Abstract
The early growth of the intercity bus industry is difficult to document because of the limited availability of relevant state or federal statistics prior to 1925. In fact, it was only in 1922 that vehicle manufacturers began to design chassis and bodies specifically for buses. Most of the early buses, or "jitneys" (1) as they were called, were merely converted automobiles. As a result, the bus industry was developed by numerous one-vehicle taxi operators, scattered across the country, who decided to extend their intraurban services to link nearby communities (2). The first automobile-bus with regular routes and schedules (a common carrier in the modern sense of the term) made its appearance on a route between the old and new cities of Hibbings, Minnesota in 1913 and was the forerunner of Greyhound Bus Lines. At about the same time Pickwick Transportation Lines began a similar type of operation in southern California. The successes of these pioneers led to the establishment of hundreds of small "intercity bus operators" throughout the USA by 1915.
Recommended Citation
Fairweather, Malcolm and Rumney, Thomas
(1987)
"From Jitney to Giant: The Spatial Development of Greyhound Bus Lines,"
The Geographical Bulletin: Vol. 29:
Iss.
1, Article 1.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/thegeographicalbulletin/vol29/iss1/1