When airline transportation was deregulated in 1978, the EAS (Essential Air Service) program was established to ensure rural communities would continue to see regular airline service. The Transportation Department currently subsidizes commuter airlines flying to 163 rural communities through EAS. While some reforms have been applied to the EAS program over the years, air travel has continued to be the sole mode of transit considered for this important program. Today, we’re considering whether rural travel connections could be provided by motorcoaches at a cost savings over air travel.
The American Bus Association (ABA) recently partnered with the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) to compare alternatives to traditional EAS air travel. Their study examined 38 EAS communities within 150 miles of a medium or large hub airport. Today, EAS-subsidized flights transport 615,528 one-way passengers each year, at a cost of $427 per passenger round trip and $131.5 million overall. Switching to coach bus transit would translate to a total operating cost of $33.9 million, the study found. Acknowledging that motorcoach travel would take longer, ABA and NRDC researchers added an additional $8.0 million in “cost” for passengers’ longer travel time. Even so, the average cost was found to be far smaller with motorcoach transit, just $136 per passenger round trip, 68% less than today’s EAS flights. Overall, the researchers found that serving EAS communities with motorcoach rather than bus would save society $89 million annually.
It isn’t clear whether lawmakers will seek EAS reform following this research. If EAS legislation does bring motorcoaches into rural communities, we suggest equipping buses with WiFi for private charters, to help travel time fly by. Private charter mobile WiFi can be accomplished with our WiFi In Motion Moovbox solution. We can even create a private charter WiFi “intranet” across an entire fleet, by linking each vehicle to a transit hub via management software. Contact us today to learn more about how our private charter mobile WiFi solutions can support the future of EAS travel.