 Grey Rabbit bus in San Francisco, 1982 | |
| Founded | 1971 |
|---|---|
| Ceased operation | 1983 (acquired by Green Tortoise) |
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California |
| Service type | Passenger transportation |
| Chief executive | Lester Rall (founder) |
Grey Rabbit, also known as Grey Rabbit Camper Tours,[1] was an American company based in the San Francisco Bay Area that operated long-distance bus service from 1971 to 1983. It was one of a few small, long-distance bus companies established in the U.S. in the 1970s that specialized in inexpensive, no-frills, cross-country bus service using old secondhand buses and attracting counterculture passengers. It was the first, and was also the biggest, best-known,[2] and "most successful"[3] of them in its first several years. A Washington Post columnist in 1978 referred to Grey Rabbit as "the granddaddy"[4] of the five such "alternative" bus companies existing at that time, also known as "underground" bus companies[3] and "hippie bus"[2][3][5][6] companies. It operated mainly in two areas: between California and the Pacific Northwest and on a cross-country route between San Francisco and New York. Green Tortoise, which was established in 1973 and named after Grey Rabbit,[7] became Grey Rabbit's main competition in the small field, and eventually bought it out.[7]
- ^ Bellamy, Ron (October 4, 1981). "The Bunny Trail – Move over, Greyhound bus; here comes a cwazy wabbit". The Register-Guard. Eugene, Oregon. p. 1C. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
- ^ a b Davis, William A. (January 3, 1982). "Green Tortoise races to respectability on tour bus circuit". The Sunday Oregonian. Portland, Oregon. Field News Service. SunDAY section, p. 12.
- ^ a b c Davis, William A. (September 8, 1991). "Green Tortoise Is The Victor". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on December 8, 2015. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
- ^ Hogan, Mary Ann (March 28, 1978). "Leave the Driving to ..." The Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 28, 2016. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
spartan-1999was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Brody, Patricia; Kinney, Sheila (January 11, 1976). "Riding The Grey Rabbits". San Francisco Sunday Examiner & Chronicle. California Living Magazine section, p. 14.
- ^ a b Brown, Karen D. (June 18, 1995). "The pleasures of riding the Green Tortoise". The San Francisco Examiner. Archived from the original on December 27, 2016. Retrieved October 28, 2023.