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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 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 began competing with Greyhound, leading to a price war that cut student fares for travel 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
In 1983, scheduled bus service between Champaign and the Chicago area in Illinois was a monopoly operated by Greyhound Lines. Between November and December of 1983, Greyhound Lines suffered a nationwide strike by its drivers. For the Thanksgiving break during the Greyhound strike, Dennis Toeppen, then a 19-year-old student at University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (UIUC), and later Suburban Express' founder, 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, and then named Western Trails Transportation, the company announced regular weekly and holiday service. UIUC's travel center received a commission from Greyhound, and initially refused to sell competing tickets, despite their lower price. The travel center also briefly offered its own competing charter service.
In 1984, a price war between the company and Greyhound cut prices between Champaign and Chicago by more than fifty percent. Reacting to new competition, Greyhound filed two complaints with the Illinois Commerce Commission, and lowered its prices from around $36 to $14.75. In February 1985, the company, by then called Suburban Express, charged Greyhound with predatory pricing, claiming the $14.75 price was below Greyhound's costs and designed to drive competitors out of business. According to Suburban Express' lawyer, after the Department of Justice sent a letter to Greyhound, the bus service raised their rate by $3.
Suburban Express expanded its service to Eastern Illinois University in 1985, and to Illinois State University in 1989. In 2002, the company introduced self-service ticket kiosks in the Champaign area. 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. According to the company, it hires only non-smoking drivers, has free Wi-Fi on most buses, and in the year prior to April 2013 carried around 100,000 passengers, on up to 75 buses a day.
Business practices and lawsuits
In early 2013, according to Ars Technica, Suburban Express had a "bad reputation online" due to students who said it had "cutthroat business practices," such as fining, banning and suing customers who allegedly violate its terms of service. According to Suburban Express' response at the time, these students broke 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. Some students said the bus driver should have refused them if something was wrong with their ticket, while Suburban Express said checking tickets and IDs would slow onboarding. 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.
References
- ^ Rozek, Dan (October 20, 1985). "Fare wars - Bus service run by student butts heads with Greyhound" (PDF). Daily Herald (Arlington Heights).
- Townsend, Ed (4 November 1983). "Strike against Greyhound forces customers to leave driving to somebody else". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
- "Ray Phillips and the 1983 Strike Ray Phillips and the 1983 Strike". 31 December 2011. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
- Townsend, Ed (5 December 1983). "Tentative settlement in Greyhound strike". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
- ^ 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
- Taylor, Barbara (16 February 1985). "Greyhound pricing illegal, bus service official claims" (PDF). Daily Illini. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
- Russell's Guides (September 1999). GLI Schedule 397.
- "Suburban Express Self-Service Ticketing". suburbanexpress.com. Suburban Express (subject's website). Retrieved 22 April 2014.
Suburban Express is pleased to introduce self-service ticketing. Ticket machines are located in the hallway of College Corner Mall at 4th & Green, a few steps from our ticket office. They are available whenever the building is unlocked. Building hours are fairly random, but the front door is generally open at 8 am weekdays. Try it out and save $5 (wow!) on your ticket.
{{cite web}}: Check|archiveurl=value (help) - "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
- "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) - 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) - "Frequent Service Between Champaign and O'Hare, Chicago Suburbs!", Illini Shuttle.
- ^ Ruff, Corinne (April 28, 2013). "Suburban Express lawsuits reach 125 this year; conversation continues on Reddit". Daily Illini.
- ^ Gallagher, Sean (April 26, 2013). "Express to Internet Hate: Bus company threatens redditor with lawsuit". Ars Technica.
- ^ Neil, Martha (May 3, 2013). "Cheap bus ticket included a trip to small-claims court for unwary students". ABA Journal. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
- ^ Brumleve, Will (April 26, 2013). "Bus firm's lawsuits criticized". The News-Gazette.
- China News (October 14, 2013): 赴美留学：行前需多了解当地生活细节避免被骗 (Translation)
- ^ Geiger, Kim (May 1, 2013). "Bus company's lawsuits anger students, parents". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
- Suburban Express terms of service, dated April 29, 2013. Retrieved Jan 28, 2014.
- ^ 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.
- Bus company promises to drop Ford lawsuits, The News-Gazette. Accessed November 9, 2013.
- 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.
- Gallagher, Sean (February 13, 2013). "Troll road: Bus company posts "dirt" on complaining passenger". 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.