Jefferson Lines

Jefferson Lines (JL or JLI) is a regional intercity bus company operating in the United States. Their current operations expands over 14 states throughout the Midwest.

Founded1919
HeadquartersMinneapolis, Minnesota
Service areaNorth Central United States
Service typeIntercity coach service
Chief executiveSteve Woelfel
Websitewww.jeffersonlines.com

Background

The company is operated by Jefferson Partners L.P., located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jefferson Partners also conducts charter bus service within Minneapolis and Billings for large group travel. The company is the second-largest bus company in the U.S. that operates from fixed stations.[1] Founded in 1919 during the early days of motorcoach travel,[2] the company serves 13 states as of 2018:[3] The company's name originates from the Jefferson Highway, a north-south route in the early National Auto Trail system which once ran from Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada, south to New Orleans, Louisiana. The service to Winnipeg was cut back to Grand Forks, North Dakota, on October 7, 2010.[4] By 1990, the company was believed to be the second-largest intercity bus company in the country after Continental Trailways was bought by Greyhound Lines.[5] Intercity bus lines underwent many changes in the 2000s decade after Greyhound Lines declined into bankruptcy and subsequently shed off many bus routes. Jefferson Lines has taken over operation of many former Greyhound routes and has been able to improve ridership significantly on some of them.

Details

According to the company website, Jefferson Lines has 210 employees including roughly 100 drivers. Jefferson Lines is a member of the American Bus Association, United Motorcoach Association, and National Tour Association.[6] The company is reported to have 75 buses in its fleet.[7][1]

Coverage

Management

Steve Woelfel became President and CEO of Jefferson Lines in January 2013 after formerly serving as CFO of Jefferson Lines for eight years. Before his career at Jefferson, Woelfel was vice president and general manager of Fox Sports Net North.

Previous to Steve was Charlie Zelle. Charlie had been an investment banker in New York City until returning to Minnesota in 1987 to take over the company from his late father, Louie. Due to poor real-estate investments, such as in the St. Anthony Main project in Minneapolis, the company was in danger of foundering, but Zelle helped restructure the company under Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1989 and 1990.[5] The company was founded by Zelle's grandfather—Charlie Zelle marks the third generation of his family to work at Jefferson Lines. He owned 60% of the company as of 2010, with the remaining 40% owned by business partner Fred Kaiser of Texas.[1] As of 2011, Charlie Zelle was also chairman of the board of the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce.[8] In 2012, Charlie was appointed Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Upon beginning his new position in January 2013, Zelle withdrew as a Jefferson employee with any management authority while remaining as the Chair of the Jefferson Lines Board of Directors. He is recused from matters associated with MnDOT and Jefferson Lines relationships.[9]

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gollark: Ah, yes, tjwld, and you're much better.
gollark: GPUs are probably several hundred times better than CPUs in terms of raw performance, as they're not designed within the constraints of being "fast PDP-11s" and running C.
gollark: <@433072575221071872> <@433072575221071872>He does whatever the average idiot does!
gollark: *1246512

See also

References
  1. Neal St. Anthony (June 28, 2010). "Jefferson Lines: Flying low". Star-Tribune. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
  2. Neal St. Anthony (November 3, 2000). "Once-shaky Jefferson Lines putting rough road behind it". Star-Tribune. Archived from the original on May 1, 2011. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
  3. "Bus Routes : Jefferson Lines". Jefferson Lines. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  4. Barry Burns (September 30, 2010). "Bus Line Puts The Brakes On Grand Forks to Wpg Run". CJOB. Corus Entertainment.
  5. "Jefferson Lines, Jefferson Tours emerge from Chapter 11 protection". Star Tribune. July 17, 1990. Retrieved October 4, 2010.
  6. "Bus History : Jefferson Lines". Jefferson Lines. Retrieved June 7, 2014.
  7. "Jefferson Lines: Charter Bus FAQs". March 29, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
  8. "Executive Committee and Board of Directors". Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce. Archived from the original on April 28, 2011. Retrieved April 18, 2011.
  9. "Commissioner of Transportation - MnDOT". www.dot.state.mn.us. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
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