Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University | Policy Series
THE REMAKING OF THE MOTOR COACH:
2015 Year in Review of Intercity Bus Service in the United States
2015
year-in-review
© Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development, DePaul University: January 13, 2016
For additional research on bus travel, visit our website at:
http://las.depaul.edu/centers-and-institutes/chaddick-institute-for-metropolitan-development/
AUTHORS
Joseph P. Schwieterman, Professor, School of Public Service + Director, Chaddick Institute
Brian Antolin, Research Associate, Chaddick Institute
Alexander Levin, Research Associate, Chaddick Institute
Matthew Michel, Research Associate, Chaddick Institute
Heather Spray, Research Associate, Chaddick Institute
CONTACTS
Joe Schwieterman
jschwiet@depaul.edu; 312/362-5732 ofce
Marisa Schulz
mschulz2@depaul.edu; 312/362-5731 ofce
Megabus cover photo by Adam E. Moreira
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
-
nological advancement to the intercity bus industry in the United
States. More carriers are introducing new business-class ame-
-
-
1
2
3
4
exemplied by Greyhound’s new OnTouch© system, megabus.com’s re-
served seang program, and BoltBus’ integraon of Uber ridesharing into its mo-
bile app.
35% more than in 2008. The number of seat-miles of service grew at a some-
what faster rate. These esmates are made through analysis of 155 scheduled
carriers to ll a void in the understanding of the sector. Growth has recently slowed
due to low gasoline prices that make driving more aordable.
accentuang com-
peon for major lines, parcularly in the Sunbelt region.
-
These carriers now account for more than
600 daily schedules, heightening compeon for major corporate carriers.
5
much like
Uber and Ly do for urban ridesharing services.
2
INTRODUCTION
notable changes in the intercity bus sector during 2015 and is divided into
The rst part of the report reviews notable product enhancements
and public partnerships.
The second secon focuses on new service oerings in various region
of the United States.
The nal secon highlights the Chaddick Instute’s previously unpub-
lished esmates about the growth of major carriers since 2008
PART I
PART 3
PART 2
3
PRODUCT
ENHANCEMENTS
& PUBLIC
PARTNERSHIPS
-
-
• -
, which has pushed bus service to regions in which prod-
uct awareness is relavely low. To appreciate this growth, please refer
to the map on page 19 showing the most notable intercity hubs created
since 2006. Evidence suggests that it oen takes 3- 5 years for new ser-
vice to achieve nancial self-suciency.
1
•
vehicles. Average gasoline prices across the U.S. fell from $3.68 in July
2014 to less than $2.79 this past July and then to about $2.05 in Decem-
ber. When standard assumpons about fuel eciency are made, these
falling prices have reduced the average cost dierence of operang a
single occupant vehicle on a 250 mile roundtrip by about $25 compared
to a motor coach.
2
•
encouraging carriers to focus on broadening their appeal
among demographic groups that have been reluctant to give bus travel
a try along exisng routes.
New Simplied Fare Structure
on Greyhound.com
4
As summarized below, the most notable steps taken by the country’s largest carriers to enhance service quality have
important implicaons for the passenger experience:
America’s largest schedule bus line, Greyhound Lines, is owned by U.K.-based First Group, Ltd. This historic carrier aract-
ed much favorable publicity in 2014 for reaching its 100th anniversary as a transportaon company.
3
Greyhound reported
North American revenues, inclusive of its BoltBus subsidiary, largely unchanged from 2014 to 2015, slipping from $990.6
million to $986.0. The carrier’s prot margin remained steady at 7%.
The carrier invested heavily in on-board and web-based enhancements, and added routes in Lano-oriented markets
during the year. It also began adversing s, rather than just on Greyhound
Express schedules.
Schedule frequencies mostly held steady, but this carrier took the signicant step of creang Greyhound Mexico, the rst
U.S.-based bus company to operate to Mexico. Greyhound Mexico now oers direct service from Ausn, Dallas, Houston,
San Antonio, and other Texas cies to Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey, MX, with new terminals opened in both Mexican
cies. These streamlined roungs eliminate the need to transfer in Laredo, giving customers a beer travel experience
and advancing the company’s goal of gaining a stronger presence in Mexico’s enormous intercity bus market.
4
Meanwhile,
Greyhound connues to serve Canada, thereby giving the company a presence in North America’s three largest countries.
In an eort create a more pleasant and producve onboard experience for customers, Greyhound launched ,
an onboard online catalog of “desnaon packages” that passengers can access through their Wi-Fi enabled electronic
device, in January of 2015. OnTouch© gives customers the ability to purchase ckets to events and gain informaon on
ground transportaon, popular aracons, and shared rides. This convenience, developed by GuestLogix, is also available
on BoltBus.
5
Greyhound: New Website & Routes to Mexico
• are the lowest price ckets available,
with limited services aached such as one Road Rewards
(Greyhound’s frequent rider program) point given per cket
purchased.
