America's most affordable travel option is disappearing

In today’s episode of eating the poor: Have you noticed your city’s bus terminal lately? No? That’s because it may no longer be there. Greyhound and other major private bus services are quietly vacating their terminals. Already the bus terminals in cities like Cincinnati, Louisville, Philadelphia, Houston, Portland, Charlottesville, and Tampa have shut down. Even ones that act as major hubs like Chicago and Dallas have disappeared. Hedge funds have been buying up the centrally located transit hubs for redevelopment purposes. It just happened again this past April in Cleveland.

Intra- and intercity bus service often go unnoticed by the general public but are critical for a significant portion of our population: most bus riders earn less than $40,000 annually and are disproportionately people of color, disabled, or unemployed. Bus lines provide a real, tangible benefit to millions of people and it's by far the most cost-effective way to travel, as flights are expensive and American trains provide limited service. However, bus service is consistently underfunded. This has led to fewer people being able to use the services, which have made terminals vulnerable to closures. 

As a result, bus terminals have been closing at a rapid pace. Each closure unravels service for other city bus services and routes, and thus has caused a perpetuating death spiral for the whole industry. As disastrous as the terminal closures have been for the people who depend on bus service, their demise has been a gold mine for the investment firms that are acquiring them, usually in prime locations downtown, for pennies on the dollar.

It’s bad enough that hedge funds are buying up hundreds of thousands of starter homes across the nation just so they can gouge people on rent, but do they have to take away our mass transit options, too?