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Revision as of 03:15, 14 May 2013 editAlmostGrad (talk \| contribs)420 editsm Fixed duplicate references← Previous edit		Revision as of 03:28, 14 May 2013 edit undoAlmostGrad (talk \| contribs)420 editsm →Lawsuits Next edit →
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	Bus firm's lawsuits criticized \|last=Brumleve \|first=Will \|publisher=News-Gazette \|date=26 April 2013 \|accessdate=27 April 2013}}</ref> Students and journalists have questioned the company's practice of filing lawsuits in neighboring ], rather than in ],<ref name="DI-26Apr2013"/><ref name="News-Gazette-26Apr2013"/> as students at ] are not entitled to aid from Student Legal Services for lawsuits outside of county boundaries.<ref name="News-Gazette-26Apr2013"/>		Bus firm's lawsuits criticized \|last=Brumleve \|first=Will \|publisher=News-Gazette \|date=26 April 2013 \|accessdate=27 April 2013}}</ref> Students and journalists have questioned the company's practice of filing lawsuits in neighboring ], rather than in ],<ref name="DI-26Apr2013"/><ref name="News-Gazette-26Apr2013"/> as students at ] are not entitled to aid from Student Legal Services for lawsuits outside of county boundaries.<ref name="News-Gazette-26Apr2013"/>