• generally cost a few
dollars more and include priority boarding, free same
day exchange and two Road Rewards points.
• are fully refundable and exchangeable, and
allow addional checked bags. While Flexible and certain
other fares are sll available, they are no longer displayed as
the primary opons
In November, Greyhound completely
com to improve its online communicaon with customers.
Reminiscent of eorts by other carriers to refresh their im-
age, the new website features FAQs; inerary details, such
as rest stops and services; and new ways for users to lter
search results based on the consumer’s preferences. Along
with the new website,
were also introduced. Now, two primary fare types,
Economy and Economy Extra, appear on the screen from cus-
tomer searches, with Flexible fares and others provided as
addional opons.
6
Taking a cue from airlines, the new fare
structure provides addional perks for those buying higher
fares.
Seats available in Megabus reserved seat program on
Chicago – Omaha bus. Prices for highlighted seats are $1 -$7
5
Greyhound’s introducon of , a new real-me GPS tracking system, on Apple and Android devices in June,
provided bus-status updates every one to four minutes. Using several onboard data systems, BusTracker allows passen-
gers to stay abreast of their bus’s locaon and ancipate their arrival me with considerable precision.
7
Only a handful of
operators, most notably Jeerson Lines, Megabus, Peter Pan, and RedCoach, have their own publicly-accessible tracking
programs. Except for RedCoach, however, no other company shows the approximate locaon of the coach in real me,
making Greyhound a trendseer. Although the system provides data on most scheduled trips, addional secons added
to meet demand cannot be tracked this way. BoltBus also launched its own standalone BusTracker.
8
In December, Greyhound , ending its joint eort with the Peter Pan Bus Company
to gain tracon in the Northeast’s Chinatown bus market. Previously, Yo!’s New York–Boston and Philadelphia service had
been cut back and its New York–Washington DC service curtailed. A local partner in New York had facilitated cket sales
and customer relaons, giving this line the aura of a tradional Chinatown carrier.
9
megabus.com: Reserved Seating and Google Maps
No longer a newcomer to the American scene, Megabus
reached its 10th U.S. anniversary in April. Taking a break
from aggressive route expansion, Megabus consolidated its
gains by focusing on its exisng service. This subsidiary of
Stagecoach Ltd. reported North American revenues for s-
cal year 2015 (ending March 31) of $191.4 million, up from
$177.9 million in 2014, a 7.6% increase. Due to the sharp
decline in fuel costs, some analysts expect revenues to hold
relavely steady this scal year.
Megabus connues to invest heavily in features that will
aract new market segments, with its most notable move
being the introducon of its Reserved Seang program, al-
lowing passengers on all company-operated routes to select
parcular seats when purchasing their ckets. Megabus es-
tablished itself as the naonal leader in this area in February
by introducing reserved seang fees of less than $5/cket
for most seat selecons. The choice of reserved seats was
inially conned mostly to the front row of the top level on
the double decker buses and selected lower-level seats with
tables. In July, however, Megabus doubled the number of
seats available for pre-selecon to 20 (see seang chart at
le).
The signicance of this move can be appreciated consider-
ing that, as recently as a decade ago, almost all U.S. bus pas-
sengers were denied even an opon of having a guaranteed
seat on the departure of their choice, much less having a
parcular seat reserved for them. This uncertainty com-
pelled many to arrive at the staon at least an hour ahead
to stand in line and assure they obtained a seat. Having a
reserved seat, of course, allows passengers to arrive at the
last moment with assurance that a prime seat awaits. (Re-
served seang is not available on several routes operated
by contract, such as those by Concord Coach.)
10
Along with the enre Coach USA family of companies, Mega-
bus implemented a new hi-tech eco-driving system that will
help decrease carbon emissions, improve fuel consumpon
rates, and reduce accidents. allows
management to provide real me feedback to bus opera-
tors about their driving style, which can help address issues
with speed, braking, acceleraon, lane-handling, and turn-
ing.
11
The goal of the system is a 3% reducon in fuel con-
sumpon.
Finally, Megabus forged an important partnership with Goo-
. Now, scheduling data appears with map search-
es. In addion to showing bus schedules, travel mes, and
stop locaon data, Google Maps allows customers to com-
pare Megabus service with other modes of transport and
see street views of all stop locaons.
12
New Boltbus app for Uber rides
6
Partnerships with Google Transit, Parking Panda, and Uber
Bus lines forged partnerships with several leading innovators in travel service
during the year. Jeerson Lines is believed to be the rst intercity bus company
to partner with Google Transit to feature schedules and route informaon on this
plaorm, giving customers a new set of tools so that they will no longer have to use
mulple websites and resources to plan their trip.
13
An online and app-based program called , which allows motorists to
nd and reserve parking spots, joined forces with both Greyhound and Megabus.
