DALLAS, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Some 750 rural U.S. towns have lost their Greyhound connection this year and hundreds more towns are expected to be dropped.
The Dallas-based carrier, which lost $22 million the first quarter this year, is about to roll out new, faster and more direct urban routes in 2006, the Christian Science Monitor reported.
The restructuring decision will result in the loss of a cheap ticket for many rural poor, especially in the South.
"Most people come from the country, not the city, and they have to have a way to come back for weddings and funerals, and the bus is still that way for a lot of people," says Maria Wesson of Windsor, N.C.
Market research by Greyhound found a new bus traveler -- more urban, less interested in traveling distances more than 450 miles and more concerned with speed. Long meandering routes were passengers' biggest complaint, nor did they help the bottom line, according to Greyhound officials.