	In April 2013, representative(s) of Suburban Express posted favorable comments about their company on a forum on ] dedicated to the ] ~~UIUC~~ by using several sockpuppet accounts, and insulted members of the forum who criticized them. This led the forum moderator to delete the offensive comments and post a note on the forum frontpage warning readers about Suburban Express, including their litigious behavior which involved suing 125 customers this year for alleged violations of their terms of service. Suburban Express's legal representation then threatened to sue the forum moderator, demanding in a letter that "libelous postings" be removed. Suburban Express retracted its threat to sue the moderator and also withdrew the 125 lawsuits it had filed against its customers after receiving widespread negative reactions<ref name="SubEx_BoingBoing">{{cite news\| url=http://boingboing.net/2013/04/27/suburban-express-bus-line-send.html \| work=BoingBoing \| title=Suburban Express bus-line sends bullying, cowardly legal threat to Reddit, discovers Streisand Effect \| first=Cory \| last=Doctorow \| date=2013-04-27}}</ref><ref name="Ars-26Apr2013">{{cite news\| url=http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/express-to-internet-hate-bus-company-threatens-redditor-with-lawsuit/ \| work=Ars Technica \| title=Express to Internet Hate: Bus company threatens redditor with lawsuit \| first=Sean \| last=Gallagher \| date=2013-04-26}}</ref><ref name="SubEx_Popehat">{{cite news\| url=http://www.popehat.com/2013/04/28/suburban-express-took-the-first-bus-to-the-streisand-effect-have-they-disembarked-in-time/ \| work=Popehat.com \| title=Suburban Express Took The First Bus To The Streisand Effect. Have They Disembarked In Time? \| first=Ken \| last=White \| date=2013-04-28}}</ref> in the media and on the internet. This incident has been called an example of the ] by some, including ] of ]<ref name="SubEx_BoingBoing">{{cite news\| url=http://boingboing.net/2013/04/27/suburban-express-bus-line-send.html \| work=BoingBoing \| title=Suburban Express bus-line sends bullying, cowardly legal threat to Reddit, discovers Streisand Effect \| first=Cory \| last=Doctorow \| date=2013-04-27}}</ref>, Ken White of ]<ref name="SubEx_Popehat">{{cite news\| url=http://www.popehat.com/2013/04/28/suburban-express-took-the-first-bus-to-the-streisand-effect-have-they-disembarked-in-time/ \| work=Popehat.com \| title=Suburban Express Took The First Bus To The Streisand Effect. Have They Disembarked In Time? \| first=Ken \| last=White \| date=2013-04-28}}</ref>, and Sean Gallagher of ]<ref name="SubEx_ArsTechnica3">{{cite news\| url=http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/express-to-internet-hate-bus-company-threatens-redditor-with-lawsuit/ \| work=Ars Technica \| title=		In April 2013, representative(s) of Suburban Express posted favorable comments about their company on a forum on ] dedicated to the ] by using several sockpuppet accounts, and insulted members of the forum who criticized them. This led the forum moderator to delete the offensive comments and post a note on the forum frontpage warning readers about Suburban Express, including their litigious behavior which involved suing 125 customers this year for alleged violations of their terms of service. Suburban Express's legal representation then threatened to sue the forum moderator, demanding in a letter that "libelous postings" be removed. Suburban Express retracted its threat to sue the moderator and also withdrew the 125 lawsuits it had filed against its customers after receiving widespread negative reactions<ref name="SubEx_BoingBoing">{{cite news\| url=http://boingboing.net/2013/04/27/suburban-express-bus-line-send.html \| work=BoingBoing \| title=Suburban Express bus-line sends bullying, cowardly legal threat to Reddit, discovers Streisand Effect \| first=Cory \| last=Doctorow \| date=2013-04-27}}</ref><ref name="Ars-26Apr2013">{{cite news\| url=http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/express-to-internet-hate-bus-company-threatens-redditor-with-lawsuit/ \| work=Ars Technica \| title=Express to Internet Hate: Bus company threatens redditor with lawsuit \| first=Sean \| last=Gallagher \| date=2013-04-26}}</ref><ref name="SubEx_Popehat">{{cite news\| url=http://www.popehat.com/2013/04/28/suburban-express-took-the-first-bus-to-the-streisand-effect-have-they-disembarked-in-time/ \| work=Popehat.com \| title=Suburban Express Took The First Bus To The Streisand Effect. Have They Disembarked In Time? \| first=Ken \| last=White \| date=2013-04-28}}</ref> in the media and on the internet. This incident has been called an example of the ] by some, including ] of ]<ref name="SubEx_BoingBoing">{{cite news\| url=http://boingboing.net/2013/04/27/suburban-express-bus-line-send.html \| work=BoingBoing \| title=Suburban Express bus-line sends bullying, cowardly legal threat to Reddit, discovers Streisand Effect \| first=Cory \| last=Doctorow \| date=2013-04-27}}</ref>, Ken White of ]<ref name="SubEx_Popehat">{{cite news\| url=http://www.popehat.com/2013/04/28/suburban-express-took-the-first-bus-to-the-streisand-effect-have-they-disembarked-in-time/ \| work=Popehat.com \| title=Suburban Express Took The First Bus To The Streisand Effect. Have They Disembarked In Time? \| first=Ken \| last=White \| date=2013-04-28}}</ref>, and Sean Gallagher of ]<ref name="SubEx_ArsTechnica3">{{cite news\| url=http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/express-to-internet-hate-bus-company-threatens-redditor-with-lawsuit/ \| work=Ars Technica \| title=
	Troll road: Bus company posts “dirt” on complaining passenger \| first=Sean \| last=Gallagher \| date=2013-05-13}}</ref>.		Troll road: Bus company posts “dirt” on complaining passenger \| first=Sean \| last=Gallagher \| date=2013-05-13}}</ref>.

Revision as of 03:28, 14 May 2013


Illini Shuttle, operated by Suburban Express, at Illinois Terminal in Champaign, Illinois.
Founded	1983
Headquarters	714 S Sixth Street Champaign, Illinois 61820
Service area	Illinois, Indiana, Iowa
Service type	Intercity coach service
Destinations	6 Universities served and Chicago Suburbs
Website	http://www.suburbanexpress.com

Suburban Express is a bus company which serves six midwest universities: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois State University, Eastern Illinois University, Purdue University, University of Iowa, and Indiana University. Weekend services transport students from all six campuses directly to several Suburban Chicago locations. The Illini Shuttle runs every day from Champaign and Urbana to the Chicago Airports of O'Hare and Chicago suburbs.