Users can lock in parking within walking distance of 20 Megabus stop locaons and
50 Greyhound terminals.
14
Uber is part of the mix at BoltBus, which has a new mobile app feature allowing
passengers to easily summon rides upon arrival.
15
The carrier’s app, launched in
2014, was also upgraded to allow passengers to have their
, bypassing the oen tedious and me consuming task
of searching and verifying cket conrmaon codes and passenger names.
Wanderu and Busbud: Leaders in Bus Travel Bookings
A signicant development in intercity bus travel was the
heightened momentum behind the two leading ckeng
aggregator websites for bus ckeng. Enhancements made
to wander.com and busbud.com in 2015 provide height-
ened credibility to the sector that has oen been regarded
“low tech” and gives customers the ability conduct search
for alternaves with reasonable assurance that the carriers
they choose are reputable and safe.
Data shared with us by Wanderu suggests that consumers
are responding in signicant numbers to these enhance-
ments. This Boston-based ckeng aggregator more than
tripled its sales in 2015 from the previous year and now
hosts more than 50 carriers, including all of the largest ma-
jor U.S. brands and Amtrak, giving it truly naonwide cov-
erage. Research by the company suggests that, for most
carriers, more than 20% of the bookings on its site are incre-
mental in nature due its unique features, such as its nearby
staon locator, roung informaon, and mobile apps, which
make searching and buying easier. Incremental bookings are
those that carriers could not get on their own or via another
search tool.
Another major theme for the year was serving mobile users.
Wanderu launched an app that the company is toung as
one of the best in the travel industry, having received an
Apple Best New App award and other recognions. Wande-
ru has also expanded the number of lters that customers
can use to search for amenies, the lowest fare, and other
features.
The other major booking site, Busbud.com, connued to
focus on serving internaonal tourists, as well as passenger
markets not apt to take buses without trustworthy informa-
on. Busbud approximately doubled its worldwide cover-
age during the year. Aer adding Greyhound to its system
in late 2014, GoBuses, Peter Pan, and several other regional
operators came onboard in 2015. The company’s seat se-
lecon feature, now used on internaonal routes, may soon
be available on certain U.S. schedules.
Recognizing that roughly half of its web trac is now mo-
bile devices, Busbud launched Android and iOS booking
apps that simplify the search and booking process. These
apps are intended to make buying a bus cket analogous
to booking an Uber ride, although on some carriers, such
as Greyhound, you must sll print your cket. Busbud also
launched the industry’s rst android and apple watch apps.
7
Long a hotbed of intercity bus compeon,
boasts one of the country’s most well-developed intercity
bus networks. Several compeve developments in this region stand out:
1) The terminal at Boston South Staon has become one of the country’s preeminent connecng intercity bus hubs with
the addion of numerous regional services to and from Boston in the past three years, including those supported by the
Commonwealth of Massachuses’ expansive BusPlus program. All the recent service addions are providing formidable
compeon to Amtrak.
2) A resurgence of Chinatown bus service in the Boston–New York market is lling a void le by the 2013 shutdown of
Fung Wah Bus Lines and the gradual withdrawal of Greyhound-owed Yo! Bus. This expansion is being aided by the growing
sophiscaon of online booking systems, such as gotobus.com and ilikebus.com, which cater to these carriers.
3) Bus passengers are beneng from a growing number of choices from many regional cies to New York. Passengers
traveling from the Boston area to Manhaan, for example, can now choose from six dierent carriers—BoltBus, Coach
Run, Go! Buses, Greyhound, Megabus, and Peter Pan—that have at least a half-dozen daily trips in each direcon. Average
fares on the route remain in the $20 - $30 range.
Jefferson City
Columbus
Duluth
New routes/service additions
Greyhound Lines
New business-class service
Megabus.com service enhancement
Regional carrier services addition
State supported service/Go Bus (Ohio)
Amtrak Thruway route
New stop, Megabus/Greyhound
Chicago
Ft. Wayne
Davenport
Minneapolis
Lima
Wooster
Albany
Scranton
Pittsburgh
Fairfax
Providence
Portland
Toronto
Philadelphia
New York
Springfield
Cleveland
Harrisburg
Dearborn
Cincinnati
Boston
Parkersburg
Kirksville
Ithaca
St. Louis
Fall River
Bed
Athens
Martz
Wash. Deluxe
GoBuses
Akron
Peter Pan
Note A:New Big Red Bullet and Coach USA (Ithaca Platinum) service
Charleston
Morgantown
Pentagon
Rolla
Columbia
Wells
Dover
Sprinter
Rochelle
To Iron Range
Greyhound
NOTABLE SERVICE
CHANGES
BY REGION
NEW
ENGLAND
MIDWEST
MID-ATLANTIC
+ UPSTATE
NEW YORK
S. CENTRAL
+ SOUTHEAST
WESTERN
U.S.
