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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 | Six universities served and Chicago suburbs |
| Chief executive | Dennis Toeppen, President |
| Website | www.suburbanexpress.com |
Suburban Express is a bus service, based in Champaign, Illinois, that provides transport services to students at six universities in the American Midwest. The company, which contracts buses from other carriers, was founded in 1983 by its current president, Dennis Toeppen, then a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Toeppen successfully challenged the local monopoly of Greyhound, leading to a price war that saw fares drop for both companies.
The company has become known, particularly on social media, for legal disputes arising from the rigorous enforcement of its terms of service.
History
Suburban Express was founded in 1983 by Dennis Toeppen, then a 19-year-old student, to provide local transport home at weekends and holidays for students at UIUC. The only company providing this service at the time was Greyhound Lines, and Toeppen wanted to offer a lower-cost alternative. He chartered six buses and drivers, sold tickets through a local travel agency and spent $600 on advertising. The university's travel center received a commission from Greyhound and at first refused to sell Suburban Express tickets, even though they were cheaper. The travel center briefly founded its own charter service as a competitor to Suburban Express, cutting fares even further.
A price war broke out, in which Suburban Express and Greyhound both cut prices by more than fifty percent. Greyhound initiated two Illinois Commerce Commission investigations against Suburban Express in 1984, and in 1985 Toeppen charged Greyhound with "predatory pricing" for lowering its round-trip fare to Chicago from around $36 to $14.75. Toeppen matched the price but complained to the Justice Department, which decided not to investigate. Suburban Express survived despite the price war, and was able to expand its service to Eastern Illinois University in 1985 and to Illinois State University to 1989.
Services, disputes
As of 2013 the company serves six universities: UIUC, Illinois State University, Eastern Illinois University, Purdue University, University of Iowa and Indiana University. Weekend services transport students from all six campuses to several Chicago locations. In the 12 months prior to April 2013 the company carried around 100,000 passengers, running up to 75 buses a day.
The company has acquired a reputation for rigorously enforcing its terms of service, telling one reporter: "We have a few very simple rules: Bring a printed ticket. Don't try to get on a bus you can't get a ticket for because it's sold out by using a ticket for another date. Don't try to get two rides when you have only paid for one. Don't try to ride with a counterfeit ticket."
Between April 1994 and April 2013 it initiated 209 lawsuits, mostly small-claims actions against individuals but also lawsuits against four competitors. In 2013 alone it filed 126 lawsuits against students it said had printed out multiple copies of tickets or used them on the wrong dates; 116 of these were dismissed with prejudice, though some of the dismissals were overturned. Many of the lawsuits were filed in Ford County, 30 miles from UIUC, which made students ineligible for the university's free legal aid for cases filed in Champaign County. The company issued a lifetime ban and penalty of $570 to one student for allegedly disruptive behavior on a bus; according to the student's mother he was defending an overseas student from abuse by the driver. The case triggered discussion among students on Facebook and the UIUC subreddit, a threat by the company to sue the subreddit's moderator, and an attack on the company's website. The company filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the university to identify the subreddit's users.
References
- ^ Rozek, Dan (October 20, 1985). "Fare wars - Bus service run by student butts heads with Greyhound" (PDF). Daily Herald (Arlington Heights).
- Russell's Guides (September 1999). GLI Schedule 397.
- Suburban Express website
- ^ Ruff, Corinne (April 28, 2013). "Suburban Express lawsuits reach 125 this year; conversation continues on Reddit". Daily Illini.
- ^ Brumleve, Will (April 26, 2013). "Bus firm's lawsuits criticized". The News Gazette.
- ^ Brumleve, Will (July 31, 2013). "Judge allows bus company to refile some claims against passengers". The News-Gazette.
- Gallagher, Sean (February 13, 2013). "Troll road: Bus company posts "dirt" on complaining passenger". Ars Technica.
- Gallagher, Sean (April 26, 2013). "Express to Internet Hate: Bus company threatens redditor with lawsuit". Ars Technica.
- Gallagher, Sean (May 2, 2013). "Nonstop to schadenfreude: Suburban Express' u-turn on reddit lawsuit". Ars Technica.
- Gallagher, Sean (June 19, 2013). "Bus company that threatened redditor with lawsuit tries to reopen suit". Ars Technica.