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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 an undergraduate at the University of Illinois and started selling tickets for half the price of incumbent Greyhound. At that time, the UIUC travel center would not sell Suburban Express tickets, since they earned a commission from Greyhound. A price-war led both Suburban Express and Greyhound to decrease prices more than fifty percent. Two Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) investigations were initiated by Greyhound. The two had matched ticket sales 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).
Suburban Express filed 126 tort and contract damage lawsuits against customers it alleged violated its terms of service in 2013. In one case a customer said on Facebook and told the student paper that they had witnessed a bus driver tell a foreign student "If you don't understand English, you don't belong at the University of Illinois or any 'American' University'." Afterwards, he received a letter from Suburban Express saying he owed $500 in liquidated damages and the company threatened to sue.
That April, a volunteer Reddit moderator posted a comment on the subreddit for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign stating: "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 insults to critics of Suburban Express, calling them "lonely virgins" and other derogatory names that the moderator implied were posted by Suburban Express representatives.
On April 24th, The company threatened to sue the Reddit moderator and received negative publicity as a result. According to Ars Tecnica, "internet vigilantes" took down the company website, stole the founder's identity and hacked into his Reddit account, posting comments from the founder's account regarding his penis size and passwords. By May 2nd, the company closed all 126 of the lawsuits it had filed that year, including the one against a Reddit moderator, saying the company would find alternative means to promote compliance with its terms of service. The company said its policies were intended to get buses boarded faster, not "turn small claims court into a profit center."
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.
Suburban Express has a negative reputation on Yelp and Reddit, where customers claim the company has "cutthroat business practices," such as fining, banning and suing customers that allegedly violate its terms of service. The terms of service state that customers may be charged a $100 fine in the event the ticket is used for the wrong day or the wrong route. Students also claim that the organization bans, fines and threatens to sue customers that speak negatively of the company online.
References
- ^ Gallagher, Sean (26 April 2013). "Express to Internet Hate: Bus company threatens redditor with lawsuit". Ars Technica. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- BoingBoing: Suburban Express bus-line sends bullying, cowardly legal threat to Reddit, discovers Streisand Effect
- ^ 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
- Ars Technica: Nonstop to schadenfreude: Suburban Express’ u-turn on reddit lawsuit
- http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/non-stop-to-schadenfreude-suburban-express-u-turn-on-reddit-lawsuit/
- Cite error: The named reference
BoinBoingwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - Cite error: The named reference
SubEx_BoingBoingwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/05/non-stop-to-schadenfreude-suburban-express-u-turn-on-reddit-lawsuit/
- Special Weekend Service Between U of I and Chicago Suburbs
- Illini Shuttle service between Champaign and Chicago Airports
- BoingBoing: Suburban Express bus-line sends bullying, cowardly legal threat to Reddit, discovers Streisand Effect