Concord Coach Plus photo showing
execuve-style seang conguraon
8
Several iniaves by individual carriers are also noteworthy:
Concord Coach, a regional carrier primarily serving communies north and east of Boston, launched Portland, ME–New
York City service in November under the new Concord Coach Plus brand. This
express service—the carrier’s rst foray outside of New England—features exec-
uve-level amenies, with just 29 seats for purchase on each coach. Large plush
leather chairs with generous legroom, free snacks, Wi-Fi, and outlets target high-
end clientele to this new once-a-day round trip service.
16
Another highlight is the
New York City–Providence, RI service launched by GoBuses in November, estab-
lishing it as a major regional competor. This carrier, owned by Academy Bus,
had previously been conned to Greater Boston (Alewife & Newton)–New York
routes. Its stop in downtown Providence is near the Amtrak staon and Brown
University. GoBus operates three or four daily round trip express schedules.
17
Peter Pan was awarded a contract to operate a starng in November. Al-
though Peter Pan already provides “pool service” over the route coordinated with Greyhound, this new service focuses
on smaller Massachuses communies along Route 2, such as Deereld and Northampton. Operang twice daily in each
direcon, the service is supported by the MassDOT BusPlus program.
18
to expand its connecvity. Aer an absence of about 10 years it returned to Wells,
serving the city once daily in each direcon on its Boston–Bangor route.
19
Through its Greyhound Connect brand, the com-
pany announced in June that it was partnering with ShuleBus Zoom to provide daily connecons to and from Saco, Old
Orchard Beach, and other points in Maine. Passengers can transfer to Greyhound in Portland and Biddeford.
20
Although less acve in the region than in previous years, in March to its New York–
Providence/New Bedford route, which has three round trips daily.
21
New Hampshire-based
on its New York City–Portsmouth schedules, a route noted for its rst-class style service featuring refreshments and
spacious seang. C&J also added a third round trip (and a second on Saturdays) on this route, which serves Tewksbury,
MA. Although the Ogunquit stop is only seasonal, C&J’s other new service is year-round.
22
This year brought on the Plymouth Brockton Street Railway Company.
These trips, which had been operated twice each weekday under a BusPlus program grant, were terminated in Octo-
ber.
23
NEW
ENGLAND
MIDWEST
MID-ATLANTIC
+ UPSTATE
NEW YORK
S. CENTRAL
+ SOUTHEAST
WESTERN
U.S.
Some of most extensive changes taking place in 2015 were in the
. More express service was introduced here than in any other part of the country, as well as:
1) New premium services linking New York to Ithaca, NY and Washington, DC, became available, reecng a connuing
push by the region’s carriers to dierenate their service. This push also prompted two carriers to add new drop-o points
in northern Virginia on express routes from Midtown Manhaan.
2) The disrupon of Amtrak service following the derailment of Amtrak train #188 near Philadelphia in May encouraged
many travelers who had previously avoided motor coach travel to give it a try. Most major carriers honored Amtrak ckets
or accepted cket exchanges to help stranded passengers.
3) Due to service addions by convenonal lines and a comeback by Chinatown carriers, consumers can now choose from
eight carriers with ve or more daily departures between New York–Washington, DC.
Ithaca Plaum adversement promong its benets over
“The Bullet”conguraon
9
Some of the most notable iniaves by carriers include:
In upstate New York, -
in September. With two sched-
uled trips in each direcon Sunday through Friday, Red
Bullet touted itself as an aordable luxury alternave to
Cornell University’s exisng Campus 2 Campus shule. Pas-
sengers board at a Midtown Manhaan stop across from
Bryant Park on 6th Avenue.
24
Red Bullet also has a stop in
downtown Ithaca. Defending its turf, Coach USA Shortline
launched Ithaca Planum Service with fast express sched-
ules in December, giving passengers the ability to show
e-ckets on a mobile device in addion to providing Wi-Fi
and power outlets. Going a step further, Ithaca Planum
also features free snacks and drinks and a reduced fare ($50
one way vs. the $53.50 normal price). Unlike Big Red Bul-
let, whose only stop is in the city of Ithaca, the Coach USA
service oers on-campus pick up at Ithaca College and Cor-
nell University. The express service, which saves customers
approximately 30 - 45 minutes compared to the company’s
regular buses, runs Thursday–Sunday, with one or two trips
in each direcon.
25
Service on the New York–Washington, DC area also saw im-
provement.
service in June on one of its morning schedules from New
York. As of yet, there is not a regularly scheduled return
stop. Washington Deluxe is believed to have been the rst
non-Chinatown intercity carrier in the Northeast Corridor in
operaon today to use “curbside” drop-o and pickup.
