Yelloway-Pioneer System

Last updated
YellowaY-Pioneer System
Founded1927 (1927) by Oliver William Townsend, [1] Wesley E. Travis [2]
Service areaUnited States
Service type Intercity bus service
RoutesLos Angeles - Philadelphia - New York

The Yelloway-Pioneer System (sometimes styled YellowaY-Pioneer) was a group of independently-owned intercity bus companies that operated the first transcontinental bus route in the United States. [3] [4]

Proposed in early 1927, [3] the first transcontinental bus trip took place in 1928. [4] The initial route ran from Los Angeles, California to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In September 1928, the route was extended from Philadelphia to New York City. [3] The first Los Angeles to New York City trip was completed on September 11, 1928, covered 3,433 highway miles, and took 5 days and 14 hours to travel. [3]

Also in 1928, the American Motor Transportation Company purchased most of the YellowaY member firms. [5]

In February 1929, the Motor Transit Corporation (which became Greyhound Corporation later that year) bought the Yelloway-Pioneer System for $6.4 m million. [6]

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References

  1. "Greyhound Bus Badges". transitbadges.com. 18 November 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  2. "Greyhound Bus Badges". transitbadges.com. 18 November 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2020. First purchasing the companies of the Pioneer Yelloway System (a large regional network whose owner, Wesley E. Travis, had inaugurated the first transcontinental bus service
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Business & Finance: Yelloway-Pioneer". Time. TIME USA, LLC. 24 September 1928. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
  4. 1 2 "The Yelloway Merger". Greyhound History. Retrieved 17 July 2020. "Jitney into Giant," Fortune, vol. X, no. 2 (August 1934)
  5. "Greyhound Bus Badges". transitbadges.com. 18 November 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2020. In 1928 Townsend sold some of his operating rights to the newly formed American Motor Transportation Company, based in Oakland, California. This company went on to buy out most of the other independent YellowaY member firms, and operated them as the YellowaY-Pioneer System
  6. "Greyhound Bus Badges". transitbadges.com. 18 November 2017. Retrieved 17 July 2020. In 1929 the Motor Transit Corporation (which became The Greyhound Corporation later that year) bought the Yelloway-Pioneer System for $6.4 million. The February 15, 1929, edition of The Daily Notes from Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, reported the story: "Consolidation of the Yelloway lines and 'the Greyhound lines, bus companies, with a combined investment of more than $12,000,000, was announced here today by O. S. Caesar, president of the Motor Transit corporation, and W. F. Travis, president of the American Motor Transportation company. Tho two lines will be united under the name of the American Motor Transit corporation, to form the largest long distance bus transportation system in the country, officials said."

Further reading

July–August 1990;
March–April 1991;
April–June 1995;
October–December 1996;
October–December 1998.