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Going on The Road to See Innovations Underway
Intercity Bus E-News, May 2025
May 6, 2025 | Caption: Adirondack Trailways at Kingston, NY, March 2025
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Editor’s Perspective
I often encourage students wanting to learn about complicated transportation topics to prioritize in-person conversations with industry leaders. Needing to practice what I preach, I hit the road in late March to learn more about intercity bus developments in the Northeastern states.
It was time well spent. The instant I walked into Springfield (MA) Union Station, the home of Peter Pan Bus Lines, I could see why this facility has earned so many accolades. Impressive architecture, ticket agents, distinct waiting rooms, and abundant signage await bus and train riders. Sawtooth (angled) bus bays positioned under protective canopies lined with digital monitors allow orderly motorcoach boarding and alighting. Heavy ridership on intercity buses and Amtrak’s Hartford Line creates a sense of dynamism. If you ask me, this station ranks near the top among stations in mid-size U.S. cities with regard to the integration of intercity buses and trains.
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Peter Pan’s management team and customer support staff work on an upper floor. The company’s long-term commitment to this space proved crucial to the historic station’s ambitious restoration years ago. We discussed Peter Pan's heavy investments in new coaches, stepped-up analytics, and months of driver training, as well as its coordination with Coach USA needed for its big Northeast Corridor (NEC) expansion—one of the biggest stories in scheduled bus travel of 2024. Along with FlixBus and Greyhound, Peter Pan now ranks among the “big three” brands (my phrase) along major NEC routes. While there are many other options available, these three now have considerably more service on the New York routes to Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, than other brands.
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My conversation with the Trailways of New York team at the company’s Hurley, NY, headquarters explored why they have stayed so committed to maintaining many privately run stations with ticketing agents, even in small and mid-size cities. Its extensive schedule frequency makes this approach cost effective, and product differentiation is critical to meeting revenue goals. Providing comfortable and orderly waiting areas and places for motorists to pick up riders fosters brand loyalty. The tidy station in Kingston, NY (pictured in the masthead) has these qualities.
The company harnesses data to manage its growing network, which extends from Midtown Manhattan to Detroit, MI, and Toronto and Montreal, Canada. Its coaches are increasingly branded as “Trailways” rather than the regional operating unit (such as its Adirondack Trailways or New York Trailways units). Its Amtrak Thruway business is seeing heavy demand (see the news below), and bookings on the trailways.com and trailway.ca sites are growing, buoyed by the recent addition of Indian Trails and Peter Pan. My Trailways trip from Albany to New York had a quick stop at Albany-Rensselaer Amtrak station, where numerous riders hopped onboard.
Are there challenges? Of course. Municipal initiatives to improve stations sometimes drag on for years. Steeply discounted rail fares are becoming more prevalent in the Northeast. Traffic tie-ups are growing in busy metro areas (even if Midtown Manhattan’s congestion has eased).
| The takeaway, however, is that investment and data-driven planning help intercity bus travel gain momentum. See the photo gallery below for more highlights. | |
Joseph Schwieterman, PhD
Intercity Bus E-News Editor | Professor and Director, Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
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| Intercity Buses Find Their Beat in the Heartland | Intercity bus travel is in the news in the Heartland after a long period with seemingly little to report, except station updates. The recent flurry of announcements by major FlixBus and GOGO Charters has enlivened the region's bus scene. | |
FlixBus had a heavily publicized March launch of Chicago–New York service, which runs via Columbus, OH, and Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, PA. Generally running Thursday-Monday, this route fills a void in bus options between America’s largest and third-largest cities. Although the trip via Columbus is longer than Greyhound’s now-discontinued Cleveland route, the trip’s duration is similar to Amtrak’s Lake Shore Limited. It also brings FlixBus back to Pittsburgh.
The company also added new services running once daily, 6–7 days a week, including:
• A St. Louis–Nashville–Atlanta route with timely connections to Greyhound’s transcontinental services at St. Louis
• A Cincinnati–Indianapolis–Chicago–Madison route, which has an express schedule and greatly improved Chicago–Cincinnati options, complementing a once-daily Greyhound trip on the latter route.
| We have also observed that FlixBus-Greyhound now has two daily Chicago–St. Louis trips, which previously had only a bare-bones schedule, and travelers now have three Chicago–Memphis options on busy days, up from two. | |
GOGO Charters plans to launch scheduled service this summer. A mainstay in the charter business, the company anticipates having a variety of routes: Chicago to Indianapolis; Indianapolis to Columbus, OH; Chicago to Madison, WI, via Milwaukee; Chicago to Detroit; Columbus to Cleveland, OH; and Cleveland to Detroit.
