Once or twice a decade, the bus and motorcoach industry is rocked by transformative events.

Like: Deregulation, consolidation, the explosion of the gambling industry, 45-foot coaches, 9/11, the emergence of destination entertainment meccas, automatic transmissions, Greyhound's purchase of Trailways Inc., and so on.

We're likely seeing another one unfold with Greyhound's announcement that it plans to remake the company into something that isn't yet completely defined.

Last month, Greyhound launched a rolling restructuring of its system of 2,600 destinations. In one fell swoop, it revealed plans to chop 14 million miles from its network, eliminating 260 stops in a region that had but 359. That's 72 percent. That's dramatic.

"We definitely have the intention to transform the whole company," says Greyhound CEO Stephen Gorman.

Once cuts to its northern region are wrapped up Aug. 18, and additional cuts are completed in two to three years, Greyhound will operate a simpler network that focuses on short- and medium-haul trips of less than 450 miles.

Most importantly, adds Gorman, the changes will allow passengers traveling to most destinations to arrive sooner because more than half of the towns being cut are stops Greyhound coaches make every day despite never picking up or dropping off a passenger.

For example, the changes will permit the company to cut travel times by about two hours on trips between Chicago and Minneapolis.

Obviously, Greyhound's decision to abandoned hundreds of stops will impact hundreds of thousands of riders but it also will impact scores of bus operators. Over-the-road companies from Illinois and Wisconsin, to Washington and Oregon are queuing up to take a shot at routes being abandoned by Greyhound.

In some places, they will find townsfolk eager to have them. Like Bismarck, N.D.

How worried are they in Bismarck about losing their Greyhound service?

So worried that a United States Senator by the name of Byron Dorgan met with about 30 Greyhound travelers and representatives of organizations that rely on Greyhound in the Bismarck-Mandan transit station the evening of July 1.

A U.S. Senator in a bus station? Now that'll get your attention.