|
Strengthened Schedules & Summer Surprises Around the U.S.
Intercity Bus E-News, June 2025
June 26, 2025 | Caption: Cincinnati Bus Station, May 2025
| |
Editor’s Perspective
Maybe I’m a pessimist, but I expected major bus lines to at least partially retrench on their busiest routes after launching such ambitious expansions throughout early 2025. It seemed “too much too soon,” particularly after economists warned that a decline in domestic travel could be imminent due to recession fears, tariffs, and other factors. These warnings were not entirely off base: most major airlines have at least modestly trimmed service on domestic routes since January.
| This cautionary outlook is reflected in AAA's projections for this year's Fourth of July travel. It expects air travel and driving to be up just 1.4% and 2.4%, respectively, despite relatively low gasoline prices in the case of driving. That's well below 2024's growth. | However, the number of bus services on numerous major routes is now higher than we observed in our January schedule frequency report. Some of the growth could be a normal response to summer being a busier-than-usual season. Still, seeing the higher service levels “stick” and, in many cases, expand further suggests that intercity bus travel still has momentum. Consistent with this, AAA expects travel on "other modes" to rise much faster than driving and flying during next week's holiday. | |
Examples of the continuity or growth based on our independent review from January to mid-July, measured in trips each direction:
-
New York – Washington on FlixBus rose from 29 to 31 and on Peter Pan from 23 to 28.
-
Miami–Tampa service on RedCoach increased from two to four trips on the busiest days. Flix’s midweek service is up about one trip.
-
New York – Syracuse service on Trailways previously ranged from four to five daily, but it now consistently has five daily departures. Flix has one additional trip.
-
Charlotte, NC - Washington, DC service on FlixBus rose from five to six on busy days, while Greyhound and Wanda Coach held steady.
-
Laredo – San Antonio, TX, a busy route from the U.S.-Mexico border area, saw Tornado Bus service grow to eight trips, one more than before, while Greyhound held steady.
| |
We’re not seeing comparable gains on most secondary and rural routes or in most West Coast corridors. The Midwest and Southeast, though, have seen service increases on various routes, as described below, and this expansion has been supplemented by announcements about brand-new offerings. There is growing evidence that this isn’t merely a seasonal pattern and that the intercity bus industry is stronger than it was a year ago.
This edition of Intercity Bus E-News summarizes emerging news stories and my recent station visits in Dayton and Cincinnati, OH, and New York’s George Washington Bridge Station. The latest industry trends leave me optimistic about the near-term prospects.
| Look for the next Intercity Bus E-News edition in July featuring my insights from my conversation with Alex Danza, CEO of Vonlane, the Texas-based luxury provider. | |
Joseph Schwieterman, PhD
Intercity Bus E-News Editor | Professor and Director, Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
For a link to this newsletter to share with others, click here. Captions: The FlixBus lot in Midtown Manhattan; Peter Pan at Springfield, MA, March 2025, Chaddick collection
| A Firsthand Look at Cincinnati's New Station | I visited the new Cincinnati Bus Station, built and managed by Barons Bus, and shared with Greyhound in late May. This station on the city’s north side handles around 28 arrivals and departures combined on busy days. The creation of this attractive facility was facilitated by the state of Ohio’s extensive and Barons-operated GoBus state-supported bus network. The spacious indoor waiting room, ample short-term parking, and secure, fenced-off boarding area were highlights. | |
The station was a busy place during my visit. Several travelers waited on a comfortable bench outside to get some fresh air (imagine that at an airport), while others stayed in vehicles in short-term parking spots with family or friends until their coach arrived. The helpfulness of the security personnel was another highlight. The opening of a new privately managed station in the Midwest is so rare that it reminded me of a Chicago Tribune headline I came across while conducting historical research on a Monon train depot in Hammond, IN. The 1953 headline read, “Look, someone’s building a new railroad passenger station!” This bus station deserves similar attention. -- J. Schwieterman (photo: Chaddick collection)
| |
Concord Coach Lines has added a second business-class trip between Portland, ME, and Midtown Manhattan on Fridays and Sundays, creating a late-afternoon southbound and morning northbound option on peak days. This service, offered with 2x1 seating, runs express, bypassing Boston. Sister company Dartmouth Coach, along with C&J Bus Lines, also offers premium options along northern New England – New York routes.
