New Breed Of Bus Service Looks Set To Become A Firm Favorite Among Thanksgiving Travelers

As millions of Americans hurtle through the jumble of transportation arteries across the country for Thanksgiving, many are discovering that bus travel may be the cheapest, comfiest and even coolest way to stay Zen during the nation’s largest annual migration.

New up-market bus services capitalize on generational and technological shifts in the travel market. [Photo by Bolt Bus]

Things have come along way since the Greyhound days. After nearly half a century of decline in the bus industry, a new breed of sleek, Wi-Fi-pumping intercity coaches are transforming the image of buses as the much-ridiculed, and last resort, travel option.

With free Internet connections, tickets as cheap as $1 and decent legroom, companies such as Megabus and BoltBus are luring holiday travelers disenchanted with the hair-pulling rituals of airports and driving.

BoltBus General Manager David Hall says he has been blown away by its success. “It’s a bit overwhelming, quite frankly,” he continues, “… You get people who haven’t ridden the bus in years, and yet they’re coming down to give us a try because they’ve heard it’s cool.”

The up-market new bus services capitalize on generational and technological shifts: younger urbanites who are espousing a car-free lifestyle, and gadget-wielding travelers of all ages who like to buy tickets online, and stay connected for the duration of their trip.

“Young people have no great psychological connection with the car,” said transportation trends researcher Joseph Schwieterman of DePaul University in Chicago. “They just want to get from Point A to Point B, and being able to use their electronic device on the way is a bonus.”

The number of Americans who will travel during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend this year. AP

Many new bus carriers offer free Wi-Fi and have electrical outlets at each seat. Megabus.com slapped GPS tracking devices on its fleet of 300 double-decker buses, allowing travelers and the people waiting for them on the other end to track the trip in real time with a smartphone app.

“Those kinds of things we feel really matter,” said Mike Alvich, Megabus.com’s vice president for marketing. Such innovations along with the prices, he said, are why Megabus.com has enjoyed so much success pulling people out of their cars.

The company says 30 percent of its customers are people who otherwise would have taken a car for the same trip. It also helps that the typical 18- to 35-year-old passenger barely remembers the bad old days of bus travel.

That image problem endures for older travelers who braved interminable bus trips that launched from seedy downtowns, included numerous stops and were often punctuated along the way by the â€" let’s call them eccentricities â€" of a fellow passenger or two.

Lux Bus operates from Southern California to Las Vegas. [Photo by Lux Bus]

There’s even a touch of razzle-dazzle from companies like Lux Bus America, which operates a route from Los Angeles, San Diego and Anaheim to Las Vegas. Billing itself as an “airline on the ground,” its fleet all decked out in leather seats with comfy headrests and seatback entertainment systems. An attendant serves up beverages, snacks, pillows and blankets.

With no baggage fees, security hassles or limits on using laptops or electronic equipment â€" its no wonder more passengers than ever before are choosing to go by bus.

Like Alex Leopold, who said she’d rather take the nine-hour Megabus ride from Chicago to Nashville than fly.” This is reliable, and there aren’t any layovers,” the 20-year-old DePaul advertising student said, an ear bud dangling from one ear as she waited to board.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

New Breed Of Bus Service Looks Set To Become A New Favorite Among Thanksgiving Travelers