Intercity bus in rail strike

[Willbridge]

While few passengers ride long distances on Greyhound, and fewer on the patchwork of flix, Megabus, etc., there are ons and offs all along the way.

Sampled just after midnight Pacific Time on Sep. 15:

• Sacramento to Chicago = of five schedules (no through trips), two were sold out and two had warnings that only 1 or 2 seats were left.
• Portland to Chicago = one schedule via Spokane (no through trips), sold out and the one schedule via Denver shows 1 seat left, at $300.
• Portland to Los Angeles = of two through trips, one is sold out and one has 1 seat left at $183.
• Denver to Los Angeles = the one through trip has seats left at $214. Of two schedules via Albuquerque, one is sold out. The longer schedule via El Paso has seats also left at $214.
• Denver to Chicago (run by Burlington Trailways via Omaha and by Greyhound via St. Louis) = of four schedules (no through trips), one is sold out, one has one seat left. Fares range from $175 to $215.
• San Antonio to Los Angeles = the one through trip is sold out. Two other schedules' fares range from $274 to $292.

Note: the intercity bus system is much smaller now than it was during previous rail strike threats and like Amtrak it relies on selling tickets with variable pricing and a fixed capacity. The traditional method before deregulation was to sell tickets at fixed prices and vary capacity by running extra sections.

 

[west point]

Are the big boys not hiring drivers any more? Normal attrition would cause these cutbacks. without new replacements.

 

[Willbridge]

Are the big boys not hiring drivers any more? Normal attrition would cause these cutbacks. without new replacements.

Greyhound struggled to fill positions since the pandemic. I don't know how what till recently were called "curbside" companies are doing. (Greyhound is being turned into a curbside operator.)

Effective today, the Greyhound short-turn Dallas<>Lubbock trips are discontinued. The round-trip pair also provided their only service to Guthrie, Jacksboro, and Seymour. The remaining round-trip pair on this route is Dallas<>Denver via Lamar.

 

[railiner]

The intercity bus network, such as it is today, has very little capacity to absorb much more business than it already handles. Nothing like it was once capable of doing.

The last "national" airline strike (five major airlines) in 1966 which carried 60% of scheduled air passenger's, diverted huge numbers to both the nation's railroads and bus lines, which were in much better ability to absorb what the remaining air carrier's could not handle.

 

[Willbridge]

The intercity bus network, such as it is today, has very little capacity to absorb much more business than it already handles. Nothing like it was once capable of doing.

The last "national" airline strike (five major airlines) in 1966 which carried 60% of scheduled air passenger's, diverted huge numbers to both the nation's railroads and bus lines, which were in much better ability to absorb what the remaining air carrier's could not handle.

I made the Northwest Triangle trip during that strike. Trains like the Mainstreeter and the Portland Rose carried a lot of people who thought that they should have been on the sold out North Coast Limited or the City of Portland. They were disgruntled.

For forum members who missed that strike here are some sample service levels:
PDX-SPK = 2 SP&S + 1 UP connecting schedule + 2 GL + 1 GL connecting schedule.
PDX-SEA = 3 pool trains + 4 GL Non-stop Express + 6 GL Express +7 TW Express + GL Locals and semi-express trips.
PDX-SF = 1 SP train + 3 GL Express + 1 TW Express
PDX-LAX = 1 SP connecting schedule + 5 GL Express + 3 TW Express
PDX-CHI = 3 trains through + 4 trains on connecting schedules + 7 GL connections +3 TW connections

As this was a year before the postal service collapse there were still a lot of secondary trains that were coach only or had a sleeper or cafe car for part of the trip. No reservations were needed for the coaches. These trains were important and often made connections with the streamliners but they weren't suitable for long trips.

Coming back to the deferred rail strike, bus companies would experience similar problems with rail customers forced to complete itineraries on buses. One difference is that most long-haul bus runs have been shorn of local stops, so stop spacing is similar to Amtrak long-distance trains.

 

[railiner]

They were disgruntled.

Similar scenario's of diverted airline passenger's comically illustrated in such films as: "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles", as well as the original version of "The Out of Towner's".

I graduated from Basic Military Training School at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, TX that summer, and had three days travel time to Technical Training School at Chanute AFB, in Rantoul, IL. Knowing about the strike, I anticipated a possible train or bus trip instead of flying, but no....the Air Force chartered a "Modern Air Transport" DC-7, and flew us direct from San Antonio right onto Chanute Field. The stewardesses were old enough to be grandmother's.
Anyway, we were 'gypped' out of the three travel days, and were put into a PATS squadron, to do drudge work in the kitchen, instead...

To add to Willbridge's point above, besides all the alternative trains and buses available in 1966, railroads sometimes, and buslines frequently, would add second, third, and more section's to overloaded schedules to accommodate all who desired to travel...