A luxury operator that launched in 2014 as Royal Sprinter,
renamed -
. The new stop is located at a Hilton Hotel in Tysons
Corner, giving it a foothold in the corporate hub midway
between the Dulles Internaonal Airport and the naon’s
capital. Royal had previously served only the New York–
downtown Washington route. For $110, passengers can
travel in vehicles hosng an inmate eight passenger con-
guraon with plush seang, Wi-Fi, outlets, DirecTV, and
snacks. One schedule is oered in both direcons Monday
through Thursday, with an addional round trip on Fridays
and Sundays.
26
Martz Trailways entered into an agreement with Amtrak
to make its exisng Philadelphia–Scranton–Wilkes Barre–
White Haven, PA service an , allow-
ing the passenger railroad to sell ckets to several new des-
naons. As part of the iniave, started in April, Martz
added a stop at Amtrak’s 30th Street Staon in Philadelphia.
Martz operates two daily round trips on this route, with a
third on Fridays and Sundays.
27
In response to growing demand for service between Phil-
adelphia and Pisburgh, Megabus restructured its in-
tra-Pennsylvania operaon. On Fridays and Sundays, the
corridor is now split into two disnct services, with one op-
erang express via Harrisburg (two schedules)—saving trav-
elers up to 90 minutes. The other operates to State College
via the state capital (one schedule).
28
added a stop at Dover, DE to all of its New
York–Norfolk/Virginia Beach schedules in January. This
stop, located at the Dover Downs Casino, came in response
to requests from passengers in the Old Dominion State for
service to Delaware casinos.
29
Greyhound, meanwhile, add-
ed a Morgantown, WV stop on the West Virginia University
campus to its Washington DC-Pisburgh, PA route.
Chinatown carrier service also expanded, with parcular-
ly heavy frequency on major routes from New York. We
esmate that about 400 scheduled Chinatown buses now
arrive in and depart from Manhaan daily on routes of 80
miles or more, not including smaller operators that do not
use online booking systems—a considerable increase from
several years ago. The largest carriers include Eastern Trav-
el (an esmated 30 daily arrivals/departures), Focus (34),
and HG Bus (18). On the New York – Atlanta route and oth-
er corridors to the South, Rockledge Coach is a dominant
carrier (34).
Our research on the recovery of Chinatown service remains
in an early stage. Nevertheless, evidence suggests that
carriers have found ways to more eecvely comply with
federal safety rules following the crackdowns by the Fed-
eral Motor Carrier Safety Administraon in 2012 and 2013.
This federal iniave included an “Operaon Quick Strike”
squad that helped idenfy unsafe Chinatown bus drivers
and resulted in shutdowns of several prominent lines, in-
cluding Apex, Fung Wah, and Lucky Star. Our impression
is that Chinatown carriers have adjusted business pracces
and have diversied into longer-distance routes, including
overnight runs from New York to the Midwest and South,
parally due to heavy compeon in the Northeast Corri-
dor. Lucky Star, having reemerged, is once again one of the
largest Chinatown lines.
10
NEW
ENGLAND
MIDWEST
MID-ATLANTIC
+ UPSTATE
NEW YORK
S. CENTRAL
+ SOUTHEAST
WESTERN
U.S.
Service on major corridors throughout changed lile during the year, but much acvity occurred in
smaller markets:
1) The network feeder routes supported by state governments connues to blossom in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and
Ohio. All but Missouri’s new services are linked to Greyhound’s Chicago hub.
2) The Midwest connues to be dominated by Greyhound and its aliates, as well as Megabus, with comparavely less
compeon on short-distance corridors from ethnically-oriented lines than in other regions. Unlike the other regions fea-
tured in this report, luxury or business-class services have not yet emerged, perhaps to the hesitaon of business travelers
to take the bus.
3) Lano-oriented carriers, such as El Expreso, Tornado, and Turimex, have extensive operaons linking Chicago to the
South, but are not a major force on busy regional routes served by Greyhound Express and Megabus.
Among the most notable moves by carriers include:
Greyhound partnered with Amtrak to create an in August. The ser-
vice aords train travelers greater access to desnaons in Ontario, including London and Windsor. Trains connect with
this service at Chicago Union Staon and the new John D. Dingell Transit Center in Dearborn, Michigan. Two to three buses
operate each way daily.
30
In Minnesota, in October, increasing its service to thrice daily in
each direcon, with selected buses serving the Mall of America and the Minneapolis-St. Paul Internaonal Airport. The
expansion allows for beer-med connecons from the northern part of the state to places west and south of Minneap-
olis. Other enhancements include a later outbound departure on the Duluth–Iron Range route and a new stop providing
beer connecvity with Duluth’s public transit system.
31
Operated with federal funds through the State of Ohio, , including a new
daily Cleveland–Athens service under contract by Barons Bus Lines, which runs via Akron, Parkersburg, WV, and Mariea.
Barons also operates a new daily Cleveland - Charleston, WV bus to serve smaller communies on its Chicago–Columbus–
Cleveland route operang via Kenton and Lima, OH (this route is not branded a Go Bus route but under contract as well).
