Where have all the bus lines gone?
Over 30+ years of selling buses I did some strange things to close deals…
One of the owners of a quality, small, Connecticut charter operation mentioned in a phone call that his swimming pool liner had a leak. He joked that, since I was a diver, if I’d patch the pool liner, he’d buy a coach.
I stuffed scuba gear in the trunk and rocketed to their place. By days end… to his surprise, the pool didn’t leak AND he’d ordered a bus.
These were terrific guys working their butts off to build a company.
They’ve now gone out of business.
They were the 4th small New England operator to disappear in a short period of time. The number of available coaches in New England will diminish.
Our industry is shrinking, for a variety of reasons in addition to the pandemic that seem to target small and mid-sized operators. The cost of equipment, insurance woes, predatory regulation, and a driver shortage are among them.
I lack the power (and brains) to roll any of those things back, but it’s worthwhile to highlight some of the consequences of squashing our industry.
In the short term some larger companies benefit from competitors closing, or being swallowed, but what of the long term?
First, the dwindling national fleet means that during peak periods the public is either forced to drive their cars (statistically much more dangerous) or to forgo travel (bad for tourism).
Small, often family and minority owned, companies have been a traditional market for used coaches. One reason “experienced” coach values were down BEFORE the pandemic is because the folks who bought them are gone.
The big guys don’t love that reduced market, but they’ll be able to force manufacturers to give reasonably trade values. Eventually economics will catch up, in the form of even lower values, or higher new coach prices.
Small companies have been real innovators, nimbly identifying or creating new services or markets in order to survive. As they disappear so does that creativity.
The national bus fleet is a critical resource in responding to certain catastrophes. Following Hurricane Katrina, a large fleet of public sector buses remained parked, while the private sector managed to evacuate thousands to shelters. What happens in the future when a smaller fleet means fewer coaches available to help?
In the event of a terrorist attack, weather event, or the need to move police or troops in a hurry… fewer buses may mean that a difficult job becomes impossible.
In a snarky aside, when the power grid fails (as is often the case in these events) the trendy new battery powered buses will have very limited usefulness.
We subsidize Amtrak because we needed passenger trains to fight WWII, but pummel an industry that creates, rather than absorbs, revenue, and is more flexible than railroads.
Fewer buses means rural areas have fewer options, and depend on bigger companies deadheading from distant cities.
Because I’m a dinosaur, my view may be skewed, but we need to figure out which forces shrinking our industry are evolution, and which artificial ones are desiccating the safest, most ecologically efficient form of transportation.
A customer opened a package while I was in his office. Inside was a battery powered fish, mounted on a plaque, that flopped around and talked whenever someone entered the room.
I asked “What do I need to do to sell you a bus?” and Carl, a great kidder, said “you could kneel in front of my desk and beg”.
At that moment his dispatcher stuck his head in the door. He looked at me kneeling on the floor, Carl behind his desk, and the flopping fish babbling on the wall, shook his head, and slowly pushed the door shut.
That company has closed too…
Be nice to your bus salesperson… their job is tough.