History

Early history

A student of the University of Illinois started Suburban Express in 1983 as a "virtual" bus company that did not own any buses or facilities. Rather, it contracted buses from carriers, sold tickets through a travel agent, and used public streets and suburban malls as its bus stops.

The first charter of six buses carried about 300 students to the Chicago suburbs for the Thanksgiving break in 1983 undercutting Greyhound's prices by $4 to $8. The concept was partially encouraged by a Greyhound bus driver's strike around the same period. UIUC refused to allow Suburban Express ticket sales at the university travel center because the school received a commission for selling Greyhound tickets and they feared Greyhound's reaction to selling competing tickets.

Competition

A price war ensued between Greyhound and Suburban Express. By February 1985 both sides had reduced round trip ticket prices from $36 to $14.75. In 1984, Greyhound also contacted the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) which initiated two separate investigations of Suburban Express. The first ICC investigation in Spring of 1984 found Suburban Express to be operating a regular service without the ICC's approval. In response Suburban Express changed the operation to a private charter for UIUC students and staff excluding it from ICC jurisdiction. The second investigation was in fall of 1984 and found the company to be operating according to ICC rules.

By October 1985, UIUC allowed sales of Suburban Express tickets at the Illini Union Travel Center to recover revenue lost by the decline of Greyhound ticket sales. At that time, the manager of the Travel Center said that Suburban Express tickets accounted for over half of the tickets sold weekly.

Suburban Express eventually displaced Greyhound as the most popular mode of transportation to/from the Chicago suburbs. In 1989, Greyhound pulled out of the Champaign-to-Suburbs market altogether. Suburban Express added Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, IL to its route structure in 1985. Illinois State University was served from 1989-1993 and from 2003–present. As of 2003, annual ridership was approximately 55,000 passengers.

Lawsuits

Since 1994, Suburban Express has filed 204 lawsuits, with 125 of them filed in 2013. Many of these lawsuits target passengers for alleged violations of Suburban Express' terms of service, including failing to pay penalty fares of $100 for presenting invalid or misdated tickets, or for canceling payment for buses that did not show up. Students and journalists have questioned the company's practice of filing lawsuits in neighboring Ford County, rather than in Champaign County, as students at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign are not entitled to aid from Student Legal Services for lawsuits outside of county boundaries.

In April 2013, representative(s) of Suburban Express posted favorable comments about their company on a forum on Reddit dedicated to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by using several sockpuppet accounts, and insulted members of the forum who criticized them. This led the forum moderator to delete the offensive comments and post a note on the forum frontpage warning readers about Suburban Express, including their litigious behavior which involved suing 125 customers this year for alleged violations of their terms of service. Suburban Express's legal representation then threatened to sue the forum moderator, demanding in a letter that "libelous postings" be removed. Suburban Express retracted its threat to sue the moderator and also withdrew the 125 lawsuits it had filed against its customers after receiving widespread negative reactions in the media and on the internet. This incident has been called an example of the Streisand Effect by some, including Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing, Ken White of Popehat, and Sean Gallagher of Ars Technica.

References

Special Weekend Service Between U of I and Chicago Suburbs
Illini Shuttle service between Champaign and Chicago Airports
^ Fare wars - Bus service run by student butts heads with Greyhound. Dan Rozek. Daily Herald. Chicago, Illinois. Sunday, October 20, 1985. Page 20.
Champaign man takes one of the last Concorde trips; Lynda Zimmer. News-Gazette Staff Writer. News Gazette. Champaign, Ill. Oct 29, 2003. pg. B.5.
Russell's Guide September 1999 - GLI Schedule 397 removed from publication
http://www.suburbanexpress.com/bulletpoints.html
^ Ruff, Corinne (26 April 2013). "Suburban Express lawsuits reach 125 this year; conversation continues on Reddit". Daily Illini. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
^ Gallagher, Sean (26 April 2013). "Express to Internet Hate: Bus company threatens redditor with lawsuit". Ars Technica. Retrieved 27 April 2013. Cite error: The named reference "Ars-26Apr2013" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
^ Brumleve, Will (26 April 2013). "Bus firm's lawsuits criticized". News-Gazette. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
^ Doctorow, Cory (2013-04-27). "Suburban Express bus-line sends bullying, cowardly legal threat to Reddit, discovers Streisand Effect". BoingBoing.
^ White, Ken (2013-04-28). "Suburban Express Took The First Bus To The Streisand Effect. Have They Disembarked In Time?". Popehat.com.
Gallagher, Sean (2013-05-13). "Troll road: Bus company posts "dirt" on complaining passenger". Ars Technica.

