Spirit airlines is dead and a bus travel boom looks likely – but will Greyhounds ever be cool again?

‘We get this question all of the time: how can we make buses cool again?’ Photograph: Emanuel Tanjala/AlamyView image in fullscreen‘We get this question all of the time: how can we make buses cool again?’ Photograph: Emanuel Tanjala/AlamyUS newsSpirit airlines is dead and a bus travel boom looks likely – but will Greyhounds ever be cool again?For most Americans, riding a bus means abandoning expectations of basic dignity – but with an increase in ridership, that could change

Alaina DemopoulosSun 28 Jun 2026 08.00 EDTLast modified on Sun 28 Jun 2026 11.09 EDTSharePrefer the Guardian on Google“It’s a grueling experience,” Greyhound bus enthusiast Miles Taylor explains. “You’re not treated very well. Everyone is yelling at you the entire time. When the bus is late, they blame you for it, like somehow you’ve done something wrong. You just get screamed at for wanting to know what’s going on, because no one says anything.”

Taylor is obsessed with public transit. “I never really grew out of my little boy train phase,” the 26-year-old said. He works as a scheduler for Boston’s MBTA and runs a popular YouTube account documenting the bus trips he takes for fun in his spare time. Taylor traveled across the country by Greyhound twice; a Boston to Seattle route took 104 hours. But even he admits that America’s bus system is far from luxurious – or even comfortable.

But for many it remains the only option. This week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Greyhound owes at least some of this uptick to the recent shuttering of Spirit Airlines. The low-cost carrier was once famously known as “the Greyhound of the skies,” shuttling passengers on the cheap, with absolutely no frills.

View image in fullscreenA Greyhound bus in Canada. Photograph: Lloyd Sutton/AlamyAccording to the outlet, after Spirit closed, search activity for Greyhound rose 20% from the previous year. Greyhound routes that overlap with former Spirit flights have seen a 30% increase in passengers. We could be on the verge of a boom in bus travel.

For most Americans, riding a Greyhound bus means abandoning many expectations of basic dignity. Passengers endure delays, and often have to wait for buses on the side of the road or at a dilapidated station. The onboard toilets rarely work and usually smell; the stranger sitting next to you may very well fall asleep on your shoulder.

But in the US, a country that lags behind most developed nations for public transit infrastructure, intercity bus travel is one of the only affordable ways to get around without a car. Taylor calls Greyhound “kind of a last resort for folks”.

Greyhound began as a seven-passenger car service shuttling Minnesota miners to and from work in 1914. The brand, and bus riding in general, was once a romanticised form of travel touted as an exciting way to view the American landscape. Frank Capra’s 1934 screwball comedy It Happened One Night featured its leads Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert falling in love on a Greyhound from Florida to New York.

The shuttles were also a symbol of the civil rights movement, when activists rode buses into southern states to protest racial segregation. But as plane travel became cheaper, Greyhound service became neglected – with stations and buses falling into disrepair. In the early 2000s, Greyhound had filed for bankruptcy twice. After changing hands a couple of times, the buses are now owned by the German brand Flix, which operates in over 40 countries. After a storied history, the buses are now viewed by most Americans as a cheap, but incredibly unreliable, way to travel.

View image in fullscreenA group of civil rights demonstrators during the March on Washington on 28 August 1963. Photograph: Estate of Roosevelt H Carter/Getty ImagesBut could that be changing? Researchers predict that bus ridership could grow 4% this year, eclipsing forecasts for the airline industry. Is there a way to make it an experience to enjoy, rather than one to endure?

“The biggest driver [of this increase] is the current economics of the US,” said Kate Thompson, a vice-president at the travel search platform Wanderu. “The price of flights has increased year-to-date roughly 27%, whereas bus and train tickets have only increased around 4%. People are going to gravitate toward the average bus ticket price of $53 versus a $500 plane ticket.”

Along with that, a growing number of Americans do not have drivers’ licenses. Data from the Department of Transportation shows that the number of licensed 16-year-olds has dropped 27% since 2000. “We get this question all of the time: how can we make buses cool again?” Thompson said. “It comes down to comfortability. You need to be as comfortable as you would be on a flight.”