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The Peaks and Valleys of Intercity Bus Service
in the Mountain West
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Intercity Bus E-News & Tomorrow's Webinar, February 2025
Above photo from ridebustang.com website
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How is the intercity bus industry doing? When asked, I often answer that is taking two steps forward for every one step back. Last year brought considerable good news. Major commercial bus lines bullishly added frequency on major routes, and numerous state-supported bus services expanded or stepped up expansion plans. Yet, despite the U.S. travel market's recovery, many secondary routes are struggling, partially due to rising costs. One can say, “Two out of three ain’t bad.” Still, the challenges keep industry leaders on their toes.
| The Mountain West particularly illustrates the divergent forces at play. Colorado's state-operated Bustang took a giant leap forward while difficult conditions prevailed on some lightly traveled commercially run routes. The excerpt from our Mountain section in this year's Outlook report below exemplifies this and offers a preview of major themes on tomorrow’s webinar (12-12:50 CT). | |
I’d also like to share other news:
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Eno Center for Transportation has an excellent article by Gregory Cohen, P.E., describing the opportunities for effective federal support for long-distance bus service. “The rural intercity bus program, known as 5311(f), stands out as a positive example of a low-cost, high-return FTA program,” he notes.
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Greyhound began operating a state-supported Reno/Sparks, NV – Salt Lake City, UT service, closing a gaping hole in the intercity bus network. See details below on why this route is so important.
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Trailways of New York, whose brands include Adirondack, New York, and Pine Hill Trailways, has a new pet-friendly policy allowing small dogs and cats to join passengers on board for a $10 fee. “Times have changed. People really consider their cat or dog to be part of the family,” said Alex Berardi, president of Trailways.com. “We’re giving it a shot because so many customers have requested to be able to travel with their pets.” Eligible pets can weigh up to 25 pounds, including their carrier, must fit under the seat, and be no larger than 18” x 11” x 9”.
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Also, our lineup for tomorrow's free webinar (12 - 12:50 pm CT) is now set. We have nearly 100 registrants and welcome you to join us. To register click here. Our presenters include:
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Peter A. Picknelly, Chairman & CEO, Peter Pan Bus Lines
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Anthony Savikas, CEO, Wanderu.com
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Brandon Buchanan, Director of Regulatory Affairs, American Bus Association
Zaria Bonds and I will moderate. Watch for our next Intercity Bus E-News in mid-April, including industry updates and observations from my trip to the Northeast states.
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Joseph P. Schwieterman, Ph.D.
Professor and Director, Chaddick Institute at DePaul University | Intercity Bus E-News Editor
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The Highs and Lows of the Intercity Bus Landscape in the Mountain West | |
A Excerpt from 2025 Outlook for the Intercity Bus Industry, lightly edited | |
Among the biggest stories in intercity bus travel in the United States last year was a major expansion by Colorado’s state-operated Bustang, which now crisscrosses the Centennial State at high frequency. | |
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Bustang, a national leader in publicly supported intercity bus service, more than tripled service on its West Line between Denver Union Station’s bus concourse and Vail and Grand Junction last year. This service skyrocketed from four to 15 trips daily, the greatest frequency by one company on any long-distance route that did not involve California or the Northeast. On the North Line, between Denver and Fort Collins, and the South Line, between Denver and Colorado Springs, service doubled from six to 12 weekday trips. Similarly, weekend service on both these routes grew from two to six.
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Bustang’s operator, ACE Express Coaches, part of All Aboard America Holdings, announced that it had hired 50 employees while the state procured 25 new motorcoaches to facilitate this expansion. In addition to mainline Bustang service, the Bustang Outrider, Pegasus, and Snowstang remain part of the mix, running with vans and other smaller vehicles on some routes. | |
Bustang recently launched Denver International Airport (DIA) service and added a second Denver–Crested Butte daily trip. It handled 290,700 passengers during the 12 months ending in June 2024 and is projected to hit 325,600 this year, the 10th anniversary of its operations. (Caption: Bustang has acquired many new coaches since the E-News team took this photo in 2022).
