It looks like gaps in Iowa bus service left by the reorganization of Greyhound are going to be filled by other bus lines. Donna Johnson of the Iowa Department of Transportation says Burlington Trailways plans to pick up one of the major segments abandoned by Greyhound. The route will go from Des Moines to Chicago. Along with Des Moines, she says the route will serve Marshalltown, Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Dyersville, and Dubuque. Johnson says the Burlington Trailways will pick up the route beginning August 18th. She says it’s important that Iowans stay connected to the rest of the country, and she says it’s important that they state connected to cities within the state. The Jefferson line is picking up the Omaha to Sioux City bus route. Jefferson spokesperson Bonnie Buchanan. She says there are two issue, if no one picks up the route, there’ll be cities without intercity bus transportation. And she says they lose feeder riders into their other routes if noone picks up the dropped Greyhound routes. Greyhound cited economic reasons for reorganizing their routes, and Buchanan says leaders at the Jefferson Lines believe they can make the route work. She says they do feel with some marketing there are some opportunities. She says since they’re a Minnesota and Iowa company, they understand the midwest better than Greyhound. Buchanan says the number one reason people take the bus is to visit relatives. She says the bus is a good alternative for many of them. She says sometimes it’s an issue that they don’t have a car, or don’t trust their car on a long trip. She says they have a lot of student riders without a car, or elderly riders who don’t want to fight traffic. Buchanan says time will tell if their efforts get enough people to ride the bus.She says it could take six months to one year to know where they’re at. She says it’ll take awhile for some of their marketing strategies to take effect. For more information on public transportation — you can visit iatransit.com.