"Chinatown bus service started in 1998 to provide a cheap way for Asian immigrants to get from New York to Boston. You lined up at the curb, paid your $20 fare to the driver and settled into a comfortable bus for four hours or so. Now there's service to multiple destinations (including gambling casinos) from New York and on the West Coast, too. And competitors have arisen. Megabus routes exist between Maine and Memphis and Minneapolis, notably including many college towns. The buses have bathrooms, AC power outlets and free wi-fi. They're not as fast as the much more expensive Acela train, but they tend to run on schedule."

Funny thing, my college aged son told me a few weeks back he was going to take the bus from Indianapolis to Chicago.  My immediate thoughts went to grimy, unsafe buses that pick up/drop off in dilapidated areas of big cities.  Or worse, another beheadeding like the one in 2008.  However as Barone writes, "Chinatown and Megabus operators ditched this model for one that works for travelers for whom money is scarce and time plentiful. Who needs a station? Intercity buses can occupy curb space briefly just as city buses do. Who needs multiple stops? You can make money on people who want to go from one specific location to another. "

Meanwhile government run rail service lost over $500 million last year moving passengers through multiple stops into/out of grimy trains in dilapidated parts of town.