Chinatown bus lines

As a result of safety issues and several fatal crashes, most Chinatown bus lines were shut down by regulatory authorities in 2012.

[5][7][11][12][13][14] Competition and price wars between newly successful companies, combined with online ticket sales,[5] led to a reduction in fares.

[9] The fierce competition led to gang violence in which rival bus operators killed or injured each other.

[16] By 2005, Chinatown buses appropriated much of the market share of Greyhound Lines in the Northeastern United States.

[17] By 2006, many Chinatown bus lines operated service to/from casinos popular with Chinese and Vietnamese immigrants.

[19] In 2008, BoltBus was established by Greyhound to compete with the less-expensive Chinatown bus lines,[21] but ceased operations in July 2021.

[33] Lucky Star conducted an extensive bus upgrade and driver program, passed required inspections, and resumed operations in November 2013.

Jim Epstein, a writer for libertarian publication Reason, called the FMCSA practices overly harsh, writing that the agency targets Chinatown bus companies because owners are rarely fluent in English and alleging that inspectors were overly strict about defective components, confiscating several buses for minor issues.

[38] Among the crimes associated with gang activity was a deadly shooting in May 2003 on a busy street, which may have been in retaliation for a driver backing his bus into a rival;[1] in revenge, two buses were set on fire the following year.

[1] In a June 2004 incident tied to criminal gangs, two people—a Chinatown bus driver and a bystander—were murdered in a bar in Flushing, Queens; another was shot in the leg.

[39] In 2008, the Banya Organization, a Chinese gang, was accused of assaulting employees of Chinatown bus lines in an attempt to extort partial ownership and a share of the profits.

[39] In February 2004, after several murders connected with employees of rival Chinatown bus companies, officials conducted a surprise inspection and seized buses.

Passengers waiting to board a Travel Pack bus on Mulberry Street in Manhattan en route to Boston in 2004
See caption
Passengers waiting at the now-defunct Fung Wah Bus Transportation ticket window on Canal Street at the Bowery in Manhattan's Chinatown
Passengers boarding a bus on a city street in warm weather
Eastern Bus MCI 102DL3 coach boarding passengers in Manhattan's Chinatown
Color-coded schematic map
2010 schematic map of four eastern U.S. Chinatown bus lines, with New York City as the hub
A woman standing outside a bus with its door open in winter
Bus-ticket saleswoman at the corner of East Broadway and Forsyth Street in the Little Fuzhou neighborhood of Manhattan's Chinatown
A large white bus, seen from the front
Fung Wah Bus Transportation Van Hool C2045 coach on a stopover
White bus parked on a city street
Double Happiness #222 at Herald Square
Colorfully-decorated bus at a traffic light
A 2000 Coach bus in New York City
Front of a bus, struck by a dump truck
June 23, 2008 Fung Wah Bus Transportation bus crash