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 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 |
| Chief executive | Dennis Toeppen, President |
| Website | http://www.suburbanexpress.com |
Suburban Express is a bus company that serves six universities in the Mid-Western United States. It was founded in 1983 by Dennis Toeppen, then a student of the University of Illinois (UIUC). At first the University would not sell Suburban Express tickets, since it gained a commission from competitor Greyhound; however, by 1985, Suburban Express accounted for half the tickets sold at the UIUC travel center.
Suburban Express has been criticized online on Yelp and Reddit for "cutthroat business practices," including a $100 fine for using a ticket on the wrong day or for the wrong destination and suing 125 of its own customers.
History
Suburban Express was founded in 1983 by Dennis Toeppen as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois. At that time, the UIUC travel center sold Greyhound tickets exclusively (earning a commission on the transactions) and initially disallowed Suburban Express ticket sales at the travel center. Suburban Express undercut Greyhound's ticket prices, and an ensuing price-war led both Suburban Express and Greyhound to decrease prices more than fifty percent. Suburban Express survived two Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) investigations initiated by Greyhound, and its ticket sales reached parity with Greyhound by 1985. The travel center began allowing Suburban Express tickets to compensate for lost Greyhound commission revenues, and the service expanded to Eastern Illinois University (1985), and Illinois State University (1989).
From 1994 to 2013, Suburban Express filed 204 lawsuits, with 125 of these 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, a Reddit moderator accused Suburban Express of using sockpuppet accounts to post favorable comments and attack those posting negative ones. Suburban Express threatened to sue the moderator claiming he was making libelous comments and removing genuine comments that support the bus company. After Suburban Express received negative reactions in the media, it withdrew its threat of lawsuit against the moderator and also withdrew the 125 lawsuits it had filed against its customers.
Services
Suburban Express 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. Suburban Express is a "virtual" bus company, in that it does not own any buses or facilities, but instead contracts buses from other carriers.
According to Ars Technica, Suburban Express has a negative reputation on Yelp and Reddit, where customers claim the company has "cutthroat business practices" and have accused the company's founder of banning customers that post negative reviews.
Suburban Express' terms of service state that customers can be charged with a $100 fine in the event the ticket is used for the wrong day or the wrong route. It also says that violators of its terms will be banned from the service. The local University paper said Surburban Express filed 125 lawsuits in 2013 alone against customers that allegedly violated its terms. On March 31, 2013, a graduate student at the University of Illinois claimed on Facebook that he heard a bus driver make derogatory comments to an international student and four days later received an email from Suburban Express calming he owed $500 in "liquidated damages" and was banned from the service. The company's website suggested the company was planning to sue.
Afterwards, a Reddit moderator posted a comment: "Don't ride Suburban Express! They're likely to sue you, have terrible reviews, and also this." The "this" linked to a series of anonymous comments insulting Reddit users that the moderator believed were operated by Suburban Express. On April 24th, Suburban Express threatened to sue the Reddit moderator for "allowing false and libelous comments" and deleting posts "which counterbalance the negativity." A lawyer offered to defend the Reddit moderator pro-bono and sent a letter to Suburban Express. The company claimed after learning that Reddit was moderated by hundreds of people, it was best for them to stand down.
References
- ^ Gallagher, Sean (26 April 2013). "Express to Internet Hate: Bus company threatens redditor with lawsuit". Ars Technica. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ Fare wars - Bus service run by student butts heads with Greyhound. Dan Rozek. Daily Herald. Chicago, Illinois. Sunday, October 20, 1985. Page 20.
- Russell's Guide September 1999 - GLI Schedule 397 removed from publication
- ^ Ruff, Corinne (26 April 2013). "Suburban Express lawsuits reach 125 this year; conversation continues on Reddit". Daily Illini. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ 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.
- Special Weekend Service Between U of I and Chicago Suburbs
- Illini Shuttle service between Champaign and Chicago Airports