Greyhound Bus Lines to Cut Staff by 1,900

PHOENIX —  Greyhound Lines, which lost $1.3 million in 1984, announced today that it will abolish 400 management jobs and lay off 1,500 rank-and-file workers to reflect the declining number of travelers using intercity bus service.

John W. Teets, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of parent Greyhound Corp., said the moves will reduce the subsidiary’s facilities, fleet and personnel “to a level consistent with the current competitive and economic climate in the intercity bus industry.”

Greyhound calls itself the largest intercity bus carrier in the world.

The first phase of the program began today and involves a reduction of about 30% in Greyhound Lines’ management staff nationwide, the company said.

About 400 management and supervisory posts will be cut through a combination of early retirement and job elimination by Sept. 30.

Today’s cuts in the managerial ranks will be followed in the coming months by an additional reduction of about 1,500 Greyhound Lines rank-and-file workers to bring it into line with current business conditions.

Passenger Count Dropped

Teets said Greyhound, as currently structured, was designed to serve the 64 million passengers a year that buses carried in the 1960s. He said that today’s passenger count has dropped to about 34 million a year and that “the system must contract to a level appropriate to that revenue base.”

The second phase of the program involves a similar reduction in the company’s terminals and garage facilities, Teets said.

He said Greyhound owns 127 terminals around the country and has been reviewing those properties for eventual sale and relocation to smaller, more convenient sites closer to expressways.

Phase three calls for a study of the desirability of closing down segments of Greyhound’s route system where low passenger traffic has resulted in chronic losses.