In the United States, as the fight against high inflation pushes up airfares and a local low-cost carrier goes bankrupt, more travelers are choosing buses instead of planes. The U.S. bus industry is also moving quickly to expand routes and modernize fleets to attract passengers.
On the 22nd (local time), the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said travelers have been favoring long-distance buses since low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines halted operations in May. Spirit Airlines, known for its cheap fares, had the nickname "the Greyhound of the skies." Greyhound is a leading long-distance intercity bus company that connects the United States nationwide. With Spirit Airlines gone, some passengers are moving by Greyhound bus.
Kiyana Miller, 29, who lives in Nashville, Tennessee, told the WSJ in an interview that she recently took a Greyhound bus to Atlanta to meet friends. The round-trip fare was $75 (115,000 won). Miller said she plans to travel to New Orleans this summer using a Greyhound bus and an Amtrak train.
In fact, according to Flix North America, which operates FlixBus and Greyhound, passenger counts on about 130 routes overlapping Spirit Airlines routes rose 30% year over year during the first week right after Spirit halted flights. Related online searches also increased 20%.
Industry watchers say the recent increase in bus use is not merely a windfall from Spirit Airlines' bankruptcy. In the U.S., airfares have risen and fuel costs have grown burdensome, and airport wait times have lengthened or flights have been canceled due to the impact of a government shutdown. On top of that, as airlines cut less profitable short-haul routes, buses are emerging as an alternative, analysts say.
According to the American Bus Association Foundation, the U.S. bus industry, including intercity and charter buses, carried passengers a total of 43.9 billion miles (about 70.7 billion km) last year, up about 9% from a year earlier. Compared with 2020, when COVID-19 hit hard, the figure more than doubled.
Fred Ferguson, chief executive officer (CEO) of the American Bus Association, said, "The more inconvenient air travel becomes, the more the bus industry benefits."
Bus companies are making aggressive investments to meet rising demand. FlixBus and Greyhound added 16 routes last year and this year opened 25 new routes in the United States and Canada. Fleet modernization is also underway. Greyhound has introduced 181 new buses over the past two years with improved seat comfort and Wi-Fi performance, and it plans to purchase an additional 85 this year.
Experts said a rise in oil prices could further stimulate bus demand. Joseph Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University, said, "When oil prices rose in the early 2010s due to instability in the Middle East, bus operator Megabus was able to grow rapidly in the U.S. market."