Early history Van Hool C2045 coach on a stopover Chinese-operated intercity bus service began when the Chinese working class and new immigrants, particularly
Chinese restaurant workers who found jobs in other cities, needed to travel to and from
New York City,
Boston, and
Atlantic City. this greatly reduced
overhead costs. In 1998, two companies began operations:
Fung Wah Bus Transportation, between New York and Boston, and
Eastern Bus, between New York and
Philadelphia. At first, very few non-Chinese made use of the services. As word spread, they became popular with non-Chinese travelers due to lower fares and the demographics of these bus lines became similar to those of other intercity bus lines.
Competition and
price wars between newly successful companies, combined with online ticket sales, Service to smaller cities by Chinatown bus lines had less of a price advantage. By 2005, Chinatown buses appropriated much of the
market share of
Greyhound Lines in the
Northeastern United States. By 2006, many Chinatown bus lines operated service to/from casinos popular with Chinese and
Vietnamese immigrants. All riders receive free-play vouchers, and some low-income or homeless people sell them before returning to New York. it ceased operations in July 2021. By 2010, service expanded to many major cities across the U.S. By 2012, riders of Chinatown buses made up over half the ridership of northeastern intercity buses, bringing annual intercity ridership to over 7 million passengers. On May 31, 2012, the
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) announced the shutdown of Apex Bus, I-95 Coach, New Century Travel, and 23 related entities due to safety violations. On March 2, 2013, the
United States Department of Transportation shut down
Fung Wah Bus Transportation because of its refusal to provide safety records. The company was later authorized to resume its bus operations but shut down anyways in 2015. On May 25, 2013, a bus operated by Lucky Star was taken out of service when a
manhole cover became lodged in its undercarriage. The company was shut down on June 5 due to "flagrant disregard for motor coach passenger safety". Lucky Star conducted an extensive bus upgrade and driver program, passed required inspections, and resumed operations in November 2013. The shutdowns led to an increase in bus fares and some say the shutdowns were unnecessary. Jim Epstein, a writer for
libertarian publication
Reason, called the FMCSA practices overly harsh, writing that the agency targets Chinatown bus companies because owners are rarely fluent in English and alleging that inspectors were overly strict about defective components, confiscating several buses for minor issues.
Post-shutdowns Despite these shutdowns, in 2015, Chinatown bus lines operated 5.3 million passenger trips and 48.5 million annual miles of service, up 14% from 2013 and up 26% since 2008. In May 2019,
Eastern Bus, a Chinatown bus line, reached a deal with
Flixbus, in which Flixbus handles all marketing and sales for the company.
Organized crime related incidents In 2003 and 2004, bus burnings, driver assaults, murders, and other
gang violence in New York City were linked to the possible infiltration of Asian
organized crime gangs in the industry. Among the crimes associated with gang activity was a deadly shooting in May 2003 on a busy street, which may have been in retaliation for a driver backing his bus into a rival; In a June 2004 incident tied to criminal gangs, two people—a Chinatown bus driver and a bystander—were murdered in a bar in
Flushing, Queens; another was shot in the leg. The accused shooter was arrested in
Toronto in 2011, and was extradited to the United States. In 2008, the Banya Organization, a Chinese
gang, was accused of assaulting employees of Chinatown bus lines in an attempt to extort partial ownership and a share of the profits. In 2013, police confiscated 254 guns and arrested 19 members of the largest gun-smuggling ring in New York City history; the suspects were accused of shipping guns via Chinatown bus lines. In 2020, Chinatown bus lines were again accused of being a conduit for gun trafficking.
Safety record Chinatown buses have been involved in several incidents, and there were 34 intercity bus crashes across the United States from 2001 to 2011. As of 2011, many travelers were not discouraged. Intercity bus crashes are rare. In 2012, General Bus, a Chinatown bus line, was noted to have a safety record worse than 99.5% of other intercity bus lines. In 2017, federal data showed that three Chinatown bus lines were among the worst safety violators among U.S. intercity bus lines.
Crashes and incidents • February 8, 2003 A bus operated by Dahlia transporting passengers to the Taj Mahal Casino Resort in
Atlantic City, New Jersey, spun off the
Garden State Parkway and flipped on its side on a snowy embankment, killing two people and injuring 28 people. • March 18, 2005A Boston-bound Chinatown bus operated by Lucky Star/Travel Pack stopped and evacuated its passengers on the
Massachusetts Turnpike shortly before it burst into flames. No one was injured. • August 16, 2005A New York-bound bus operated by
Fung Wah Bus Transportation caught fire on
Interstate 91 near
Meriden, Connecticut. Although the passengers later criticized the driver for being unhelpful and untrained in evacuating the bus, no injuries were reported. After the August 2005 bus fire, the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy began conducting three surprise inspections per month on all bus companies leaving Boston's South Station terminal.
