State-based inter city bus services

Needless to say, Iowa's Burlington Trailways bus services are much truncated compared to this 1940s route map.

The Des Moines Register reports, "Iowa-based Burlington Trailways to end intercity bus service and lay off 79 workers," that the state-based Burlington Trailways inter city bus line is ceasing transit services.  According to the article:

Iowa-based Burlington Trailways is ending its intercity bus routes, resulting in 79 layoffs across six locations. The company cited rising insurance costs and inconsistent federal grants as reasons for the service cuts. Burlington Trailways will continue to operate its tour and charter bus services.

I guess it's not a priority for Iowa to plan for inter city bus services on a regional and statewide basis.

Same with Michigan, decades ago I needed to get to my parents house in Oakland County from Ann Arbor, to borrow a car, because mine was out of service.  To make it happen I had to take an airport shuttle bus from Ann Arbor to the airport and from the airport to Birmingham.  

(There had been off and on bus service from Ann Arbor and other major university towns in the state, but I guess around this time those services had been abandoned.)  Today, more coordinated inter city bus service is present in the state through Michigan Trailways, and Greyhound.  Maybe some service from Coach/Flix

A long time ago when I was opining about transportation planning at multiple scales ("Reprint (with editing): The Meta-Regional Transit Network," [2009]), a commenter made the point that I didn't include inter city bus service.  

She was right.  It was a big omission.  Sadly, transportation planning across the US often ignores this mode, as it is privately provided--although in some states services have some state funding, and there is the complementary Amtrak Thruway bus service operative in many areas.  

Stations, stops and services can be abysmal, especially since in the bankruptcy takeover of Greyhound they separated the bus lines from the bus terminals.

A bus stop for the San Joaquins Amtrak service in Claremont, California.

A few years ago, when Greyhound was up for sale, I suggested that Amtrak buy it, and create a national-regional rail and inter-city bus system.  

I based it on Japan's organization of its railway services into 7 regionally-based Japan Railway (JR) companies.  They don't do bus too, but in the US context I think it makes sense.

-- "Two train/regional transit ideas: Part 1 | Amtrak should acquire Greyhound," (2021)

-- "Megabus bankruptcy: merge inter-city bus services with Amtrak," (2024)

-- "Regional and multi-state inter city bus transportation. Thanksgiving is a time of big travel," (2023)

A lot of states provide some funding but it can be hit or miss.  Colorado takes it to another level with statewide planned, funded and branded service called Bustang.  

I think Virginia Tech started a service called Breeze providing service from its campus to major destinations in certain parts of the state, but now it's run by the state.

I was just on the Oregon Coast for a vacation and was surprised to find out that the state (not surprisingly as Oregon is a transportation practice and planning leader) funds a bunch of services across the state, many focused on providing access to Portland.

-- NW Connector
-- Point
-- Columbia Area Transit

Airports.  Another scale and need for inter city bus service that I've written about is for airports.  Some do it in a more systematic way--LAX, Boston, O'Hare--but not many.  

This is an area that MPOs should address when planning transit access at a wide scale.

The entry, "Las Cruces (NM) Airport Master Plan | Airport Master Planning," has a pretty comprehensive list of links to past blog entries on the topic.