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News Update on the
U.S. Intercity Bus Industry
Autumn 2022 E-News
November 22, 2022
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Premium Bus Services, Our New Interactive Map | |
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Florida’s RedCoach continues to be a leader, providing premium service between Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Tallahassee. Earlier this year, RedCoach added a Naples, FL, stop and launched an entire network in the “Texas Triangle,” which was recently buttressed by new San Antonio service. Dallas-based Vonlane, meanwhile, is also aggressively expanding in the Texas Triangle and has restored its Dallas – Oklahoma City route. See below for more on Vonlane.
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A variety of business-class services, including BestBus Prime, Vamoose Gold, and Washington Deluxe LUX, once again connect Midtown Manhattan in New York City to metropolitan Washington, going head-to-head against airlines and Amtrak. Moreover, The Jet, described in our spring E-News edition, boasts a first-class offering with an on-board attendant and vibration-reducing “Hoverseats”. The Jet runs twice daily.
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Premium bus services offered by C&J, Concord Coach, and Dartmouth Coach once provided a “one-seat” ride between New York and Maine and New Hampshire, a convenience not available by train. Each bypasses Boston to reduce running times. It seems probable that premium service on the Boston – New York route, which vanished with the Limoliner’s demise in 2019, will soon reappear. Whether Rapid Overland Express, a business-class service between the Norfolk, VA, and Washington, DC, areas that was suspended during the pandemic will reappear remains to be seen.
The country’s premium bus routes also include Napaway (see below) and Landline, which “code shares” with airlines, complete with airline-branded checked baggage service, as described in this earlier E-News edition. We plan to gradually enhance the map, which is still in draft form
Captions for above photos. Masthead photo: A Greyhound bus boards in Springfield, IL in April 2022; Premiums service article: 1) The E-News team tests out the seating on Vonlane, 2) The snack tray on a Vonlane coach, 3_ A Landline coach with the United livery boards at Fort Collins (Northern Colo. Regional Airport), August 2022
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Editor's Letter - A Dispatch from Nashville | |
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Preparing this edition of Intercity Bus E-News compelled me to travel to Nashville, TN to deepen my understanding of two surprising product launches that many industry observers are closely watching. Nashville may be the Country Music Capital, but it is unmistakably “new wave” when it comes to scheduled bus travel.
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The first-class operator Vonlane has made Nashville the northern terminus of its first route entirely outside of Texas, its home state. Vonlane’s new Atlanta – Nashville service, which boasts 1x2 seating and beverages and snacks offered up by an attendant, brings premium bus service deeper into the country’s interior. See the feature below for a look at some of the perks. The coach leaves from curbside at Nashville’s Omni Hotel, a prime spot less than two blocks from the bustling South Broadway entertainment district.
Nashville is also a destination for Napaway, the new sleeper bus service launching in June between the Tennessee capital and Washington, DC. On my fact-finding trip earlier this month, the driver team generously offered yours truly a tour of the remarkable coach, which features private suites that are converted en route from mobile offices and lie-flat beds, a design more appealing even than the first-class cabins on international flights. See below for the E-News interview with Napaway's CEO.
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This November 6th outing found the Greyhound Station's waiting area bustling, attesting to faster-than-normal traffic recovery in this part of the country. The price of a "walk-up" ticket to Indianapolis is around $55—compared to $220+ for last-minute airline tickets and $80 in gasoline and vehicle wear-and-tear alone for drivers. Nashville’s station, relatively new by intercity bus station standards, has high ceilings, food service, and large panoramic windows--features sadly lacking in many such stations around the country.
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The Nashville trip makes clear why continual improvement and investment are needed to sustain our vast intercity bus system, a point emphasized by Mark Szyperski, CEO of On Your Mark Transportation, a Nashville consultancy. Serious problems loom, including:
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Driver shortages and aging equipment,
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Finding or maintaining suitable station locations, even for state-subsidized services,
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The continuing woes of commuter bus services and many scheduled, charter and tour operators due to shifting work and travel habits.
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Yet Music City's rapidly changing motor coach scene shows the myriad opportunities that beckon for the sector. The above bus lines all reach the heart of downtown, fill a void left by absence of Amtrak trains to the city, and demonstrates the how intercity buses can go "up tempo" in post-pandemic times.
Joseph P. Schwieterman, Ph.D.
Editor, Intercity Bus E-News |DePaul University
Captions for above photos. 1) Vonline’s operating team at the Nashville stop on Sunday, November 6, 2022. 2)The Nashville Greyhound station's waiting area on the same day. 3) The E-News editor in the galley of a Napaway coach in Nashville. 4) A banner promoting Greyhound careers at Nashville’s Greyhound Station.
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Napaway, An exciting New Option for Weary Flyers | |
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The E-News Team caught up with Napaway CEO Daniel Aronov to find out more about its new premium sleeper coach service. Napaway’s new Nashville - Washington DC service, which has basked in the media spotlight, is unlike anything else seen in U.S. intercity bus travel. Travelers are provided “Butterfly Suites” that can be converted from a workspace with a desk to a 6.5-foot-long lie-flat bed. Pillows, blankets, a travel kit, and other amenities are provided to each.
