If only buses could fly…

High-speed rail may be getting lots of attention — and money — from the Obama administration, but it turns out the transportation success story of the last few years is the bus.

At a time when flights have been cut and ridership on trains has been relatively flat, traveling by bus has been on the rise. Last year, bus service increased 5 percent, and it rose nearly 10 percent in 2008, according to Joseph Schwieterman, a DePaul University professor who has studied the decline and comeback of bus travel. In fact, in 2007, when he and his team of transportation researchers began studying why travelers shunned buses, they found themselves in the midst of a turnaround.

While 18-to-35-year-olds were the first to embrace new bus lines like MegaBus and BoltBus, which offer cheap express service between major cities in the Midwest and Northeast, the appeal of bus travel has expanded to include business travelers and riders older than 35 who want to avoid the stress of driving.
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“I normally don’t mind driving, but at that particular time the thought of hitting traffic somewhere around the New Jersey Turnpike was really off-putting for me,” Mr. Petty said. “So we took the bus, and I really enjoyed having someone else in charge.”

While the appeal of bus travel has long been low fares (which are still often less than $25 one way), what has spurred their revival is the focus on improving the entire experience, from ticketing to arrival