External links

Categories:

Revision as of 03:15, 14 May 2013 editAlmostGrad (talk \| contribs)420 editsm Fixed duplicate references← Previous edit		Revision as of 03:28, 14 May 2013 edit undoAlmostGrad (talk \| contribs)420 editsm →Lawsuits Next edit →
Line 47:		Line 47:
	Bus firm's lawsuits criticized \|last=Brumleve \|first=Will \|publisher=News-Gazette \|date=26 April 2013 \|accessdate=27 April 2013}}</ref> Students and journalists have questioned the company's practice of filing lawsuits in neighboring ], rather than in ],<ref name="DI-26Apr2013"/><ref name="News-Gazette-26Apr2013"/> as students at ] are not entitled to aid from Student Legal Services for lawsuits outside of county boundaries.<ref name="News-Gazette-26Apr2013"/>		Bus firm's lawsuits criticized \|last=Brumleve \|first=Will \|publisher=News-Gazette \|date=26 April 2013 \|accessdate=27 April 2013}}</ref> Students and journalists have questioned the company's practice of filing lawsuits in neighboring ], rather than in ],<ref name="DI-26Apr2013"/><ref name="News-Gazette-26Apr2013"/> as students at ] are not entitled to aid from Student Legal Services for lawsuits outside of county boundaries.<ref name="News-Gazette-26Apr2013"/>

