Inter-city bus services

While I do think every day bus service, even if sexy "bus rapid transit" is not likely to compete very well for choice riders, the Chinese buses have spawned branded competitors (Megabus, Bolt Bus, others) that are competing against Amtrak in the Northeast.

Plus, Megabus started off with a similar kind of service in the Midwest, based out of Chicago, before moving into the Northeast-Mid-Atlantic market. See "Bus service offers options, fare deals" from the Wisconsin State-Journal.

I always figured it was a service that appealed to people mostly concerned about price. But with the addition of wifi service, electricity outlets, etc., the Bolt and Megabus offerings (among others) become a kind of premium service.

The problem with regular "mass" transit on the train is that for two or more people, it's typically cheaper to drive. With Megabus/Bolt it isn't, especially if you manage to score one of the limited number of extremely cheap seats. And you can multitask--read or use the computer--rather than sit in the car (I can't read in cars or on regular buses, but I can on motorcoaches, subway cars, or railroad cars).

Megabus-Bolt and similar services bring regularity and "legibility" to the bus trip in a way that the chaotic "Chinese" bus services do not. See "In Chinatown, a $10 Trip Means War; Weary Owners Struggle to Stay Afloat" from the New York Times.

And I was surprised to look at the line up at the Bolt Bus stop adjacent to Penn Station in Baltimore last Wednesday and see many "older people" (in their late 50s and older), not just hipsters and youth.

See "Cheaper prices, free access to the Internet, driving local, US ridership higher" and "Megabus builds up buses on busy route," the latter which discusses the use of double deck buses, from the Boston Globe.