Southeastern Greyhound Lines - More Acquisitions

More Acquisitions

Through the years the CCC and the SEGL bought a number of routes and a number of other smaller companies.

The Hood Coach Lines in November 1934 sold three significant routes to the Consolidated Coach Corporation and the Union Bus Company (acting jointly) – one route between Atlanta and Macon and one between Macon and Jacksonville via Waycross (in Georgia), both going to Consolidated (which in 1936 became renamed as the Southeastern Greyhound Lines) – plus a third route, between Macon and Savannah (both in Georgia), going to Union (which in 1941 was acquried by and merged into the Southeastern GL) – thereby providing to Consolidated and Union (and therefore later to Greyhound) not only a new route between Macon and Savannah and a parallel alternate route between Atlanta and Macon but also a quicker alternate route between Macon and Jacksonville (about 50 miles shorter than the older route via Valdosta in Georgia and Lake City in Florida).

In 1941 the Southeastern GL acquired additional important and strategic routes by buying two more existing firms in the Deep South – the Dixie Coaches (running from Florence to Mobile via Birmingham and via Tuscaloosa, all four in Alabama) and the Union Bus Company (running from Macon to Savannah and from Jacksonville in Florida to Dothan in Alabama via Lake City, Tallahassee, and Marianna, all three in Florida).

SEG and Union had become closely affiliated with each other shortly after the routes of the two firms began to intersect in Jacksonville, Lake City, and Dothan – to the extent that the UBC coaches began to appear in the SEG livery, including the dogs, with the names of both the Southeastern Greyhound Lines (in large lettering) and the Union Bus Company (in small sublettering) – and to the extent that the UBC began to operate coaches which SEG provided to the UBC (even new ACF coaches which SEG had bought specifically for the UBC).

Another major acquisition took place late in the life of Southeastern: In 1949 SEG bought the Alaga Coach Lines, which had run between Columbus (in Georgia) and Panama City (in Florida) via Dothan (in Alabama). SEG allowed Alaga to continue operating separately as a wholly owned subsidiary of the SEG Lines until the end of 1950, when Alaga became merged into SEG.