| |
C&J Bus Lines has rolled out a Bus Tracker that provides real-time information and offers a mapping tool that allows riders to follow their itinerary. Given the number of passengers using C&J to catch flights at Boston Logan and trains at South Station, the Tracker is no doubt seeing heavy use. C&J now operates half-hourly service from Dover, NH, to Boston and other points at specific times of the day.
| |
FlixBus has prioritized adding gap-filling routes that provide direct service between cities in which passengers previously had to make transfers. A new Reading, PA – New York service runs three times each way on busy days; its sister company, Greyhound, does not directly service the route. A new Albany, NY – Boston, service runs at opposite times from a daily Greyhound run. The company also introduced White Plains, NY, to its Northeast Corridor offerings. Direct Chicago – Green Bay, WI, service is back, possibly for the summer.
| |
Flixbus has also continued the industry trend of rolling out “red eye” service. It has added a trip departing around midnight in each direction between Chicago and Atlanta via Indianapolis and Louisville. This gives it four trips in each direction on busy days. Between Chicago and Indianapolis, FlixBus and Greyhound now offer a combined 14 daily trips each way on busy days, up from 12 in January. Atlanta – Orlando service has grown to 11 on busy days, several more than in January, our review suggests. On this route, RedCoach now operates a pair of first-class buses on most days, including a red-eye service.
| |
Vonlane has launched once-daily Nashville – Knoxville, TN, service, following experimentation with semi-regular weekend trips on this 180-mile route. This makes Nashville a focal point for the luxury operator, which also offers twice-daily service to both Atlanta, GA, and Memphis, TN. Vonlane’s luxury coaches, configured to 22 first-class leather seats, offer “ample workspace, complimentary Wi-Fi, and an onboard attendant offering premium cabin service with complimentary snacks, meals (on select routes), and non-alcoholic beverages,” with alcohol available for purchase, according to a press release. Reservations not made well in advance generally cost around $125 each way. Vonlane also launched service from The Woodlands, a north suburb of Houston, to Dallas, TX
| |
Greyhound has extended an Alabama route, linking Birmingham to Montgomery, AL, southward to Atmore, which it previously didn’t serve, as well as Mobile. This move reflects the higher-than-average traffic gains that bus lines are enjoying in the Deep South. Greyhound is again offering service between Cleveland, OH, and New York via Interstate 80, the fastest highway route between these cities. Previously, the only direct trips were via Pittsburgh, PA.
| |
Oregon now offers the North Coast Express, a new publicly supported service that operates seasonally between Beaverton, a suburb of Portland, and several Pacific Coast communities. One route operates daily to Astoria and Seaside, while another follows a more southerly route to Rockaway Beach and Tillamook. The high-floor coaches allow bicycles to be transported for a $10 fee. The new offerings complement the state’s more established Northwest POINT and Tillamook Wave services, centering on Portland.
| |
GoGo Charters, a prominent charter company, continues to announce plans to launch scheduled service around the eastern half of the U.S. We have not, however, seen schedules or definitive dates for when reservations will begin.
| |
OurBus has launched a service from Reading to Philadelphia, PA, filling a gap in the regional system following the termination of the Amtrak Thruway Bus Service last autumn. The booking platform offers stops near both Philadelphia’s William F. Gray 30th Street Amtrak Train Station and its international airport. This is generally a once-daily service. Also, this week, OurBus launched a Jersey City to Boston (via Manhattan) service.
| |
Tornado Bus and Tufesa, prominent brands catering to the Spanish-speaking population, have formed a marketing partnership, each with an extensive network in the South. Certain Tufesa services now appear on the Tornadobus.com website. Tornado touts the partnership as offering “superior comfort and efficiency on routes to Tucson, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles,” an emphasis that reflects Tufesa’s network being more heavily concentrated in the Southwest region.
