{"id":1568,"date":"2012-06-01T19:49:16","date_gmt":"2012-06-01T23:49:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/hlpr\/?p=1568"},"modified":"2015-10-02T15:23:10","modified_gmt":"2015-10-02T15:23:10","slug":"r-i-p-chinatown-bus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.harvard.edu\/lpr\/2012\/06\/01\/r-i-p-chinatown-bus\/","title":{"rendered":"R.I.P. Chinatown Bus?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By\u00a0Yevgeny Shrago<\/p>\n<p><\/em>Anyone who has ever needed to get quickly and cheaply (if not safely) from New York to just about anywhere on the East Coast should shed at least one tear today, as the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20120705021216\/http:\/\/www.fmcsa.dot.gov\/documents\/about\/news\/2012\/i95-motorcoach-company-fact-sheet.pdf\">shut down<\/a>\u00a026 bus lines today, most of which operated out of New York and Philadelphia\u2019s Chinatowns (hence the affectionate title \u201cChinatown bus\u201d). \u00a0The carriers were shut down for a variety of serious problems including overworked, improperly licensed drivers and failure to properly repair the buses. Despite the New York Times\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20120705021216\/http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/06\/01\/nyregion\/federal-officials-shut-down-26-bus-operators.html?_r=1&amp;hp\">intimations<\/a>\u00a0that passengers would be pushed to Greyhound, several of the larger lines, such as Fung Wah, appear to be unaffected by the shutdown.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nThe safety problems with these buses will almost certainly be used to oppose any calls for opening up the state-enforced public monopolies on local bus service or, at the least, loosening of taxicab medallion requirements. \u00a0The Chinatown buses are one of the major examples of private, unsubsidized, intra-city ground transportation in the United States and their safety record is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20120705021216\/http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chinatown_bus_lines#Safety\">reprehensible<\/a>. \u00a0At the same time, these buses were groundbreaking and despite their dismal safety record, they are an argument for permitting more open competition in transportation.<\/p>\n<p>Today, anyone nervous about that safety record can take an almost as inexpensive ride on Megabus or Boltbus to most major cities instead of having to ride on the terrible and expensive Greyhound buses (which themselves have had to improve as a result of competition). \u00a0Both these ventures are owned by large players who were forced to provide this service once they realized how badly they were being outcompeted by Chinatown buses. \u00a0Furthermore, these buses have succeeded despite intense opposition and lobbying from entrenched players like Peter Pan and Greyhound to deny them gates at the major bus stations in each city (hence coming and going from Chinatown). \u00a0The result of all these entrants into the market was a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20120705021216\/http:\/\/las.depaul.edu\/chaddick\/docs\/Docs\/Press_release_-_2008_bus_study.pdf\">huge spike<\/a>\u00a0in bus ridership and departures.<\/p>\n<p>So keeping in mind the need to maintain high safety standards and regular inspections, let\u2019s let a hundred bus lines bloom in America\u2019s major cities. \u00a0It might even help out your local transit authority.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By\u00a0Yevgeny Shrago Anyone who has ever needed to get quickly and cheaply (if not safely) from New York to just [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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