Senator Chuck Schumer of
New York proposed a four-point federal plan which would includes surprise inspections and a national safety standard for bus operators. • August 15, 2006A Shun Fa bus traveling from New York to Pittsburgh crashed. Ten passengers were injured, five of whom were hospitalized, one in critical condition. • September 6, 2006A bus operated by
Fung Wah Bus Transportation rolled over in
Auburn, Massachusetts, injuring 34 passengers. Excessive speed was cited as a factor and the bus company was fined. • January 3, 2007A bus operated by
Fung Wah Bus Transportation lost its back two wheels in
Framingham, Massachusetts, early in a trip to New York. No injuries were reported. • February 14, 2007A bus operated by
Fung Wah Bus Transportation en route to New York went out of control and struck a
traffic barrier on the
Massachusetts Turnpike,
I-90, in
Allston. No injuries were reported. State officials had advised
Fung Wah Bus Transportation to suspend operations because of a
winter storm that day. Fung Wah reached an agreement with regulators in which its buses would be subject to inspections and driver checks for 30 days. The company agreed to improve safety, including removing unclean, unsafe buses from service. • February 18, 2007A bus owned by Tremblay Motorcoach and operated by Sunshine Travel caught fire on the Massachusetts Turnpike near interchange 10A in
Millbury, Massachusetts. All 50 passengers were evacuated, and no injuries were reported. The cause of the fire was unknown. The bus was returning to
Chinatown, Boston from the
Mohegan Sun casino in
Uncasville, Connecticut. • March 23, 2007A New York-bound bus operated by
Fung Wah Bus Transportation from Boston got stuck on a cement lane divider at a tollbooth on the Massachusetts Turnpike at
Massachusetts Route 128 in
Weston, Massachusetts, when the driver tried to change lanes. No one was injured, and passengers boarded a later bus. • May 20, 2007A New York-bound bus crashed in Pennsylvania, killing 2 riders and injuring 32 more. bus crash • June 23, 2008A bus loading passengers was struck by an out-of-control
dump truck at the intersection of
Canal Street and the Bowery in New York's Chinatown. The impact pushed the bus onto the sidewalk and into a bank. A sign attached to a light pole fell, injuring a 57-year-old woman who later died. Several people, including two police officers, were treated for minor injuries. State Department of Transportation inspectors found that the dump truck, owned by CPQ Freight Systems, had eight mechanical issues including faulty brakes which led to the crash. • March 14, 2011On the
New Jersey Turnpike, a bus crash killed the driver and injured 40, two critically. In March 2011, these two crashes led officials to confiscate six buses for inadequate brake air pressure, steering violations, and missing driver paperwork. • May 31, 2011 A commercial tour bus operated by Sky Express crashed on Interstate 95, killing four people and injuring dozens. • September 21, 2014A Chinatown bus overturned and killed two people and injured 48 people in Delaware. • March 31, 2015 A Chinatown bus hit and killed a pedestrian in Virginia. • September 23, 2017A bus operated by Dahlia Group slammed into a city bus in Flushing, killing Dahlia’s driver, a city bus passenger, and a pedestrian, and injuring 16 people. • January 5, 2020 A Chinatown bus crash killed five people and injured over 60 people on the
Pennsylvania Turnpike.
World Wide Tours bus crash March 12, 2011 World Wide Tours bus crash - A bus operated by World Wide Tours traveling to Chinatown from the
Mohegan Sun casino in
Uncasville, Connecticut crashed, killing 15 people. The crash took place at about 5:30 a.m. on March 12, 2011, in the southbound lanes of the
New England Thruway segment of
Interstate 95 within
Pelham Bay Park near
Split Rock at the border between
the Bronx and
Pelham Manor, New York. The bus was returning to
Chinatown, Manhattan, from the
Mohegan Sun casino in
Uncasville, Connecticut. It swerved and collided with a metal sign pole, which ripped through it and tore off most of its roof. Thirteen passengers died at the scene, two died at hospitals, and all seventeen others on board were injured. Some surviving passengers have said that the driver, Ophadell Williams, fell asleep at the wheel. He was not charged initially, pending investigation. Williams said that he was awake and sober at the time of the crash. The bus driver blamed the crash on a
tractor-trailer that he swerved to avoid, causing the bus to flip on its side and crash into an overhead highway sign which split the bus in half. He said the two possibly hit each other. The crash triggered an investigation by the
New York State Police and
National Transportation Safety Board. The truck driver was located by authorities, denied the bus driver's account and was cleared of responsibility. On December 7, 2012, the jury found Williams not guilty of all charges except one count of misdemeanor aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle; his sentence was commuted to
time served. ==Other criticism==