Trailways Transportation System

{{Infobox Bus transit

| name =

| logo = Trailways logo.png

| logo_size = 250

| image = Carolina Trailways bus in Philadelphia.jpg

| image_caption = Carolina Trailways bus in Philadelphia in 2009

| founded = 1936

| headquarters = Fairfax, Virginia, U.S.

| locale =

| service_area = United States
Canada
Germany
Netherlands

| service_type = Intercity coach service, Charter bus service

| operator = Cooperative

| website = [http://www.trailways.com/ www.trailways.com]

| Charter website = [http://www.trailways.com/charter-bus-rental www.trailways.com/charter-bus-rental]

}}

The Trailways Transportation System is a public transport bus service in the United States. It operates a network of approximately 70 independent bus companies. The company is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia."[http://www.trailways.com/ Home]". Trailways Transportation System. Retrieved on June 30, 2010. "3554 Chain Bridge Road Suite 202 Fairfax VA 22030-2709".

History

The predecessor to Trailways Transportation System was founded February 5, 1936, by Burlington Transportation Company, Santa Fe Trails Transportation Company, Missouri Pacific Stages, Safeway Lines, Inc., and Frank Martz Coach Company.

File:"National Trailways Bus System" ad in 1949 - Trailways Bus Company - Matchbook cover - Allentown PA (cropped).jpg

The system originated with coast-to-coast service as the National Trailways Bus System (NTBS). Greyhound Lines had grown so quickly in the 1920s and 1930s that the Interstate Commerce Commission encouraged smaller independent operators to form the NTBS to provide competition. Unlike Greyhound, which centralized ownership, Trailways member companies became a formidable competitor while staying an association of almost 100 separate companies. In the 1950s, Morgan W. Walker, Sr., of Alexandria, Louisiana, became head of the southern division of the company. He had entered the business on a small scale during World War II as the Interurban Transportation Company of Alexandria.{{cite web|url=http://longrootshighbranches.blogspot.com/2006/08/morgan-wailes-walker.html|title=Deep Roots and High Branches – Walker Family History: Morgan Wailes Walker|last=Leslie|date=5 August 2006|work=longrootshighbranches.blogspot.com}} During the 1950s and 1960s, consolidation among bus operators resulted in four of the five original Trailways members becoming part of a new company, Continental Trailways, which eventually operated the majority of Trailways routes.{{cite news |title=Heads Bus System |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=bqBlAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SCgQAAAAIBAJ&pg=2528,2803536&dq=santa-fe-trails+transcontinental+bus+system&hl=en|newspaper=The Courtland Journal |date= June 3, 1947 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}{{cite news |title=American Buslines May Merge With Subsidiary |author= United Press |author-link= United Press |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Jj4bAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OE0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3746,3508557&hl=en |newspaper=Pittsburgh Press |date=October 9, 1948 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}{{cite news |title=Would Take Over Line |url= https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=NS9UAAAAIBAJ&sjid=TToNAAAAIBAJ&pg=2932,4054650&hl=en|newspaper= St. Joseph News-Press |date=September 18, 1952 |access-date=January 6, 2012}}{{cite web |url= http://web.me.com/willvdv/chirailfan/greyhrar.html|title=INTERCITY BUS ROUTES – HISTORY |access-date=January 6, 2012}}{{cite news |title=Trailways remembers Marvin E. Walsh October 27, 1906 – November 5, 2008 |url=http://trailways.com/Traveler_09.pdf |newspaper=Trailways Traveler |access-date=January 6, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021111910/http://www.trailways.com/Traveler_09.pdf |archive-date=October 21, 2012 }}

In 1968, under the leadership of major stockholder Kemmons Wilson, Holiday Inn acquired Continental Trailways, which remained a subsidiary of Holiday Inn until 1979, when Holiday Inn sold Trailways to private investor Henry Lea Hillman Sr., of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the years during which Trailways was a subsidiary of Holiday Inn, television commercials for Holiday Inn frequently showed a Trailways bus stopping at a Holiday Inn hotel.

Regular route bus ridership in the United States had been declining steadily since World War II despite minor gains during the 1973 and 1979 energy crises. By 1986, the Greyhound Bus Line had been spun off from the parent company to new owners, which resulted in Greyhound Lines becoming solely a bus transportation company. It was sold off to new owners headed by Fred Currey, a former executive with the largest member of the National Trailways Bus System. The old Greyhound parent had changed its name to Dial Corporation.

Under the new ownership in 1987, led by Currey, Greyhound Lines later acquired the former Continental Trailways company, the largest member of the Trailways system, effectively eliminating a large portion of bus competition.{{cite news |title=Greyhound in Deal for Trailways |author=Thomas C. Hayes |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/06/20/business/greyhound-in-deal-for-trailways.html |newspaper=The New York Times|date=June 20, 1987|access-date=January 6, 2012}} Although Greyhound negotiated cooperative schedules with Carolina Coach Company and Southeastern Trailways, two of the larger members of the Trailways system, many smaller carriers were effectively forced out of business. Greyhound later acquired Carolina and the intercity operations of Southeastern.{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Z-cbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tFIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2320,883849|title=The Dispatch – Google News Archive Search|work=google.com}}{{cite web|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Greyhound%20Acquires%20Southeastern%20Trailways%20Business-a020867687|title=Greyhound Acquires Southeastern Trailways Business – Free Online Library|work=thefreelibrary.com}} Most of the survivors diversified into charters and tours.

File:Santa Fe Trailways bus circa World War II.JPG|A Santa Fe bus used to transport workers to defense plants during World War II

File:Closing of the Jerome Relocation Center, Denson, Arkansas. Students of the Denson High School who a . . . - NARA - 539641.jpg|Japanese-American youths are transported to the Rohwer War Relocation Center aboard a Missouri Pacific Trailways bus, 1944

File:Trailways Bus Terminal; Petersburg, VA - 003.jpg|The Petersburg Trailways Bus Station in Petersburg, Virginia is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

File:Trailways sign in Warrensburg, New York.jpg|Trailways sign in Warrensburg, New York

File:Continental Trailways bus at MSI in Chicago, 1968.jpg|Continental Trailways bus outside the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, 1968

Current members

File:Adirondack Trailways MCI 102B3 62934.jpg bus in Nanuet, New York]]

File:PHL DNC225 (28734693006).jpg scans Fullington Trailways buses carrying delegates into the 2016 Democratic National Convention]]

File:Dakota Bus, Trailways, Denver, CO.jpg, 2016]]

File:Northwestern Trailways 8732538754.jpg]]

File:Pine Hill Trailways 72932.JPG bus]]

File:"Trailways Bus Depot" art in 1949 - Trailways Bus Company - Matchcover - Allentown PA (cropped).jpg

Today Trailways members are spread across North America. They provide charter bus service, bus tours and scheduled route services, with some members providing regular route service to areas not served by any other bus company on an interlining basis with Greyhound Lines, each other, and independent companies. Members also offer motorcoach charters and tours in competitive markets.

{{As of|April 2023}}, Trailways members are:{{cite web|url=https://trailways.com/our-carriers/|title=Trailways Carriers Bus Rental - U.S. - Canada - Europe|website=Trailways.com|access-date=April 9, 2023}}{{cite web | url=https://www.trailways-digital.com/twyr/2023-2024_charter_directory/MobilePagedReplica.action?pm=2&folio=2#pg3 | title=Trailways Charter Bus Network (TWYR) 2023–24 Charter Directory | publisher=www.Trailways.com | access-date=April 9, 2023}}