(Bloomberg) -- Greyhound Lines Chief Executive Officer Dave Leach is to leave the iconic long-distance bus operator he joined as a baggage handler in 1986 following its takeover by Germany’s FlixBus.

Leach, CEO since 2007, will stand down from the post while remaining as a strategic adviser until he retires at the end of the year, Flix SE said Thursday in a statement announcing the reorganization of its North American business.

Flix agreed to buy Greyhound for $172 million last October from UK-based FirstGroup Plc, which had been trying to sell the brand for years after acquiring it via a takeover of yellow school-bus operator Laidlaw. The new owner faces a challenge in changing perceptions of bus trips in the US, where most people use a car or plane for intercity travel. An eco-friendly, sharing-economy vibe that’s boosted the sector’s appeal in Europe has yet to fully take hold.

A new entity, Flix North America Inc., will now oversee the operations of both FlixBus and Greyhound across the region, led by Kadir Boysan, the former CEO of Kamil Koc Buses, a Turkish business acquired by Flix in 2019.

Like Greyhound, which was founded in 1914 and serves 2,400 destinations, it will be based in Dallas.

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