Chinatown Bus Crackdown Makes Winners of Megabus, BoltBus

Discount companies like Megabus and BoltBus have benefited from a U.S. crackdown on so-called Chinatown lines, increasing departures 31 percent last year in the fastest growing mode of U.S. passenger transportation, according to a new study.

“It’s gone from a niche product to a national force,” said Joseph Schwieterman, director of DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development in Chicago who led the study on the bus industry. “The only way this growth happens is when new demographics give it a try. These aren’t just buses filled with college kids anymore.”