In the UK, travelling by coach is a fairly popular way to move between cities. Comfortable, modern coaches and the advent of discount tickets from Megabus and National Express, have meant that taking a coach trip is no longer the preserve of hard-up students or retirees looking for a cheap getaway. But in the US, bus operators have found it more challenging to get Americans to give up pre-conceived ideas about bus travel: namely that it is slow, uncomfortable and serviced by intimidating urban bus terminals.
But things have changed a great deal over recent years, due in no small part to UK bus operators FirstGroup and Megabus, who have taken their UK-style discount bus travel to the US market. The outdated image of elderly Greyhound coaches has given way to air-con buses, onboard wi-fi access and above all, very affordable fares.
The highly-populated eastern seaboard has seen one of the biggest take ups, playing a large part in the overall 7.1% increase in inter-city bus travel over 2011.
So are Americans about to fall out of love with their cars? Are they about to consign their motors to the garage and cancel their annual car breakdown cover? It seems unlikely, simply because the size of the US makes bus travel largely impractical. And for America's UK-owned bus companies, shaking off the image that bus travel is somehow 'dirty' or 'lower class' will be hard to shake off.
That said, the possibility of travelling between two major cities for a mere dollar is sure to attract many more travellers in the coming years.
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