| |
Greyhound and FlixBus have announced that they will relocate their operations from the downtown Dallas Greyhound Station (pictured at right) to the Bachman Station, a DART public transit hub on the northwest part of the city, in September. The announcement cites the move as a “great example of how public and private sectors can come together to deliver infrastructure that works for everyone.” The new location will allow for “car-free connections to DFW Airport, Dallas Love Field, downtown Dallas, Fair Park, Deep Ellum, and more.” Both the DART Green and Orange Lines have Bachman Station stops. We will provide details on the new arrangement in the next issue.
| |
Regarding the potential of such moves, we recommend FlixBus’s Kai Boysan's op-ed in The Hill, "Congress has a chance to make intercity buses great again." It includes a call for a more effective federal policy to increase intercity bus access to public transit terminals. Such terminals are a promising alternative when privately run downtown stations close, particularly when they offer indoor waiting facilities.
| News Photos from Around the U.S. | Busy Times at Dayton Trotwood, Ohio | Travelers prepare to board the FlixBus and Greyhound services at Dayton Trotwood Bus Station in Ohio in late May 2025. The station, situated near the intersection of busy Interstate 70 and Interstate 75 in Trotwood, has a staffed ticket window and an indoor waiting area that sees heavy use. Some travelers are transferring between buses. The Dayton metropolitan area has lacked intercity train service since 1979. | Public Hearings in Philadelphia, PA | Pressure is mounting to find a solution to Philadelphia’s lack of a dedicated intercity bus or intermodal station. The curbside stop near the Spring Garden rail transit station used by major lines (pictured above) is regarded as wholly inadequate for the city’s long-term needs. The City of Philadelphia Council Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities held a public hearing on May 21, 2025, which showed that elected officials recognize the need for prompt action. Among those testifying were Lew Myers of the American Bus Association Foundation, Peter Picknelly, CEO of Peter Pan Bus Lines, and Intercity Bus E-News editor Joe Schwieterman. Picknelly drew attention to The Roundhouse, the vacant police headquarters on Race Street, which could be converted into a new intercity bus terminal. He even indicated that his company would help facilitate this conversion. Picknelly noted, “People deserve a better bus terminal than what we have, and they need a new bus terminal quickly.” | Trailways in Kingston, NY + New York Terminal Update | A Trailways of New York coach at Kingston, NY, will soon depart for the Port Authority Bus Terminal (PABT) in New York. The coach was under a protective canopy at one of the company's many privately managed stations in New York State. On a related note, the Port Authority announced changes to gates to facilitate the construction of its new terminal. On June 2, 2025, "all Trailways routes returned to their original gates (Gates 22 - 34) on the Lower Level in the South Wing" of the terminal. | George Washington Bridge Station, New York, NY | Many consider the George Washington Bridge Bus Station in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood a commuter terminal, but it also offers significant intercity services. Passengers can ride to Syracuse and other Upstate New York destinations on the OurBus platform and connect with Greyhound to numerous Northeast cities on buses that bypass Midtown Manhattan, thereby improving travel time. The station features a high-quality waiting room, accessible retail options via escalator, clean restrooms, and convenient subway connections. | A Transition Ahead in Albany, New York | The bus platforms at Albany Greyhound Station were momentarily quiet on an afternoon in March 2025, minutes before several Greyhound buses with sizable loads arrived. Such scenes are increasingly rare on the U.S. system as privately operated “legacy” stations close around the country in favor of smaller and less costly facilities. The economic development organization Capitalize Albany purchased the Albany station in late 2024 and plans a new facility serving all major bus lines; however, the timeline for its completion remains unclear. | | |
Invite others to join Intercity Bus Listserv.
For a link to this newsletter to share with others, click here.
Check out our reports
Invite your colleagues to join our Intercity Bus Listserv.
To become part of our Intercity Bus ListServ and receive 8 – 10 emails per year, email Zaria by replying to this email. No spam. Free. Also, check out our recent studies, briefs, and podcasts below. The Intercity Bus E-News team is Zaria Bonds and Joe Schwieterman.
This independently produced e-newsletter brief has been shared with our Intercity Bus (IB) and Transportation listservs. The Chaddick Institute does not receive funds from transportation companies or related industries.
| | | | |
