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| Riding the bus is suddenly hip- NewsDay.com |
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| 2009-09-08 |
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By THE WASHINGTON POST
The bus is making a comeback. That once maligned mode of transportation is becoming the hip form of travel along the Northeast corridor. All the early adopters are taking it. But so, too, are people on budgets.
The appeal is prodigious. The buses are cheap, convenient, well kitted-out and eco-approved. They are relatively hassle-free, especially because someone else is stuck navigating traffic. Baggage rules are more lax than on other forms of transportation, and there are no sneaky taxes or rules against carrying liquids, unless they have alcohol content. Bus fares undercut Amtrak and, depending on the number of passengers, the cost of driving a personal vehicle, too.
RIDERSHIP IS UP
Between 2005 and 2007, according to the American Bus Association (ABA), nationwide ridership surged by 20 percent, increasing from 631 million passenger trips to 751 million. "We move about the same numbers as domestic [air] carriers each year," said ABA spokesman Eron Shosteck, a bus rider himself, "and more people in two weeks than Amtrak does all year."
Megabus, BoltBus and the other recent entrants occupy the later chapters in buses' history. Greyhound, now 95 years old, is in the front of the book, with Chinatown buses in the middle. The pioneer of intercity express service was Fung Wah Bus, which in the late 1990s started carrying immigrant workers and pauper students between Chinatowns in Boston and New York.
WHAT'S NEW
Overall, the industry has shaken its sordid reputation, emerging as a shiny chariot with a solid track record. Credit goes mainly to the new convoy of buses, which appropriated the Chinatown model, then gave it a substantial upgrade, offering curbside pickup and drop-offs, cheap fares, clean restrooms, express service, online reservations, free Wi-Fi and loyalty programs.
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