Chaddick Institute (of DePaul University) Intercity Bus Study 2012
Executive Summary:
Intercity bus service grew by 7.5% between the end of 2011 and 2012 – the highest growth in four years. Conventional bus lines, after declining modestly between 2010 and 2011, expanded by 1.4% due to Greyhound and Peter Pan’s new specialty service.
Service by discount city-to-city operators (discount operators) that do not use traditional terminals in many cities, such as BoltBus and MegaBus surged by 30.6%. For the first time, this sector accounts for more than 1,000 daily scheduled operations. BoltBus’ expansion in the Pacific Northwest and MegaBus’ expansion in California, Nevada, and Texas have greatly expanded the sector’s visibility on the national travel scene.
Conventional and discount operators appear to be benefitting from the federal crackdown of “Chinatown” bus operators, several dozen of which were shut down on May
IMHO The bus study does not appear to address the safety issues. The most important issue is the driver fatigue that occurrs. Today’s wall street journal noted that “Mi Joo Tour & Travel” of Canada has been suspended from operating both is the US & Canada after safety audits in both countries. This was the bus line that had the bad wreck in Oregon Dec 30th.
A solution would be for all buses to be required to go thru the truck weigh and inspection stations already in place in most states. The inspectors at these stations already know the rules for trucking and the bus rules are very similar. If so then there will be a better and more level competetive field between them and airlines and AMTRAK.
There is a lot not covered by the story. One thing to find out is where did the new riders come from: Amtrak? Cars? Planes? Personal autos? The other factor to be determined is what effect are these new bus services have on existing roadways and do they share the cost equally with other modes including legitimate (for lack of a better term) bus companies? How cost effective are these bus services against our economy over all (who benefits in terms of employment, riders, ancillary services)?
Amtrak itself runs a number of buses which connect with its trains. The benefits of using buses in some places is not lost on Amtrak.
Comparing discount buses to Amtrak presents a paradox. Amtrak’s greatest success with with Acela, a very high cost train that is growing faster than its conventional and much less expensive Northeast Regional Service. Discount buses have very low fares, much lower than Amtrak’s Northeast Regional Service, and also see a lot of passenger growth. To me this suggests that intercity transportation is not a one-size-fits-all situation. Some are attracted to Acela’s high speed and service and will pay the price. Some shop only by price and will choose the cheapest ride where ever it is. And there are still people who choose the middle way, some preferring the comfort of Amtrak’s Northeast Regional trains and some preferring the somewhat cheaper and tighter spacing in conventional buses.
The discount buses are able to save money because they don’t have any terminal costs and because they are not required to provide restrooms for people with disabilities. They have also been known to push their drivers beyond human endurance and the result has been some horrible accidents. I know there are plenty of people who like to get good value for their money. I’m one of them. But I’m not willing to risk my life to do so; yet many people seem to be willing to do just that.
Someplace in a recent issue of Trains (last 6 months or so), Amtrak was said to be not bothered by such bus operations - Amtrak was still able to fill its seats at premium fares that it was comfortable with. I recall that I quoted that comment in another thread here.
As I recall the Amtrak article is the one by Fred Frailey that appeared last August. It said Acela is pretty much full all of the time even with premium fares.
The shorter haul Northeast Corridor has long been served by Amtrak. Midwestern states are trying to establish the same passenger rail market model between major cities.
The discount bus lines are already serving such Midwestern corridors. Will state tax funded passenger rail be able to compete?
To what Blue Streak I said. I totally agree! (Not that means a heck of a lot [:-,] ) In this area many of the weight Stations ( Ks. Mo. Okla.) display signs indicating that Buses should stop. It seems primarily to check for Permits; ( also, a very, occasional Safety Inspection) Been a long time since I seen a bus getting A SAFETY CHECK… I would suspect that those Checks would more likely happen in the aftermath of a well-publicized accident.[:-,]
My guess is that a number of the high profile accidents seem to be reported as a failure of a Driver to handle a traffic ‘situation’ in an appropriate manner. One might be inclined to also look at apparently, under reported ( by media) of Driver Violations, followed closely by Bus Company Mechanical Issues. [2c]
The DePaul study shows that discount buses serve some but not all midwest cities. And of course, discount buses can drop any service that doesn’t pan out.
Quoting JohnWR: “Amtrak itself runs a number of buses which connect with its trains. The benefits of using buses in some places is not lost on Amtrak.”
Amtrak does not itself run the buses shown in the Thruway bus schedules, but uses the services provided by bus lines, which are named in the Amtrak timetable. I learned this in 1989, when my wife and I used the Thruway connection between New Orleans and Baton Rouge; we rode on scheduled Greyhound buses. You will notice that some of these connections require long waits between train and bus or between bus and train.
My next experience came last spring when I was ticketed from Salt Lake City to Chicago to Washington, using the Cardinal from Chicago to Washington. On this trip, we were delayed five hours in Provo after striking and killing a man who walked across the track as the train was coming in to stop. We were able to make up only about one hour, and when we reached Galesburg I and several other passengers were given tickets good on Burlington Trailways (one of the few surviving Trailways companies) to take us to Indianapolis (this service is in the Amtrak timetable), where we continued on the train we were to have taken from Chicago.
I didn’t know that, Johnny. In the late 70’s I lived in New Orleans and rode the Crescent to New York. I did that again a year ago last November. In the city I use local buses and street cars but I never went to Baton Rouge. However, in Jefferson Parish I’ve also used local buses.
Busses are required togo through the truck inspection stations in many states, but th inspections most likely have more to do with the safety of the bus itself rather than with driver fatigue. If I am not mistaken Bolt Bus is a subsidiary of Greyhound.
Discount bus service is available between New York and Washington, but I doubt if it competes door -to-door timewise with Amtrak’s regional trains.