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Illini Shuttle, operated by Suburban Express, at Illinois Terminal in Champaign, Illinois.
Founded1983
Headquarters714 S Sixth Street
Champaign, Illinois 61820
Service areaIllinois, Indiana, Iowa
Service typeIntercity coach service
DestinationsSix universities served and Chicago suburbs
Chief executiveDennis Toeppen, President
Websitewww.suburbanexpress.com

Suburban Express is a bus service that provides transport services to students at six universities in the American Midwest, primarily to and from the Chicago area. Airport shuttles are run by its subsidiary, Illini Shuttle. The company contracts buses from other carriers, and is based in Champaign, Illinois.

In the 1980s, Suburban Express broke the monopoly that Greyhound had between Champaign and Chicago leading to a price war that cut student fares by more than half. Since 2000, it has filed at least 200 lawsuits over alleged violations of its terms of service, leading students to criticize the bus service online.

History

Greyhound Lines had a monopoly on scheduled bus services between the Champaign and Chicago areas of Illinois, when in 1983 its bus drivers went on strike. Suburban Express began as Western Trails Transportation in November 1983 as an alternative during the local colleges' Thanksgiving break. Company founder Dennis Toeppen, then a 19-year-old student at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC), chartered 6 buses, sold tickets through a local travel agent, spent $600 on advertising, and undercut Greyhound's fares by $4 to $8. The Thanksgiving 1983 service carried nearly 300 students. In January 1984 the company announced it would continue to offer weekly transportation services though the strike at Greyhound had ended.

UIUC's travel center received a commission from Greyhound, and initially refused to sell competing tickets, out of fear of losing their agreement with Greyhound. The travel center also briefly offered its own competing charter service. In 1984, a price war began between Suburban Express and Greyhound that resulted in prices being cut prices by more than fifty percent. Greyhound filed two complaints against Suburban Express with the Illinois Commerce Commission. In February 1985, the company, by then called Suburban Express, charged Greyhound with predatory pricing, claiming their ticket prices were was below its costs and designed to drive competitors out of business. The Justice Department did not investigate.

Suburban Express began servicing Eastern Illinois University in 1985, and Illinois State University in 1989. The company's Illini Shuttle, began service connecting UIUC to Chicago's Midway and O'Hare airports in October 2004. Service to the University of Iowa began during the 2006–2007 academic year.

Services

As of 2013 Suburban Express serves six universities: UIUC, Illinois State University, Eastern Illinois University, Purdue University, University of Iowa and Indiana University. Each of the six campuses has weekend service to several Chicago locations, and the Illini Shuttle runs daily from Champaign to O'Hare International Airport and the suburbs. It hires non-smoking drivers and has free Wi-Fi on most buses. In 2012 it carried around 100,000 passengers or about 75 buses a day.

Business practices and lawsuits

Ars Technica reported in early 2013 that Suburban Express had a negative online reputation due to its business practices, such as fining, banning or filing a complaint with small claims court when customers allegedly violate its terms of use. At the time, Suburban Express said these students were breaking the company's rules against riding without a printed ticket, getting two rides for the price of one, counterfeiting tickets, or using tickets on the wrong day. The company's terms of service said students would be fined $100 for using an "invalid, altered or duplicate ticket" and $500 for "disruptive behavior" until April 2013, when fines were eliminated from the terms of service in response to complaints.


Suburban Express initiated 209 lawsuits from April 1994 to April 2013. Most were against students it alleged violated its terms of service, while four were against competitors. A group of 126 lawsuits were filed in early 2013, 116 of which were initially withdrawn and dismissed with prejudice. Later, some dismissals were overturned and their cases were refiled. 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.

In April 2013, the company banned and sought a $570 penalty from a student whose allegations about a bus driver's racist comment were widely seen on Facebook and in a college newspaper. The case led to discussion among students on the UIUC subreddit, a threat by the company to sue the subreddit's moderator if they did not remove negative comments, and an attack page about the student posted on the company's website. Negative publicity resulted from speculation that Suburban Express had been intimidating students who spoke negatively about it online. The company filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the university to identify the subreddit's users.

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References

  1. ^ Rozek, Dan (October 20, 1985). "Fare wars - Bus service run by student butts heads with Greyhound" (PDF). Daily Herald (Arlington Heights).
  2. Townsend, Ed (4 November 1983). "Strike against Greyhound forces customers to leave driving to somebody else". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  3. "Ray Phillips and the 1983 Strike Ray Phillips and the 1983 Strike". 31 December 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  4. Townsend, Ed (5 December 1983). "Tentative settlement in Greyhound strike". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  5. ^ Rubey, Peter (28 January 1984). "New cut-rate bus company to begin service next week" (PDF). Daily Illini. Retrieved 9 April 2014. Western Trails Transportation Co., a new bus service which operated during the Greyhound bus driver's strike, will begin regular cut-rate weekly service next Friday
  6. Taylor, Barbara (16 February 1985). "Greyhound pricing illegal, bus service official claims" (PDF). Daily Illini. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  7. "Suburban Express Terms of Service". Daily Illini. 19 April 2013. Retrieved 11 April 2014. You agree to direct all questions and concerns pertaining to credit card charges or credits to Suburban Express / Illini Shuttle IN WRITING at PO Box 4048, Lisle, IL 60532
  8. "Illini Shuttle - O'Hare & Midway Schedules". illinishuttle.com (Subject's website). Suburban Express. Retrieved 11 April 2014. Schedules...will begin operating October 12, 2004...October 27, 2004. We will begin accepting reservations and selling tickets on September 30, 2004. {{cite web}}: Check |archiveurl= value (help)
  9. suburbanexpress.com. Archive.org: Suburban Express (company website). $9.95 Introductory Fare Extended through February 16 {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); |archive-url= requires |url= (help); |format= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  10. "Frequent Service Between Champaign and O'Hare, Chicago Suburbs!", Illini Shuttle.
  11. ^ Ruff, Corinne (April 28, 2013). "Suburban Express lawsuits reach 125 this year; conversation continues on Reddit". Daily Illini.
  12. ^ Gallagher, Sean (April 26, 2013). "Express to Internet Hate: Bus company threatens redditor with lawsuit". Ars Technica.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference aba was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Brumleve, Will (April 26, 2013). "Bus firm's lawsuits criticized". The News-Gazette.
  15. ^ Geiger, Kim (May 1, 2013). "Bus company's lawsuits anger students, parents". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  16. Suburban Express terms of service, dated April 29, 2013. Retrieved Jan 28, 2014.
  17. ^ Brumleve, Will (July 31, 2013). "Judge allows bus company to refile some claims against passengers". The News-Gazette. Archived from the original on August 11, 2013.
  18. Bus company promises to drop Ford lawsuits, The News-Gazette. Accessed November 9, 2013.
  19. Ruff, Corinne (April 28, 2013). "Suburban Express lawsuits reach 125 this year; conversation continues on Reddit". The Daily Illini. Champaign-Urbana. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
  20. Gallagher, Sean (February 13, 2013). "Troll road: Bus company posts "dirt" on complaining passenger". Ars Technica.
  21. Gallagher, Sean (June 19, 2013). "Bus company that threatened redditor with lawsuit tries to reopen suit". Ars Technica.

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