ibebobo Posted September 24, 2010 Report Share Posted September 24, 2010 Apparantly Coach USA has closed it's Chicago Charter operations as of last Tuesday. Anyone have any insight to this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted September 25, 2010 Report Share Posted September 25, 2010 Apparantly Coach USA has closed it's Chicago Charter operations as of last Tuesday. Anyone have any insight to this? I will look into it, though it seems odd considering I saw a Coach USA charter bus in the W burbs one night earlier this week. It was a Vanhool C coach. UPDATE: Confirmed by my Coach source that charter operations were closed. Brian Souter of Stagecoach never did like charter services because they were seasonal and he loves contract services which guarantees year-round revenue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smolensk Posted December 13, 2019 Report Share Posted December 13, 2019 Coach USA is ending its Airport Supersaver service between O'Hare/Midway and Indiana effective 12/31/2019. It is also shutting down its Chicago Trolley service on that day. https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/coach-says-it-will-slash-bus-service-to-chicago-airports/article_62c84386-1d02-11ea-8864-27aff5a3ea8f.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted December 13, 2019 Report Share Posted December 13, 2019 13 hours ago, Smolensk said: Coach USA is ending its Airport Supersaver service between O'Hare/Midway and Indiana effective 12/31/2019. It is also shutting down its Chicago Trolley service on that day. https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/coach-says-it-will-slash-bus-service-to-chicago-airports/article_62c84386-1d02-11ea-8864-27aff5a3ea8f.html Who would've thought Uber and Lyft would doom this service? Under ownership of the Shoup family as Tri State and United Limo, the service flourished. Tri State handled the Merrillville, Gary, Highland service to O'Hare, Lansing, Homewood, Matteson (via shuttle), and Crestwood service to O'Hare. Midway buses made all stops from Merrillville to Crestwood (exclude Matteson). United Limo handled the service from Notre Dame to Portage then Express to O'Hare. Then Travelways bought the companies along with Cardinal Charter and Tours to compete with Coach USA. Travelways was sued by Trailways and Travelways changed its name to Vector. Vector wound up selling its acquisitions and went out of business. Shoup bought back his companies, but sold Tei State and United Limo to Coach USA around 2002. The last visit I had to Coach USA, I was surprised to learn that its Airport SuperSaver service was dispatched by the Chicago office. Buses were parked at the Highland depot, which meant buses that started and ended at Notew Dame had to deadhead to and from Highland. Apparently they sold their Gary Terminal which is where Tri State used to be based. I would not be surprised if Shoup tried to revive the service as Cardinal is based in Mishawaka, which is next to South Bend. He could more efficiently run the service. Royal Excursions, also based in Mishawaka, could also try . A third, though less likely option would be Free Enterprise. They run the Chicago Dash service from Valparaiso to Chicago. REVISION: Chicago Dash is operated by Royal Excursions. Thanks @Pace831. At present, the service runs every two hours from South Bend and every hour from Highland to O'Hare. There's no more Merrillville, Gary, Lansing, Homewood service. The only stops west of Portage are Highland and Crestwood . All Midway buses start and end at Highland and stop at Crestwood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted December 13, 2019 Report Share Posted December 13, 2019 7 hours ago, Smolensk said: Coach USA is ending its Airport Supersaver service between O'Hare/Midway and Indiana effective 12/31/2019. It is also shutting down its Chicago Trolley service on that day. https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/coach-says-it-will-slash-bus-service-to-chicago-airports/article_62c84386-1d02-11ea-8864-27aff5a3ea8f.html My previous post dealt with the Indiana Suprrsaver Service. The Chicago Trolley service shut down is somewhat a surprise too. Part of its business was city contracts for shuttles from Grand Red Line to Navy Pier along with other free shuttle services. If they lost those contracts, that would be a big financial hit. They also faced increased competition on the Doubledecker tours around downtown. Also, it appears that the market for chartering Trolleys, which was also a big source of revenue at one time, has crashed. Times are truly changing. It makes me wonder how long it will take for Ciach USA to transfer all of the Chicago Megabus operations out of Chicago? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pace831 Posted December 13, 2019 Report Share Posted December 13, 2019 4 hours ago, artthouwill said: A third, though less likely option would be Free Enterprise. They run the Chicago Dash service from Valparaiso to Chicago. ChicaGo DASH is operated by Royal Excursion, not Free Enterprise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted December 13, 2019 Report Share Posted December 13, 2019 47 minutes ago, Pace831 said: ChicaGo DASH is operated by Royal Excursion, not Free Enterprise. Free Enterprise was the first operator of the route. Based on what you said, my first 2 options still stand. U.S. 30 is a straight shot from Valpo to South Bend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted December 13, 2019 Report Share Posted December 13, 2019 2 hours ago, Pace831 said: ChicaGo DASH is operated by Royal Excursion, not Free Enterprise. Thanks @Pace831. