Impacts of Regulatory Reform on Intercity Bus Service in the United States.

Prior to the mid-1970s, the major modes of intercity transportation, with the exception of the automobile, were subject to federal economic regulation. Railroads were regulated by the provisions embodied in the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and its subsequent amendments. A common concern that accompanied regulatory reform for all these modes was fear that residents in small communities would no longer receive adequate service or, in some cases, any service at all as carriers redeployed their equipment to focus on more lucrative higher-density markets. Substantial attention has been paid in the literature to the effects of regulatory reform on intercity air passenger service, but little attention has been given to the effects of regulatory reform on intercity bus passenger service. This paper reports the results of a study of the intercity bus industry's experience with regulatory reform. A cornerstone of the Bus Regulatory Reform Act of 1982 was the easing of entry and exit requirements in the motor bus industry, including easing restrictions on abandoning routes or service to points on a route.