On your next business trip, stretch your legs, plug in your laptop and prepare for a leisurely ride — on the bus?
Bus companies are aggressively pursuing business travelers in a bid to give the airlines and Amtrak a run for their money. They’re offering new coaches, rock-bottom fares and perks such as free Internet access so road warriors can work while they ride.
Greyhound stripped out five seats in dozens of new buses that ferry passengers up and down the East Coast and in the Midwest, giving riders more than a foot of extra legroom. BoltBus rewards the first passenger to book a seat on each of its East Coast runs with a $1 fare. And while traveling from Miami to Orlando on the 5-month-old RedCoach, you can catch a flick on one of the LCD monitors that descend from the ceiling.
Bus officials say that when factoring in security screening and getting to and from the airport, a regional bus trip doesn’t take much longer than a short-haul flight. And they say that the idea of catching a bus to save money and bypass the hassles of flying is catching on.
“We’re attracting a lot more business ridership,” says Bruce Westcott, vice president of business development for Peter Pan, a bus line that operates from Washington to Boston.
The company got some new converts after record-breaking flooding in Rhode Island in March prevented Amtrak trains from running. “There was no other alternative to get to New York than taking the bus,” he says, “and because of the price differential, we’ve kept those customers on the bus. … They can still get to New York, maybe an hour later, but there’s more flexible service.”
Corporate travel managers aren’t flocking to the bus, says Kevin Mitchell of the Business Travel Coalition. But with work-friendly conveniences such…