Can ‘Buses-As-Flights’ Get Americans Out of Cars — And Planes?
What the U.S. does have is a vast network of express buses, which studies show have about one-fifth of the per-passenger-mile emissions impact as air travel, based on average passenger loads for each mode.
That astonishing environmental potential, though, isn’t mirrored in U.S. transportation policy. Like airlines, the motor coach industry is operated by private companies — but unlike airlines, they are almost never subsidized by taxpayers, even when using them would keep pollutants out of the skies without sacrificing traveler comfort or convenience.
As part of the Essential Air Service program, the U.S. DOT currently helps pay for about 175 small communities throughout the country to access nearby hub airports, some of which are as little as 75 miles apart — a distance that can often be covered faster on the ground than in the air, at least when you factor in the time it can take to get through security or taxi on a crowded runway. A 2011 American Bus Association analysis found that just by replacing those puddle-jumper flights under 150 miles with bus trips, the U.S. could cut per-passenger emissions by a staggering 72 percent, and save about $113 million (inflation-adjusted) — but to date, we still haven’t done it.
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Just because a bus is better for the planet than a plane, though, doesn’t mean customers will want to ride it — even if that motor coach is faster, more comfortable, and cheaper than the equivalent flight, as many are.
Landline, the company to which American and other airlines are contracting some short-haul journeys, are fighting back against negative perceptions of bus travel by providing something it says traditional motor coaches haven’t yet cracked: total integration with the airlines they serve.
“I don’t know where [bus stigma] comes from; it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me,” said David Sunde, Landline’s co-founder and CEO. “But what I can tell you is that our customer satisfaction scores, even relative to a regional jets, are really high. … As soon as that door opens, people are like, wow; how have I not traveled this way before?”