More and more people that live in or visit the United States are choosing to travel by motor coach. On an annual basis, more than 751 million passenger trips are provided by motor coaches. During some years, however, more people travel by motor coach than via commercial airlines. Since this means of travel offers airport shuttle, charter, commuter, sightseeing tours, and scheduled services, it is a convenient, reliable, and more environmentally-friendly way to travel.
There are several reasons why traveling by motor coach can be more convenient and reliable. This is because motor coach terminals are more prevalent than airports, bus terminals, and intercity rail terminals. Furthermore, given that there are over 14 million Americans living in rural areas, motor coaches are the only way these individuals and their families can travel into the city and surrounding areas.
When people travel by motor coach, it also reduces traffic, congestion, energy usage, and emissions. When just one motor coach is at full capacity, it can potentially remove 55 automobiles from the country’s roads and highways. Another benefit of traveling by motor coach is that when compared to other types of transportation, these vehicles emit the least amount of carbon dioxide per passenger miles. When it comes to reducing CO2 emissions, motor coaches are actually three times more efficient than commuter rail and double that amount for transit buses.
It’s also important to provide a comparison between the passenger miles per gallon of fuel associated with motor coaches and other means of transportation:
- Motor coaches: 206.6 passenger miles per gallon
- Commuter rail: 92.4 passenger miles per gallon
- Hybrid cars: 46 passenger miles per gallon
- Domestic air carrier: 44 passenger miles per gallon
- Transit buses: 31.4 passenger miles per gallon
- Personal automobiles:: 27.2 passenger miles per gallon
Since many tax payers may be concerned about the amount of federal subsidies being paid, these are considerably lower for motor coaches than with other other types of transportation:
- Motor coaches: $.06 per passenger trip
- Public transit: $.77 per passenger trip
- Commercial air carriers: $4.32 per passenger trip
- Amtrak: $46.06 per passenger trip
Whether you’re going on a local or cross-country trip, have you considered traveling via charter bus lines? In addition to being able to travel comfortably on a bus, these vehicles also have conference rooms, free WiFi, reclining seats, more leg room, and other amenities. The next time you plan to take a trip by yourself or with family and friends, you’ll be happy you chose charter bus lines.