	In April 2013, representative(s) of Suburban Express posted favorable comments about their company on a forum on ] dedicated to the ] ~~UIUC~~ by using several sockpuppet accounts, and insulted members of the forum who criticized them. This led the forum moderator to delete the offensive comments and post a note on the forum frontpage warning readers about Suburban Express, including their litigious behavior which involved suing 125 customers this year for alleged violations of their terms of service. Suburban Express's legal representation then threatened to sue the forum moderator, demanding in a letter that "libelous postings" be removed. Suburban Express retracted its threat to sue the moderator and also withdrew the 125 lawsuits it had filed against its customers after receiving widespread negative reactions<ref name="SubEx_BoingBoing">{{cite news\| url=http://boingboing.net/2013/04/27/suburban-express-bus-line-send.html \| work=BoingBoing \| title=Suburban Express bus-line sends bullying, cowardly legal threat to Reddit, discovers Streisand Effect \| first=Cory \| last=Doctorow \| date=2013-04-27}}</ref><ref name="Ars-26Apr2013">{{cite news\| url=http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/express-to-internet-hate-bus-company-threatens-redditor-with-lawsuit/ \| work=Ars Technica \| title=Express to Internet Hate: Bus company threatens redditor with lawsuit \| first=Sean \| last=Gallagher \| date=2013-04-26}}</ref><ref name="SubEx_Popehat">{{cite news\| url=http://www.popehat.com/2013/04/28/suburban-express-took-the-first-bus-to-the-streisand-effect-have-they-disembarked-in-time/ \| work=Popehat.com \| title=Suburban Express Took The First Bus To The Streisand Effect. Have They Disembarked In Time? \| first=Ken \| last=White \| date=2013-04-28}}</ref> in the media and on the internet. This incident has been called an example of the ] by some, including ] of ]<ref name="SubEx_BoingBoing">{{cite news\| url=http://boingboing.net/2013/04/27/suburban-express-bus-line-send.html \| work=BoingBoing \| title=Suburban Express bus-line sends bullying, cowardly legal threat to Reddit, discovers Streisand Effect \| first=Cory \| last=Doctorow \| date=2013-04-27}}</ref>, Ken White of ]<ref name="SubEx_Popehat">{{cite news\| url=http://www.popehat.com/2013/04/28/suburban-express-took-the-first-bus-to-the-streisand-effect-have-they-disembarked-in-time/ \| work=Popehat.com \| title=Suburban Express Took The First Bus To The Streisand Effect. Have They Disembarked In Time? \| first=Ken \| last=White \| date=2013-04-28}}</ref>, and Sean Gallagher of ]<ref name="SubEx_ArsTechnica3">{{cite news\| url=http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/express-to-internet-hate-bus-company-threatens-redditor-with-lawsuit/ \| work=Ars Technica \| title=		In April 2013, representative(s) of Suburban Express posted favorable comments about their company on a forum on ] dedicated to the ] by using several sockpuppet accounts, and insulted members of the forum who criticized them. This led the forum moderator to delete the offensive comments and post a note on the forum frontpage warning readers about Suburban Express, including their litigious behavior which involved suing 125 customers this year for alleged violations of their terms of service. Suburban Express's legal representation then threatened to sue the forum moderator, demanding in a letter that "libelous postings" be removed. Suburban Express retracted its threat to sue the moderator and also withdrew the 125 lawsuits it had filed against its customers after receiving widespread negative reactions<ref name="SubEx_BoingBoing">{{cite news\| url=http://boingboing.net/2013/04/27/suburban-express-bus-line-send.html \| work=BoingBoing \| title=Suburban Express bus-line sends bullying, cowardly legal threat to Reddit, discovers Streisand Effect \| first=Cory \| last=Doctorow \| date=2013-04-27}}</ref><ref name="Ars-26Apr2013">{{cite news\| url=http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/express-to-internet-hate-bus-company-threatens-redditor-with-lawsuit/ \| work=Ars Technica \| title=Express to Internet Hate: Bus company threatens redditor with lawsuit \| first=Sean \| last=Gallagher \| date=2013-04-26}}</ref><ref name="SubEx_Popehat">{{cite news\| url=http://www.popehat.com/2013/04/28/suburban-express-took-the-first-bus-to-the-streisand-effect-have-they-disembarked-in-time/ \| work=Popehat.com \| title=Suburban Express Took The First Bus To The Streisand Effect. Have They Disembarked In Time? \| first=Ken \| last=White \| date=2013-04-28}}</ref> in the media and on the internet. This incident has been called an example of the ] by some, including ] of ]<ref name="SubEx_BoingBoing">{{cite news\| url=http://boingboing.net/2013/04/27/suburban-express-bus-line-send.html \| work=BoingBoing \| title=Suburban Express bus-line sends bullying, cowardly legal threat to Reddit, discovers Streisand Effect \| first=Cory \| last=Doctorow \| date=2013-04-27}}</ref>, Ken White of ]<ref name="SubEx_Popehat">{{cite news\| url=http://www.popehat.com/2013/04/28/suburban-express-took-the-first-bus-to-the-streisand-effect-have-they-disembarked-in-time/ \| work=Popehat.com \| title=Suburban Express Took The First Bus To The Streisand Effect. Have They Disembarked In Time? \| first=Ken \| last=White \| date=2013-04-28}}</ref>, and Sean Gallagher of ]<ref name="SubEx_ArsTechnica3">{{cite news\| url=http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/04/express-to-internet-hate-bus-company-threatens-redditor-with-lawsuit/ \| work=Ars Technica \| title=
	Troll road: Bus company posts “dirt” on complaining passenger \| first=Sean \| last=Gallagher \| date=2013-05-13}}</ref>.		Troll road: Bus company posts “dirt” on complaining passenger \| first=Sean \| last=Gallagher \| date=2013-05-13}}</ref>.