Several aspects stand out:
• GOGO will operate from the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Chicago, an arrangement differing from other Windy City bus lines. This convenient location is near the Magnificent Mile and other tourist sites.
• Rather than having an express focus, all routes have one or more intermediate stops in cities with large student populations, such as Lafayette and South Bend, Indiana. Additionally, several routes deviate from the shortest path to serve notable traffic generators.
• A similar network may soon launch in Texas. A press release notes that passengers can “expect an elevated travel experience with modern buses offering amenities including plush reclining seats, Wi-Fi,” and other amenities
• Schedules have not yet been announced (we were told they may appear this month). Although there are no indications that GOGO will offer more than one daily trip on its routes, this remains to be seen.
| Barons Bus Opens a New Station in Cincinnati | |
Barons Bus has opened an attractive and spacious new Cincinnati, OH, station with indoor seating for more than 80 passengers, complimentary Wi-Fi, restrooms, and charging stations. Large windows bring in sunlight, and the station is open around the clock and boasts a staffed ticket counter. Barons Bus, Greyhound Lines, and GoBus (a state-supported network operated by Barons) all use this location, making it a busy connecting point for long-distance travelers. Among the state-supported GoBus routes using the station is a twice-daily service to Athens, OH, home of Ohio University.
| The new station replaces a temporary facility at this same Galbraith Road location on Cincinnati’s northern periphery, which became the city's main station after the 2023 closing of the city’s downtown Greyhound Station. The E-News editor considers this to be the most significant dedicated station to be constructed since Atlanta’s new intercity bus (Greyhound) station’s phased opening in 2023. Congrats to the Barons management team! | News from Around the Country | |
Nashville (TN) Greyhound Station, a modern station with large picture windows and pleasing architecture (pictured at right), is up for sale. Twenty Lakes Holdings, the owner, has announced it is selling the nearly two-acre site, which remains the city’s primary intercity bus station. The site is described as a “top-tier” location, likely due to its proximity to the South Broadway tourist area. Separately, the Greyhound Station in Richmond, VA, has closed as expected, with operations moving to the bus plaza next to Amtrak's Main Street Station as planned.
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Concord Coach Lines will relaunch its premium Concord–New York City offering on May 22. This service, provided with 1 x 2 seating, was suspended during the pandemic and offers an attractive alternative to commercial flights.
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Amtrak’s heightened discounting in the Northeast Corridor appears to be altering the region's competitive landscape. Although its steeply discounted options are confined to conventional trains rather than the high-speed Acela and are usually limited to specific departures outside of rush hour, bargain-hunters can often find fares of $60 or less. "Amtrak has become incredibly good at carving out affordable options - in some cases applying dynamic pricing better than certain airlines and using it as a marketing tool rather than merely a revenue management practice," notes Brian Antolin of CoTo Travel. We'll have more analysis in future E-News editions.
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Greyhound has a new Reno, NV to Salt Lake City service provided with State of Nevada financial support. This route fills a void in bus options between these cities, which emerged after last year’s discontinuation of a similar Salt Lake Express service. Amtrak’s California Zephyr tends to sell out, and its nocturnal schedule, which involves either middle-of-the-night boarding or alighting in the cities, adds to passenger demand.
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Adirondack Trailway, one of New York Trailway’s three main operating units, indicates that its Amtrak Thruway ridership has been strong. A bow-shaped route through Upstate New York, between the train stations in Saratoga Springs and Syracuse that runs through Saranac Lake and Watertown is doing particularly well. Many Amish riders using the route sit alongside urbanites headed for mountain resorts.
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Marketing innovations in rural bus service often go unappreciated due to the localized nature of the publicity they receive. However, a set of case studies presented by the Rural Transit Assistance Program showcases some of these services, including mini-bus and demand-responsive service and the marketing strategies used to support them.
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The policy picture for the intercity bus industry is receiving more attention due to recently published articles. FlixBus's Kai Boysan penned this compelling piece, "Maximizing ROI in transportation: The case for intercity buses," which appears in Smart Cities Dive." Governing Magazine had a widely read feature on Colorado's Bustang. The State of Massachusetts is expanding intrastate service on Cape Cod, to Pittsfield, and other locations, as summarized in this Streetsblog article.
