Digital in the Driver’s Seat as Trailways Severs Relationship With Greyhound

After nearly a quarter of a century, Trailways of New York is ending its partnership with the Greyhound bus company as the family-owned firm pivots to a digital-first environment and looks to the future.

While Greyhound currently drives the bulk of intercity bus travel in the U.S. — 1,200 buses taking 16 million passengers to 2,400 North American destinations — Trailways has been part of that equation since 1998, according to a Wednesday (June 1) Trailways press release.

But the digital-first economy, driven in part by the pandemic, is something Trailways said it knew was something to pay attention to now and in the future.

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“Today nearly 80% of our customers are purchasing their tickets online, and of these customers, over 70% are doing it on a mobile phone. As we’ve invested in a mobile-first online strategy and paperless ticketing, we’ve seen both of these statistics rise rapidly in recent years,” Eugene J Berardi Jr., president and CEO of Trailways of New York, told PYMNTS.

Trailways said it is making a multimillion-dollar investment in Trailways.com and Trailways.ca with the intention of enhancing the consumer’s digital-first online experience.

The company is also striving to make digital improvements to simplify the booking process and boost Trailways Driven Reward Program, as well as bring commuter pass ticketing online for the first time.

“Dissolving the agreement between the two companies gives Trailways full control over the end-to-end travel experience for passengers, allowing us to reaffirm our commitment to providing affordable, comfortable and dependable transportation,” Berardi said.

He further added that the Trailways partnership with Greyhound “limited our ability to adjust scheduling based on need” and with the split, it can make other improvements to better “meet the demand on popular routes.”

A Greyhound spokesperson told PYMNTS that the company is continuing to partner with Trailways with the exception of Adirondack Trailways out of Kingston, New York.

“We value our Trailways partnerships throughout the country and will continue to work closely with them to provide service throughout our network,” the spokesperson said. “We continue to operate in the same markets and there are no market changes at this time.”