BusTalk

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2009 3:01 pm Post subject: 'LONDON - HERE COMES GREYHOUND!'

GREYHOUND'S BUSES TO ROLL IN LONDON

By JULIA WERDIGIER
Published: August 19, 2009 The New York Times

LONDON — In the late 1970s, Billy Joel sang about “taking a Greyhound on the Hudson River Line.” Beginning next month, the 95-year-old American bus brand is to appear on Britain’s roads for the first time.

FirstGroup, the large British bus and train company that bought Greyhound’s parent company in 2007, said Wednesday that Greyhound buses would start service between London and two coastal towns beginning Sept. 14. The company plans to add more routes next year.

“Greyhound has been an icon of American life, carrying millions of people across the U.S.A. and Canada,” the chief executive of FirstGroup, Moir Lockhead, said in a statement. Since 2007, “we have hoped to bring this famous brand across the Atlantic.”

In an increasingly competitive market, FirstGroup hopes to attract business travelers trying to keep their costs down. To tap that market in the United States, the FirstGroup, based in Scotland, started BoltBus together with Peter Pan Bus Lines last year, a bus service that offers customers Internet access and electric plugs on board.

The Greyhound bus services in Britain, which will connect London with Southampton and Portsmouth in two hours nonstop, will also offer free Internet access, more space for each passenger, complimentary newspapers and leather seats. The coaches will be named after women’s names from popular American songs, including “Barbara Ann” and “Peggy Sue.” Ticket prices will start at £1 (about $1.66).

Greyhound buses now drive about 25 million passengers to more than 2,300 destinations each year, according to its Web site.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Wed Sep 09, 2009 5:37 pm Post subject:

This just in;

First photos of the Great Greyhound in Great Britain;

While rumors had it that the first buses would be refurbished Prevosts, it appears as though minds were changed because whatever this picture is of, it's brand new!

It's not a mirror image either - it's right hand drive with the biggest rear view mirrors I've ever seen on a bus.

Enjoy.

Photo courtesy of NorCal Bus Fans.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

ripta42 · Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:06 am Post subject:

timecruncher · Posted: Fri Sep 11, 2009 3:36 pm Post subject:

Different. Love the new color scheme.

I have to wonder if their drivers will ever change the signs on those things (like they rarely do over here!).

timecruncher

Meanwhile, a TNM&O G4500 has languished at the Louisville terminal for a week now. I suspect they're trying to figure out how to get it back (or perhaps IF it will make it back) to Albuquerque!

Mr. Linsky · Posted: Sat Sep 12, 2009 12:15 am Post subject:

Let me tell you something;

I think this is one ugly looking bus! (but that's a personal opinion that may not be shared by all!).

Years ago when the GM New Looks arrived on the scene, they were immediately dubbed 'fish bowls' because their windshields were so large as to make the drivers appear as though they were in fish bowls.

This new Scania whatever has a windshield that makes GM's look like a piece of standee glass.

My concern then and now is that so much glass area in front of the driver increases risk of injury in a serious front end collision although very few if any New Look drivers were ever seriously hurt.

Anyway, attached photo is the same bus as above as it was either being unveiled before the showing or covered up afterward.

Photo courtesy of Skyscraper City forum.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

timecruncher · Posted: Sun Sep 13, 2009 4:11 pm Post subject:

Well, yes, it is sleek and different in appearance. It is anything but traditional in outside design, but as you pointed out, the first GM 'new look' coaches looked pretty different to those of us accustomed to the GM and Mack postwar design. It took a bit of getting used to even back then!

Intercity bus and rail travel is popular in the UK as it is in most of western Europe. Folks are accustomed to both modes as we are to driving or flying everywhere here. Buses tend to be far less costly than trains over there, and I suspect that bus travel doesn't carry the negative stigma that it does here. That is why I applaud the effort.

It does kinda seem that Greyhound is trying to "get back" at Megabus for bringing their service over to this side of the pond and luring away their passengers!

timecruncher