee and board of directors . minneapolis regional chamber of commerce . retrieved april 18 2011 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title jefferson lines & oldid 743567646 categories intercity bus companies of the united statescompanies based in minneapolishidden categories wikipedia introduction cleanup from january 2013all pages needing cleanuparticles covered by wikiproject wikify from january 2013all articles covered by wikiproject wikify navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 10 october 2016 at 06 33 . text is available under 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