Barons’ established Athens–Cincinna and Columbus routes also saw added service.
32
Another new route, under contract
with Lakefront Lines, runs twice daily from Columbus and Wooster with several stops, including Newark and Mt. Vernon.
With assistance from Lee County and the State of Illinois, a Greyhound
. This
twice daily service calls on smaller communies on the I-88 corridor,
including DeKalb, Moline, Naperville, and Rochelle, and connects to
the naonal network at both ends.
33
Megabus also added Davenport to its route map, generang addional
patronage for its Chicago–Omaha service, with two daily departures operang in each direcon. Due to declining rider-
ship, however, , marking the only me in the past ve
years it has withdrawn enrely from a top-50 U.S. market. Previously, the carrier had aempted to adjust its Chicago–Kan-
sas City service to boost ridership.
35
In this same region, however, Greyhound started two new services from St. Louis, MO
through a partnership with the State of Missouri. The northern route serves Columbia, Moberly, and Kirksville, while the
southern route serves Columbia, Jeerson City, and Rolla. The services were created in part due to travel paerns recog-
nized by Greyhound. Each route has one daily round trip.
36
Promoon for the Go Bus network supported by
the State of Ohio
11
Major convenonal and city-to-city express carriers held steady in aer
the aggressive expansion of the recent past:
1) As described in the previous secon, Texas is the focal point of the new Greyhound Mexico brand. More cross-border
routes by Greyhound and facility enhancements may be just around the corner (Figure 2).
2) Both Greyhound and Megabus face heightened compeon from Lano carriers in the Lone Star State with El Expreso,
Tornado Bus, and Turimex Internaonal being parcularly formidable competors.
3) Carriers faced added compeon from both Chinatown lines in Florida, including Emmanuel Coach and Javax. Lano
compeon in the Sunshine State, however, remains relavely weak.
Among the most notable developments in this region are:
Greyhound launched new service under its “Quicklink” brand on New Orleans–Baton Rouge, LA service in July. Quicklink
is provided in partnership with the State of Louisiana and features addional express schedules and local service via Gon-
zales and LaPlace. These new schedules ll a void le by the demise of the
LA Swi service.
37
Aer garnering aenon in 2014 for its new luxury service between Dallas
and Ausn, Vonlane began service in April to Houston, where it operates its
16-passenger buses from a parking lot facility located near Houston’s George
H. Bush Interconnental Airport. Two trips each way from Dallas operate
Monday - Friday, while one roundtrip operates on weekends.
38
Turimex has begun selling its ckets on Wanderu.com, allowing customers to compare its service with major U.S. brands.
The carrier connues to be available on Busbud.com.
Luxury-operator Vonlane’s triangular route map
showing expansion to Houston
`vs
Dallas
Gonzales
Houston
New Orleans
Greyhound
Mexico
crossborder
service
Vonlane
existing
new
San Antonio
new terminal
Monterey
new terminal
Laredo
Austin
Nuevo Laredo
Baton Rouge
Greyhound
Quicklink
NEW
ENGLAND
MIDWEST
MID-ATLANTIC
+ UPSTATE
NEW YORK
S. CENTRAL
+ SOUTHEAST
WESTERN
U.S.
12
NEW
ENGLAND
MIDWEST
MID-ATLANTIC
+ UPSTATE
NEW YORK
S. CENTRAL
+ SOUTHEAST
WESTERN
U.S.
Compeon connues to intensify in as large, established carriers bale smaller ones on major
routes, parcularly in Southern California:
1) The paerns of intercity travel in the Mountain States connue to create challenges for bus lines specializing in premium
high-frequency service. Unlike in the Coastal Region and southern Nevada, most major corridors involve distances outside
the 100 - 250 mile range considered ideal for this service (see map on page 19). As a result, public agencies are oering
enhanced funding to support new services.
2) On intra-California and the Los Angeles–Las Vegas routes, compeon is growing ercer, with BoltBus, Megabus, and
Greyhound facing rising compeon from Chinatown lines—such as American Lion and Pacic Coast—as well as the Lano
operator Tufesa.
3) BoltBus and Greyhound remain the key players on major routes in the Pacic Northwest, beneng from the absence
of Megabus and the limited presence of ethnic-based carriers.
The year 2015 saw two notable developments by individual carriers:
in September through the introducon of daily through-trip service be-
yond Portland to Seale. Travelers in these communies now have the benet of four round trips to Oregon’s largest city.
BoltBus also added new service between Portland and Seale, bringing its daily total on many days to eight.
39
Colorado’s newest intra-state carrier,
routes in July, establishing it as one of the most signicant new startups of
the year. Funded by the state’s transportaon department, Bustang began
with weekday service linking Denver to Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, and
Glenwood Springs (via Vail) with intermediate stops. Since its launch, Friday
and Sunday service to Colorado State University and weekend service to Glenwood Springs has been added.