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pace831 Posted December 14, 2019 Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 7 hours ago, artthouwill said: Free Enterprise was the first operator of the route. Based on what you said, my first 2 options still stand. U.S. 30 is a straight shot from Valpo to South Bend. It was also operated by Ride Right (now doing business as MTM transit) prior to Royal Excursion taking over in summer 2018. US 30 doesn’t go to South Bend. IN 2 is the direct route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted December 14, 2019 Report Share Posted December 14, 2019 Somewhat related, SuperShuttle will also be shutting down December 31st. They used to be the largest airport shuttle service in the nation, even without a Chicago operation. It makes me wonder if Continental Air Transport (aka Go Airport Express) will succumb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted December 24, 2019 Report Share Posted December 24, 2019 On 12/13/2019 at 10:26 AM, artthouwill said: Who would've thought Uber and Lyft would doom this service? Under ownership of the Shoup family as Tri State and United Limo, the service flourished. Tri State handled the Merrillville, Gary, Highland service to O'Hare, Lansing, Homewood, Matteson (via shuttle), and Crestwood service to O'Hare. Midway buses made all stops from Merrillville to Crestwood (exclude Matteson). United Limo handled the service from Notre Dame to Portage then Express to O'Hare. Then Travelways bought the companies along with Cardinal Charter and Tours to compete with Coach USA. Travelways was sued by Trailways and Travelways changed its name to Vector. Vector wound up selling its acquisitions and went out of business. Shoup bought back his companies, but sold Tei State and United Limo to Coach USA around 2002. The last visit I had to Coach USA, I was surprised to learn that its Airport SuperSaver service was dispatched by the Chicago office. Buses were parked at the Highland depot, which meant buses that started and ended at Notew Dame had to deadhead to and from Highland. Apparently they sold their Gary Terminal which is where Tri State used to be based. I would not be surprised if Shoup tried to revive the service as Cardinal is based in Mishawaka, which is next to South Bend. He could more efficiently run the service. Royal Excursions, also based in Mishawaka, could also try . A third, though less likely option would be Free Enterprise. They run the Chicago Dash service from Valparaiso to Chicago. REVISION: Chicago Dash is operated by Royal Excursions. Thanks @Pace831. At present, the service runs every two hours from South Bend and every hour from Highland to O'Hare. There's no more Merrillville, Gary, Lansing, Homewood service. The only stops west of Portage are Highland and Crestwood . All Midway buses start and end at Highland and stop at Crestwood. It looks like Royal Excursions may be trying to start up the service within the next 60 days. According to an Indiana Business article, they may be looking to hire displaced Coach USA employees and look to make the same stops. A second, unnamed company, may also be looking to start the service again. My guess would be the Shoup family that owns Cardinal. Apparently Stagecoach sold Coach USA to an equity firm earlier this year. Variant Equity completed the purchase of Coach USA, Coach Canada, and Megabus in April, 2019. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted January 18, 2020 Report Share Posted January 18, 2020 Looks like Royal Excursions will be running the South Bend and NW Indiana service to O'Hare and Midway, pending regulatory approval. No start date has been announced yet. I heard this today on 780/105.9. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewFlyerMCI Posted January 18, 2020 Report Share Posted January 18, 2020 2 hours ago, artthouwill said: Looks like Royal Excursions will be running the South Bend and NW Indiana service to O'Hare and Midway, pending regulatory approval. No start date has been announced yet. I heard this today on 780/105.9. Are they going to inherit/acquire the property at Crestwood? Or any other mention as to whether or not they'll keep the service patterns as is or change them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted January 18, 2020 Report Share Posted January 18, 2020 13 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said: Are they going to inherit/acquire the property at Crestwood? Or any other mention as to whether or not they'll keep the service patterns as is or change them? My understanding is that they intend to use the same stops Coach USA used. Most likely Royal Excursions will have to lease space at the Highland and Crestwood terminals as well as the airports. The other stops are curbside. No schedule has been announced. The prior Coach USA schedule had buses east of Highland every two hours and hourly service for Highland and Crestwood. Those east of Highland going to Midway transfer at Highland to the Midway bus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted February 27, 2020 Report Share Posted February 27, 2020 Starting Tuesday, March 3rd. Royal Excursions will be running the South Bend to ORD and MDW service formerly operated by Coach USA. The service will be called Royal Zoom. Do far, Portage, Highland. and Crestwood aren't stops yet, but Griffith is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted March 8, 2020 Report Share Posted March 8, 2020 On 1/17/2020 at 9:52 PM, NewFlyerMCI said: Are they going to inherit/acquire the property at Crestwood? Or any other mention as to whether or not they'll keep the service patterns as is or change them? Peeking at the Royal Zoom schedule, South Bend and Notre Dame have service every 4 hrs, Valpo has service every 4 hours, Michigan City and Griffith have service every 2 hrs. A Michigan City bus serves Griffith and a Valpo bus serves Griffith alternating, leaving every 4 hrs, thus Griffith has 2 hour service. Every other Michigan City bus originates in South Bend, with those buses running Express to ORD. The other Michigan City bus originates there and serves Griffith before going to ORD. The Midway schedule is exactly the same as the ORD schedule. I don't know if they are running 2 buses the full route , a transfer bus at Griffith. it one bus serving both airports. The latter is least likely due to time constraints. When Coach USA ran it, all Midway buses originated in Highland, and the MDW passengers from points east transferred at Highland. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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