Abingdon Bus Station

[Lone Wolf]

The Greyhound Bus Station in Abingdon, Va. which is 12 miles from Damascus, will close in January.

[orangebug]

Wow! And Abington ain't all that small a town.

Will there be a "whistle stop" by Greyhound, or will folks have to hoof it to hoof it to Roanoke or Bristol for major transportation?

[Alligator]

There's a Greyhound stop in Wytheville, VA.

[Lone Wolf]

Alligator is correct. Bristol will be the closest stop south of Abingdon.

[The Gnome]

I talked to the Greyhound agent in Roanoke in October. According to him, ALL the bus facilities along the I-81 corridor (including Roanoke) will be closed as their leases run out in the next few years. Greyhound is reducing its services to the major cross-country routes and dumping all the property it can sell in order to turn a profit.

[orangebug]

Hello Airtran!

If buses become as rare at trains, either regional shuttles or discount airlines will have to take their place. In Atlanta, it is pretty easy to get to small town Georgia with one of the shuttle services. These small buses are the future.

[zephyr1034]

Wow! And Abington ain't all that small a town.

Will there be a "whistle stop" by Greyhound, or will folks have to hoof it to hoof it to Roanoke or Bristol for major transportation?=================================== ==========================
Unfortunately, the intercity bus industry is dying the same death suffered by passenger trains in the sixties. When a train made its last run, people knew about it because the media covered it. Buses lack the "romance" of the rails, and for the most part are used by poor people who "don't count." So a lot of people are unaware that bus service is almost gone.

Greyhound's parent company is bankrupt. The parent is a company called Laidlaw, whose main business is collecting trash.

I haven't ridden enough buses to say whether they're well patronized or whether they're running empty. I do know that I was amazed when I moved to southwest Virginia in 1999 to learn that Blacksburg VA has no public transportation whatsoever to the outside world. Blacksburg is the home of Virginia Tech, the largest university in the state and one of the largest in the South. College students used to be Greyhound's bread and butter. Back then, students didn't have parents that bought them new cars as soon as they turned sixteen.

Greyhound's demise will only worsen the mobility problems that dog the poor, the elderly and the rural. And it won't make hiking or getting to the AT any easier.

[The Gnome]

The Greyhound bus service in the I-81 corridor provides excellent connections to Dulles Airport or downtown D.C. Bus #1534 runs up the valley to D.C. in the morning and Bus #3926 repeats the journey in the evening. I’ve used this service several times and it is well attended with 50% plus occupancy.
Which does not mean that these services will survive. If Greyhound can sell off a critical item of real estate at a high profit (like a storage or maintenance facility), the route will be whacked.
As I understand it from talking to Greyhound officials, the company has few assets left. All the buses and most of the depots are leased and the workforce is rapidly aging. They have pension liability issues and cannot maintain a core of operators prepared to put up with the uncivil working hours. All the class 1 rail companies have the same problems.
The future of any public transportation in the Shenandoah Valley looks grim.
I can’t see that any small company could set up a regular bus service in that area as all but the poor (including A.T. hikers) seem to own huge SUVs.

[screwysquirrel]

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Unfortunately, the intercity bus industry is dying the same death suffered by passenger trains in the sixties. When a train made its last run, people knew about it because the media covered it. Buses lack the "romance" of the rails, and for the most part are used by poor people who "don't count." So a lot of people are unaware that bus service is almost gone.Greyhound's parent company is bankrupt. The parent is a company called Laidlaw, whose main business is collecting trash. I haven't ridden enough buses to say whether they're well patronized or whether they're running empty. I do know that I was amazed when I moved to southwest Virginia in 1999 to learn that Blacksburg VA has no public transportation whatsoever to the outside world. Blacksburg is the home of Virginia Tech, the largest university in the state and one of the largest in the South. College students used to be Greyhound's bread and butter. Back then, students didn't have parents that bought them new cars as soon as they turned sixteen.
Greyhound's demise will only worsen the mobility problems that dog the poor, the elderly and the rural. And it won't make hiking or getting to the AT any easier.
Good post but I doubt that many here will mourn their passing. As you stated everybody has a car and they don't really care about the poor. Later on in the future when the gas finally runs out there'll be no bus or train lines for the people to use. So if you're a young person, start investing in horses and pass it on to your children. And also tell them to learn Chinese.

[saimyoji]

[QUOTE=zephyr1034]

Greyhound's parent company is bankrupt. The parent is a company called Laidlaw, whose main business is collecting trash.

QUOTE]

Interesting. Here in PA you see the Laidlaw logo all over the place, most notably: school buses. Some may argue that is similar to collecting trash....