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The luxury coach, equipped with 18 suites, operates twice weekly in each direction, making late-evening departures and morning arrivals. Two drivers cover different portions of the 670+-mile route. Aronov described that market size estimates and an assessment of the availability of alternatives led to the Tennessee route being selected among dozens of possibilities. Priced starting at $125 each way, a Napaway trip is far less expensive than $300+ “walk-up” airfares but comparable to a discounted advance-purchased ticket. The recent addition of a stop in Knoxville, TN, brings Napaway to a city that has long suffered from non-competitive air service. Aranov noted that departures during peak holiday periods are nearly full and that other potential routes are being explored. The CEO also described how the patented suites, designed by Butterfly Flexible Seating Solutions, create exciting opportunities for luxury charters in which passengers want to sleep or rest.
| Northwestern Stage Lines acquired by Salt Lake Express | |
Northwestern Stage Lines has been acquired by Salt Lake Express. The October transaction adds more than 25 destinations to Salt Lake Express's system. Long part of the Trailways system, Northwest Stage has been a fixture on the mountainous corridor linking Boise, ID, Spokane and Seattle, WA. The acquisition creates a continuous route between Salt Lake City and the Pacific Northwest.
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As noted in our 2022 Outlook for Intercity Bus Service, Salt Lake Express has been enjoying significant growth as of late due to the booming population in the region it serves, new state-supported routes in Nevada and Utah, and a partnership with FlixBus. Northwest Stages services continue to be available on the interline network sold on greyhound.com and other sites.
| Southeast Stages enters partnership with Megabus | |
Southeast Stages, a mainstay between Atlanta, GA, and Columbia, SC, Raleigh, NC, and other Southeastern U.S. destinations, has entered a partnership with megabus.com (Megabus). The partnership puts service between Atlanta and 16 cities and between Raleigh and eight cities on the megabus.com platform. The move exemplifies the continuing efforts of carriers around the country to tap into new distribution channels. Founded in 1933 and based in Atlanta, Southeast States is a family-owned line. On megabus.com, it is noted the service is provided by Southeast Stages, which retains its distinctive branding. The carrier's services also continue to be sold on greyhound.com and other interline sites.
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New Departures, More Options | |
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Badger Bus is reportedly running double-decker coaches with 81 seats on some it is Madison, WI – Milwaukee trips. The use of such high-capacity equipment attests to the strength of the market linking Milwaukee to the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.
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Megabus has withdrawn from Chicago and other Midwestern points. Several other Coach USA brands, most notably Van Galder Bus Lines and Wisconsin Coach Lines, however, continue to have extensive Minnesota and Wisconsin service sold on megabus.com. This once-sprawling Megabus hub in Chicago, created in 2006, gradually diminished, resulting in only services linking Chicago to the Twin Cities via various Wisconsin points being offered after the pandemic. As noted in our 2022 Outlook report, Megabus appears to be concentrating on the Northeast, Southeast, and Texas/South Central regions, where it has recently added service. Megabus has withdrawn from the West Coast and Nevada.
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OurBus launched service in October between Plattsburgh, NY and Central Manhattan via Saratoga Springs and Albany. This follows the earlier expansion described in the last E-News edition and is part of OurBus's expanding network at New York’s Port Authority Bus Terminal.
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Tornado Bus is reportedly seeing heaving traffic from the El Paso, TX, region due to a surge in crossings along the U.S./Mexico border. The role of scheduled bus lines in relieving the humanitarian issues along the border has attractive far less attention than in 2021, when the E-News editor made a fact-finding trip there. Chartered motor coaches carrying immigrants, which have operated as far north as Martha’s Vinyard, MA, however, have attracted much press coverage. For recent coverage on Tornado Bus’s volumes, click here.
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Vonlane launched first-class Atlanta, GA - Nashville, TN service in early November, its first route east of the Mississippi River. Generally, there are three weekday trips in each direction and two on weekends, with fares around $99 each way. An onboard attendant serves complimentary snacks, beverages, and meals on longer trips. Seats are wider than those on first-class flights, have long leg rests, and recline up to 150 degrees. Neck pillows, sleeping eye masks, and toiletries, as well as laptop and phone chargers and noise-cancelling headphones are available to borrow. Vonlane’s Atlanta stop is at the Grand Hyatt Atlanta in Buckhead, which is just a 7-minute walk to the Buckhead MARTA station.
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FlixBus has launched service at New Jersey’s Newark Penn Station on its route linking New York City to Washington, DC, and Richmond, VA. The busy Newark station is a major hub for transit lines and provides a convenient alternative to FlixBus's curbside stop near Midtown Manhattan’s Penn Station area. FlixBus also added stops to its Indiana routes stops in Lafayette, IN, home to Purdue University.
Flix North America also reported a 30% growth in passenger traffic for the "high season" this year compared to same period last year and that FlixBus carried more than 1.4 million passengers on the continent during summer.
Caption. Above: Salt Lake Express graphic appearing on its website. Below: A FlixBus departure on Canal Street in Chicago, September 28, 2022
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Featured Podcasts: The State of Air Travel + FlixBus's Pierre Gourdain | |
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The Cincinnati Greyhound Station has been shuttered to make room for the development spurred by the nearby Hard Rock Casino. Greyhound and Barons Bus Lines have moved to a temporary and more outlying location on Galbraith Road near Interstate 75. The closed station, located downtown, is notable for having bus bays on two sides, and is among numerous stand-alone bus depots to recently be closed.
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Separately, in Knoxville, TN, Greyhound recently had little choice but to relocate from its longstanding depot to a convenience store that is not open around the clock. Watch for the feature on disappearing legacy bus stations in our 2023 Outlook report in late January.
Captions. 1) Both images, Cincinnati Greyhound Station, April 2022, photos by the E-News team. Note the Hard Rock Casino sign on bottom photo, behind Barons Bus.
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Make a Presentation at Transportation Research Forum in April 2023 | |
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We welcome expressions of interest for presentations on intercity bus topics at the Transportation Research Forum International Conference April 27-28, 2023 in downtown Chicago. “TRF” boasts a compact day-and-a-half format, optional tours, and affordable registration fees, with discounts for students and one-day attendees. We welcome case studies, pilot programs, and service experiments. Interested? Respond to this email. The conference attracts about 140 people.
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