This expansion creates lower-cost alternatives to Colorado's massive but pricier van system operated by Epic Mountain Express and CO West Transportation. These and other scheduled van operators, mainstays at Colorado ski resorts, run primarily to and from DIA. Most have added service with the strong rebound of leisure travel. Colorado now has the distinction of having (based on our review) the country’s largest scheduled long-distance van system and its largest state-supported intercity bus provider. In addition, Landline expanded its United Airlines partnership at DIA by expanding its Fort Collins service.
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Among the bright spots for long-distance service are the following:
• Billings and Bozeman, MT, – Spokane, WA, continues to have two Jefferson Lines trips on most days.
• Denver – Albuquerque – El Paso remains robust, holding steady at three to four daily trips, including three on the busiest days by Hispanic-focused Los Limousine (shown in photo at right).
• Denver – Omaha is served by both ArrowExpress and Burlington Trailways. Burlington’s bus continues Indianapolis, IN, creating many connections to other routes in the Great Plains and the Midwest.
• El Paso – Phoenix, AZ, has numerous options due to the sizeable presence of Hispanic-focused Los Limousine and Tufesa. On busy days, these lines together have four trips, augmenting Greyhound’s five. The ethnic-focused lines offer significantly faster service than Greyhound and Amtrak’s Sunset Limited, which serves Phoenix from nearby Maricopa, AZ.
Unfortunately, these routes are outliers. The Mountain States saw far fewer interstate enhancements than most other parts of the country last year. FlixBus does not serve Denver. Seemingly important routes from Denver to Kansas City, MO, Houston, TX, and Salt Lake City, UT, have only a once-daily Greyhound run. This is despite the City of Denver’s program to buy bus tickets to bring migrants to their city. (After the city reportedly purchased many tickets to allow some to continue their journey to join families elsewhere, Utah has resisted their arrival.) Moreover, troublesome gaps have also emerged. Non-circuitous bus trips from Denver to Montana and North Dakota are no longer possible from Friday to Sunday due to a drop in Caspar, WY – Billings service to once per week.
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News from West of the Rockies | |
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Salt Lake Express (SLE) continues to have both Salt Lake City International Airport and the city’s downtown on most schedules. This arrangement gives customers several options akin to that in Boston. SLE also stands out for its long-haul service from the airport, which extends to Great Falls, MT, Boise, ID, and Las Vegas, NV. Many longer routes, including those to the above cities, involve well-timed transfers at connecting points. With state financial support, SLE also operates numerous intrastate services, including intrastate routes to Moab and Vernal.
This subregion has also seen troubling gaps emerge. SLE’s direct Salt Lake City – Reno/Sparks, NV, service ended last year. Amtrak's California Zephyr covers the Salt Lake City – Reno routes but has a less-than-ideal schedule and often sells out at peak times.(Editor's addition: we received news this week that a state-supported service operated by Greyhound will make an overnight run in each direction on this route starting in March. Part of a long-distance route originating in Denver, this service is important to the national network. Without it, a Kansas City - Reno traveler buying a ticket on greyhound.com, for example, typically has to travel via Los Angeles and make several transfers. Soon, a more direct route via Denver and Salt Lake City requiring only one transfer will be available.)
Significant gaps nonetheless remain. Traveling from Utah’s largest city to Phoenix, AZ on a single ticket requires a roundabout J-shaped journey through southern California with several transfers. Furthermore, FlixBus dropped its Boise – Portland service, meaning that Utah – Pacific Northwest travelers must travel via Spokane and make several transfers. Amtrak service ended decades ago, making this a notable ground-transportation gap. (Editor's addition: FlixBus put much emphasis on California and Southern Nevada service expansion last year, which we describe in detail in our Outlook report. Flix and Greyhound have a dominant position in the Golden State).
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Station and Stop Updates for Mountains Cities | |
According to a media report, Greyhound may need to find an alternative to the bus concourse in Denver Union Station for its Mile High City service due to capacity demands and social issues. Bustang has begun using a new “Mobility Hub” on I-25 near Longmont and Loveland. The center-loading hub allows buses to make stops without time-consuming diversions from the expressway and is designed to reduce traffic congestion and pollution. It was installed as part of the I-25 North Express Lanes Project. (Caption: Departure board at Denver Union Station)
| Check Out our Coverage of Other U.S. Regions by clicking here |
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