Grow Greyhound

Greyhound Lines Inc., pressing hard to capture more Latino travelers, plans to acquire majority ownership of Golden State Inc., a family-owned bus line that mostly operates in the Southwest states. The price was not disclosed.

Los Angeles-based Golden State would continue to be run by the Gonzalez family, which started the service with bilingual drivers 15 years ago, Greyhound said. The firm’s routes include Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Denver and Phoenix.

Golden State “is a good partner for Greyhound’s growth in the Hispanic and cross-border markets,” Greyhound President Craig Lentzsch said in a statement.

It’s the third effort this year by Dallas-based Greyhound to expand in the Latino market. Last month, Greyhound bought Valley Transit Co., which serves 71 cities in south Texas with bilingual drivers. In January, it formed a joint venture with Crucero, a Mexican bus company, to provide service from Los Angeles to Ciudad Obregon, a city on Mexico’s west coast.

Long-suffering Greyhound needs something to spark its growth. The nation’s biggest intercity bus line has lost money in each of the last three years, for a total deficit of $102 million, although its losses have been steadily narrowing. In 1996, Greyhound lost $6.6 million on revenue of $700.9 million.

Times staff writer James F. Peltz can be reached at james.peltz@latimes.com