40
Bustang will
be supported by about $10 million in public funds for the rst year and $3 million annually thereaer.
41
The Fort Collins
and Colorado Springs routes are in the 50-70 mile range, making them heavily commuter-oriented.
Bustang joins a growing list of intercity services that recently commenced with public nancing in the West. Other notable
examples are Colorado’s Road Runner Stage Lines, Nevada’s Silver State Trailways, and Utah’s Elevated Transit—all of which
are featured in our 2014 report.
“Low fuel prices have made driving more affordable, encouraging major bus
carriers to shift their orientation from expanding their schedules by rolling out
new value-added conveniences on a relatively large scale.”
Joseph P. Schwieterman
13
-
-
-
The esmates presented are supply-driven, derived by looking at the amount of service provided and then applying
load-factor esmates to various categories of bus lines. Computaons made by evaluang the amount of service are made
separately for the four dierent types of companies: i) convenonal bus lines, ii) city-to-city express lines, iii) Chinatown
bus lines, and iv) Lano (Hispanic) carriers. (See denions in Appendix A). Our esmates do not include charter bus
operaons, casino runs, local transit operaons, and airport–shule operators. Similarly, they exclude public transit and
commuter-bus operaons on most routes less than 50 miles.
Readers should recognize that the gures provided are approximaons that are subject to change as we connue our
research. Please refer to the Appendix for a general summary, or email us at [email protected] to learn more about
our methodology.
This chart shows the esmated number of daily schedules, i.e., unique bus operaons, by the largest intercity bus lines in
the U.S. Bus schedules, like airline ights, are idenable on many carriers by a unique number in a company’s metable.
Greyhound (1,088 daily schedules) is the largest, followed by Megabus (422), Coach USA’s (e.g., Shortline) operaon cen-
tering on New York (420), Peter Pan (261), and BoltBus (208). These gures represent Friday schedules at the end of the
year. They include cross-border services but exclude the esmated number of extra secons operated during periods of
peak demand, which may add upwards of 8% to daily acvity on some lines.
THE CHANGING
SCALE OF THE
INDUSTRY
1088
422
420
208
120
0
200
400
800
1000
1200
Greyhound Megabus Coach USA
Peter Pan BoltBus
FIGURE 3
Largest Carriers by No. of Daily Schedules in U.S.
Not Including Extra sections
Not Including Extra Secons
422
1088
420
208
120
(NJ/NY Short Line)
14
The number of passengers that have traveled on intercity bus lines rose from about 45 million in 2008 to 61.6 million in
2015. This analysis shows that buses handle about twice as many passengers as Amtrak (which carried 30.8 million in FY
2015).
42
Much of the increase in passenger boardings is due to the rising use of city-to-city express lines, such as BoltBus
and Megabus, and a bevy of Chinatown and Lano carriers. (See Appendix for a denion of carrier types). Our analysis
suggests the number of passengers remained relavely at between 2014 and 2015, in part due to the drop in gasoline
prices. Parcular uncertainty exists regarding the numbers for city-to-city express and Lano lines, however, due to the
absence of credible published informaon about their trac. Esmates for Lano carriers are based on the number of
buses in service rather than detailed schedule analysis.
in Millions/Year
38.5
40.0
2.3
2.8
3.4
4.0
5.0
4.2
4.4
4.8
5.0
5.3
2.3
10.8
-
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
FIGURE YY
Estimated Passenger Trips on U.S. Intercity Bus Lines
in millions/year.
City-to-City Express
Chinatown
Latino
Conventional
45.2
58.3
38.5 40.0
15
228.5
234.3
234.5
234.2
31.8
42.0
48.3
58.4
38.5
43.8
45.4
48.5
-
50.0
100.0
150.0
200.0
250.0
300.0
350.0
400.0
450.0
2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
FIGURE YY
Bus Miles of Service by Type of Carrier
In Millions
City-to-City Express
Chinatown
Latino
Conventional
This chart shows the esmated growth in bus-miles of service on weekdays provided by U.S. intercity bus lines. The anal-
ysis suggests the sector is approaching 400 million miles for the rst me in at least a decade. The majority of mileage is
accounted for by convenonal lines such as Greyhound, Peter Pan, and various Trailways units, which oer a “baseline” of
service held relavely steady since 2008. Nevertheless, city-to-city express and Lano operators, and most recently, Chi-
natown lines, have all grown sharply. Each of these more specialized sectors now account for between 48 and 60 million
bus miles per year.
In Millions
318.5
228.5
234.3
234.5 234.2
16
This chart shows the approximate number of riders (unlinked trips) by various ownership groups of U.S. intercity bus lines
in 2015. Greyhound and its subsidiaries (including BoltBus, Yo! , and other units owned by First Group), Greyhound Pool
Partners (Adirondack Trailways, New York Trailways, and Peter Pan, which coordinate service with this legacy carrier in the
Northeast), and Stagecoach Ltd. (owner of various Coach USA units and Megabus.com) together account for well over half
of all U.S. intercity ridership. Megabus has grown parcularly fast since 2008, more than doubling the number of trips on
Stagecoach-owned units since 2008.