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FlixBus offered special service to the Coachella Fest near Palm Springs, CA, in April. This offering generated considerable local attention and helped alleviate some of the festival's massive logistical challenges.
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Open Plains Transit, a rural service provider in Nebraska, reportedly has several routes at risk of being cut due to state budget issues, according to this news report. Open Plains launched last year "the first-ever north-south intercity bus route through Nebraska’s midsection,” a 130+ mile route from Valentine to North Platte
| News Photos from Around the U.S. | Oakland International Airport, CA | Groome Transportation, widely known for its expansive mini-bus and van network to and from airports, uses full-size motorcoaches on some of its busiest routes. The E-News editor snapped this photo of a coach at Oakland International Airport about to leave for Sonoma County. Groome also uses these coaches to support its route from Sonoma to the San Francisco International Airport, which has grown to 17 times daily and has stops in Santa Rosa and Petaluma. | A Vermont Translines service heads for Burlington and Colchester, VT, having just left Bennington, a community of 15,000 near the southern edge of the state. Although Amtrak’s Ethan Allen Express similarly links Albany-Rensselaer, NY, to Burlington, the state-supported bus service enhances schedule options and stops at numerous communities missed by the train, including Bennington. Three coaches in Vermont Translines livery are used on most trips, but an exception was made on this day. Operated by Premier Coach, the route is designed for bus or train connections at Albany. The service was recently extended for two years through 2027. The E-News team captured this shot in March. | Springfield Union Station, MA | A Peter Pan coach at Springfield Union Station will soon begin boarding for Amherst, home of the University of Massachusetts' main campus, with heavy patronage. Due to the canopy above, the passengers enjoy dry conditions on a drizzly day. Note the LCD screens above the passenger walkway at each berth, which are a rarity for outdoor boarding areas. The station’s elevated Amtrak platforms are a short distance to the left of this view. | Midtown Manhattan, New York | FlixBus continues to extensively use the former parking lot directly south of the Moynihan Train Hall in Midtown Manhattan for New York arrivals and departures, a location that offers enormous connectivity to local transit and intercity rail services. Some FlixBus services that stop here originate on Canal Street in New York’s Chinatown neighborhood. The coach shown above is providing Northeast Corridor service. Sister company Greyhound primarily uses the nearby Port Authority Bus Terminal. | Benefitting from a Travel Time Advantage | Many E-News readers recognize that intercity buses offer the only scheduled ground transportation between many cities. Less well appreciated is that intercity buses are often the fastest options even when rail service is available. We evaluated all available departures between 8 am and 5 pm on 70 prominent routes in the 90- to 500-mile range using mega-search bookings sites like busbud.com and wanderu.com. (We broadened the time interval if there was no service during that daytime period.) Due to their premium prices, we have excluded high-speed Amtrak Acela trains. | | |
Conventional routes that have been upgraded mainly to 110 mph speeds, not surprisingly, were faster than buses in all cases. Most routes, however, lack such fast rail options. Overall, we found:
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Of the 40 routes with both bus and train services, the quickest bus trip's mean duration was 11.5% less than the train.
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Buses were faster on around 60% of the routes, while trains were faster on about 40%.
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When only evaluating routes less than 200 miles, the mean and median duration were virtually identical.
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The median fare on buses was 8.5% less than that on trains.
Many passengers prefer trains due to the additional room while onboard, food and beverage service, station amenities, and other factors. Nevertheless, buses perform well with respect to speed, particularly outside the busy Northeast Corridor.
Our analysis is only a simplified look at a complex issue. We did not consider reliability, comfort, and other factors and evaluated only the fastest available option on each route, not the entire schedule. In many cases, the time difference was only a few minutes. In other cases, there was only one daily express bus, with other options being local services. Still, the tendency for buses to be highly competitive concerning travel time is a finding worth noting. Check out our research poster showcasing our findings here.
| | Catching a Bus... to Catch the Bus | | The destination sign on a city bus heading down Baltimore's Russell Street displays "Via Greyhound", hearkening back to when intercity bus stations were prominent urban landmarks. The route, MDOT 73, makes a short side trip to a stop next to Baltimore's intercity bus station before returning to Russell. The station has not only Greyhound, but also FlixBus, Peter Pan, and BayRunner Shuttle. This photo was captured by the E-News editor in January. | | |
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