Greyhound Lines, the giant of American inter-city bus companies, is coming to Chinatown to claim a share of the fast-growing market of Chinese long-distance buses. The company announced that starting May 25, Greyhound will dispatch buses from Chinatown. The buses will go from Chinatown to regions presently not serviced by Chinatown buses.
This may signify a new turn in the competition among the long-distance bus companies in Chinatown, an already aggravated affair. The Chinese companies have long been operating under the radar, with virtually no advertising necessary to promote their low fares. Greyhound is planning to offer similarly low-priced trips, but with insurance, convenient connecting networks, and responsive customer service.
Some Chinese bus operators are worried. Many of them, like most of the new business owners in Chinatown, are Fujinese immigrants. An operator whose buses run between New York and North Carolina and will only give his last name as Mr. Chan, is worried that he will not be able to compete with Greyhound for long. Chan said that no Chinese company has the financial backing that Greyhound does.
Greyhound has tried to compete with Chinatown buses before. A year ago, it set up a shuttle bus service to shuttle riders from Chinatown to its midtown terminal. But most customers found it cumbersome and inconvenient and the service quickly fizzled out after a few weeks.
But this time Greyhound said it knows what it is doing and authorized Manhattan Travel Inc. to run its Chinatown operation. Winnie Mou, Manhattan Travel’s manager, said that they have done extensive market research and decided to dispatch buses directly from Chinatown.
Mou said that Greyhound will not compete head on with the Chinese bus companies – at least not in the beginning. Greyhound will not run routes between New York and D.C., Philadelphia, or Boston, where Chinese buses have a firm foothold. What Greyhound will do, Mou said, is run buses on the neglected routes that the Chinese companies cannot afford to service, in addition to certain routes already serviced by the Chinese companies.
Beginning May 25, Greyhound buses will leave New York City Chinatown for Cleveland (OH), Detroit (MI), Indianapolis (IND), Pittsburgh (PA) and Charlotte (NC). Greyhound will promote its new routes by offering some of the lowest fares in Chinatown. For instance, a one-way ticket to Cleveland will cost $50. The fare will rise to $55 after the promotional period, but this is still cheaper than the $60 fare that Chinese buses are now offering.
Taking a page from the Chinese bus business, Greyhound will also offer some flexibility in its services and let riders get off the bus at stops and rest stations along the routes. To attract Chinese customers, Greyhound will hire more Chinese-speaking drivers and ticket sellers.
According to Mou, the company does not rule out the possibility of expansion. She said that once the initial routes turn a profit, Greyhound will set up new routes or even enter the fiercely competitive D.C., Philadelphia and Boston routes.
Even with a seemly well-drawn business plan, Chinese bus operators said that they can spot a problem or two. Yu Cheng, whose buses run between New York and Maryland, pointed out that the Greyhound buses leave Chinatown at 9:30 p.m., while most Chinese buses leave at 10:00 p.m. Why this difference? “Most wedding banquets start to end around 9:30 p.m.,” Cheng said. “The 30-minute difference will make many out-of-state guests miss the Greyhound and stay with the Chinese buses.”
Cheng also pointed out that the Greyhound stop, which is on Bowery Street between Broom and Grand, is too far from East Broadway, where most Chinese riders are generated. He said that the East Broadway stop is crucial because it connects many Chinese commuter van riders directly to long-distance buses. “Unless Greyhound can offer something really enticing, it will be hard to make riders walk those extra blocks at night,” he said.