In Millions
5.2
5.3
5.0
12.5
FIGURE YY
Estimated Bus Miles of Service
by Ownership Category (in millions)
Greyhound & subsidiaries
Greyhound pool partners
Other Carriers
Chinatown
Latino
Stagecoach/Megabus
17
This chart shows the rising number of seat-miles of service by type of carrier since 2008. City-to-city express lines show
parcularly dramac gains, in part due to Megabus’ rapid expansion and nearly universal adopon of double deck coaches,
which have 81 seats, giving the average bus much higher capacity than single deckers, which typically have 45 – 50 seats.
The share of seat miles accounted for by Lano carriers is larger than its share of passengers, as shown on Figure 8, due to
the tendency for their schedules to operate much longer distances than the average intercity bus route.
11.4
11.3
11.3
11.4
1.4
1.8
2.1
2.4
2.8
3.0
1.8
2.0
2.0
2.2
1.3
2.4
3.8
3.8
0
5
10
15
20
25
2008 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
FIGURE 9
Seat Miles of Service by Type of Carrier
In billions
City-to-City Express
Chinatown
Latino
Conventional
In Billions
15.8
18.4
20.2
22.0
18
This chart shows the approximate share of passengers by major ownership growth in dierent regions of the U.S. These
gures are derived from allocang each of the 166 carriers in the Intercity Bus Data Set across the regions their coaches
serve. Note that there is a broader spectrum of compeon in the East/Mid-Atlanc Region than in other parts of the
country. The Central/Mountain region has approximately an equal amount of Greyhound and Lano service, but essen-
ally no Chinatown service. Cauon should be exercised in interpreng these results due to the many assumpons made
regarding average passenger loads and other variables that will be evaluated further in the months ahead. Nevertheless,
they oer a previously unavailable perspecve on regional compeon.
30%
15%
35%
31%
15%
13%
3%
13%
1%
10%
5%
11%
32%
24%
12%
5%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
East/Mid South/SE Midwest Central/Mntn West Coast
FIGURE YY
Estimated Passenger Market Share by Region
SGC Megabus
Latino
Chinatown
Other Carriers
Greyhound pool partners
Greyhound & subsidiaries
19
This map shows the approximate geographic range of hubs created by Megabus between 2006 and 2015. The earliest
hubs were in Chicago, New York, and other densely populated cies with extensive heavy-rail (metro) systems. The cre-
aon of Megabus’ hub service in Atlanta and Pisburgh in 2011 marked a signicant shi away from this paern. The
Northern Great Plains/Rocky Mountain states remain the most signicant regions that have yet to be served by these city-
to-city express lines.
with Approximate Geographic Range of Service
Pacific Northwest 2012
Expansion 2013
California 2013
New York 2008
Newark 2011
with Approximate Geographic Range of Servicehgc
20
APPENDIX
DEFINITIONS OF CARRIER TYPES
Bus lines focused on express downtown-to-downtown service between major cies,
which rely on internet ckeng and oen use a mix of terminal and curbside drop-o and pickup locaons. Discount op-
erators do not parcipate in “interline” arrangements with Greyhound or other bus companies. Unlike many convenonal
bus companies, the carriers oer guaranteed seang and are not oriented toward serving airports. Examples include Best-
Bus, Boltbus, Megabus, and Vamoose.
Carriers operang tradional services over xed routes, and primarily use tradional terminals
in larger cies. This category includes luxury operators, regional operators, and rural transit companies that operate with
public subsidies. Examples of carriers in this category include Greyhound (including Greyhound Express), Jeerson Lines,
Peter Pan, Trailways, and Coach USA’s Shortline services operang to and from New York’s Port Authority Bus Terminal
Typically Asian- or Asian American-owned lines operang from Chinatown districts in major cies.
These carriers typically do not invest in clearly idenable brand names and do not interline with major bus companies.
Operate primarily to service Lano/Hispanic populaons and typically have staons in neighborhoods
with high concentraons of these populaons. Most of these companies’ informaonal and markeng materials are in
Spanish.
21
APPENDIX
SOURCE OF DATA FOR TIME SERIES ANALYSIS
• The Chaddick Instute’s Intercity Bus Data Set, which includes esmates of the amount of bus service that is provided
naonwide by convenonal and discount city-to-city carriers. Presently, this has data on 155 intercity carriers oerings
scheduled service.
• Chaddick Instute esmates on daily operaons of Chinatown and Hispanic oriented bus lines that are not included in
the Data Set.
• Chaddick Instute analysis of extra secons and average loads. The Instute has monitored announcements about the
numbers extra secons added to meet demand.
v2
