How were Intercity Bus Companies Regulated in the US

[sttom]

I've been trying to read about how intercity bus companies like Greyhound and Trailways were regulated before they were deregulated in the 1980s. The best I can find is some reference to "franchising" but no details on how such a system worked. I can find plenty of things saying how great deregulation was with some mention of unintended consequences. I get bus companies are less interesting than all the other industries subjected to heavy regulations in the US, but I can't imagine there are no records of what Greyhound and the Trailways System were subjected to. Part of researching this is knowing what questions to ask, but I can't even find enough to figure out what those questions are.

Also when I say "references to franchising" I'm talking people on here and other forums mentioning it without any explanation or links to something explaining it. I'm looking for sources if there are some available.

 

[George Harris]

"Franchising" was I believe to be done by the Interstate Commerce Commission and gave the designated bus company exclusive right to operate on a particular highway. When this began and what led to it, I do not know. Some of the early bus companies were railroad operated and began as a means to get rid of branch line passenger trains. Somewhere along the way most of these things were politically killed. I can give a couple examples which may or may not help. The one railroad owned bus company that lasted into the 1960's at least, was Gulf Transport Company owned by the Gulf Mobile and Ohio Railroad. This appears to have been set up to replace passenger trains on their routes. Most of their trains, post WW2 at latest and post the major campaign to get Mississippi's highways paved in the 1930's in general usually did not carry a bus load's worth of passengers, anyway. Somewhere buried away I have one of their system timetables from around 1960. In general their routes followed the routes of the pre-Alton takeover GM&O. The GM&O had two low density main lines in eastern Mississippi, with Jackson TN as their northern hub, plus several branches. My main knowledge relates to southeast of Memphis. Where Greyhound operated, they used Greyhound stations. Such was the case in Memphis. Most of their bus routes were a few a day and lightly loaded, primarily because of the low density of the population in the areas served. You say, "why into Memphis?" The GM&O didn't serve Memphis. Yes they did. They had trackage rights over the Southern out of Corinth MS. It appears that one of the reasons they lasted independently is because no one really wanted their routes.
An example of franchising: Between Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville, Greyhound was apparently first to the table and held the right to operate on US 70 all the way. When Trainways wanted in the picture, they were given the right to operate on US 64, and then I think it was state highway 18 to Jackson TN and then state highways 20 and 100 to Nashville. (State 20 is now US 412.) East of Nashville their route was US 70N, which was not the original US 70. That route became US 70S. By the mid 1950's the practical run time was about the same on both routes. When the Interstates began to be open it appears that there was no franchising, but approach to them had to be via a road on which they did have a franchise. Thus, when I-40 opened for most of the Memphis - Jackson TN distance, Greyhound accessed it via US 70 on the Jackson TN end and Trailways accessed it via TN 20. (now US 412)

 

[Willbridge]

'Franchising' usually refers to municipalities selling the rights to operate a public service on city streets. In the intercity bus industry the usual terms are 'operating rights' or 'operating authority'.

As an example, the Gray Line of Portland where I was a dispatcher could operate charters from anywhere to anywhere in Oregon and could originate charters in Oregon to anywhere in Washington or Canada or California to a line drawn on US50 and Yosemite National Park. The Oregon anywhere authority came from the Public Utilities Commission. The other authority came from the Interstate Commerce Commission. In our case, these were all grandfathered from the pre-regulatory era.

Intrastate authorities varied by state, as laws differed. Oregon would permit competing operations over the same highway if a case could be made for that. Washington and Colorado were harsher. So, as examples, Continental and Pacific Trailways buses north of Portland could carry interstate but not intrastate passengers. Greyhound could carry interstate passengers between Denver and Raton but no intrastate passengers.

The regulatory regime was beginning to crumble in the mid-1970's. You can read that between the lines in this attached report. Eventually Congress got tired of the fight between FedEx and UPS as well as some other issues and deregulated interstate service. We're now back to about where we were in 1935.

 

[AmtrakMaineiac]

Concerning buses operated by railroads. In 1970 I had to travel from my home in the Boston area to AFROTC summer encampment at Loring AFB in Northern Maine. My '63 VW Beetle decided to burn out a connecting rod bearing just South of the I-95 rest stop in Gray ME. I was able to get a ride from a truck driver to Bangor where the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Highway Division had several buses that ran into Northern Maine serving Houlton, Caribou, Presque Isle, Van Buren and Fort Kent. The bus dropped my duffel bag and I right at the front gate at Loring. The buses presumably replaced passenger trains operated by the B&A up until 1960 or so. They were part of the Trailways system at the time.

The bus route still exists today but operated by Cyr Bus lines and only as far as Loring which is no longer a military base but has become an industrial park. They did try continuing on Route 1 to Fort Kent for a while but the late arrival and 4 AM departure did not attract enough ridership to make it worthwhile.

 

[Willbridge]

Concerning buses operated by railroads. In 1970 I had to travel from my home in the Boston area to AFROTC summer encampment at Loring AFB in Northern Maine. My '63 VW Beetle decided to burn out a connecting rod bearing just South of the I-95 rest stop in Gray ME. I was able to get a ride from a truck driver to Bangor where the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Highway Division had several buses that ran into Northern Maine serving Houlton, Caribou, Presque Isle, Van Buren and Fort Kent. The bus dropped my duffel bag and I right at the front gate at Loring. The buses presumably replaced passenger trains operated by the B&A up until 1960 or so. They were part of the Trailways system at the time.

The bus route still exists today but operated by Cyr Bus lines and only as far as Loring which is no longer a military base but has become an industrial park. They did try continuing on Route 1 to Fort Kent for a while but the late arrival and 4 AM departure did not attract enough ridership to make it worthwhile.

I had seen that service in guides but you're the first person I've come across who rode it. I know that the CB&Q actually offered bus jobs to train crew members who were to be laid off when branch line passenger trains were cut. It saved them from having to relocate. I wonder if the B&A did that?