Eastern Bus

Eastern Bus, also known as Eastern Shuttle and formerly Eastern Travel, was a provider of intercity bus service along the Interstate 95 corridor between New York City and Richmond, Virginia. It is one of several Chinatown bus lines and is now the operator of buses along the East Coast of the United States for Flixbus. All buses feature the Flixbus green and yellow livery, with a notation near the door that the buses are operated by Eastern.[1]

For the now defunct airline shuttle service, see Eastern Air Lines Shuttle.
Eastern Bus
Eastern Shuttle bus in white livery before the marketing arrangement with Flixbus.
Founded2002 (2002)
Headquarters90 Bowery
New York, NY 10013
LocaleNortheastern United States
Service areaInterstate 95 corridor
Service typeIntercity bus service
Routes2
Stops5
Destinations3
Hubs
Websitewww.flixbus.com
Eastern Shuttle bus in red livery, before the agreement with Flixbus

The company was one of the first New York-Washington buses to go uptown.[2]

History

The company was founded by Zheng Shui Ming in 2002. Zheng immigrated from Fujian Province in southern China in 1991 on a fishing vessel. He then bought a secondhand minibus from a friend in Queens and started driving. The company attracted cooks and dishwashers with jobs in Chinese restaurants as well as college students.[3]

Following a requirement for all intercity services in Boston to move into the South Station terminal, Eastern left the Boston market and competed in the New York City-Washington, D.C. market.

Eastern brought in David Wong, Chinese-born but educated in the United States with a Master of Business Administration, as a part-owner and manager of its operations. Wong added a stop near Pennsylvania Station in New York.[4][5]

In 2006, the company estimated $3 million in sales.[6]

In May 2008, the company added Wi-Fi to its 12 buses.[7]

In fall 2008, Coach USA acquired Eastern.[8] In winter 2009, Coach USA purchased Today's and merged it into Eastern.[9]

In August 2009, Megabus divested itself of Eastern Shuttle.[10]

In May 2019, the company reached a deal with Flixbus, in which Flixbus handles all marketing and sales for the company.[11]

Stop locations
Eastern Shuttle route network.
City Route Stop location(s)
Baltimore 5400 O'Donnell Street Cutoff and 1200 Ponca Street
New York City 28 Allen Street
(departures and arrivals)		 New York Penn Station (departures)
34 Street – Penn Station (Seventh Avenue) (arrivals)
Richmond, Virginia 910 North Boulevard
Rockville, Maryland 305 North Washington Street
Washington, D.C. 715 H Street NW

References
  1. "Eastern Bus is now a part of FlixBus!". Flixbus.
  2. Ward, Katherine (March 15, 2013). "The Indomitable Chinatown Bus". New York Magazine.
  3. KNAFO, SAKI (June 8, 2008). "Dreams and Desperation on Forsyth Street". The New York Times.
  4. Yu, Rin-rin (August 31, 2009). "Magic buses". China Daily.
  5. Newman, Barry (January 28, 2005). "On the East Coast, Chinese Buses Give Greyhound a Run". The Wall Street Journal.
  6. PITTS, JONATHAN (July 6, 2006). "The Chinatown bus is a wild ride". The Baltimore Sun.
  7. XIAOQING, RONG (June 6, 2008). "Latest must-have for East Coast bus routes is Wi-Fi". New York Daily News.
  8. "Federal Register Volume 73". Justia. September 18, 2008.
  9. Novikoff, Josh (February 17, 2009). "Todays Bus Now Part of Eastern Coach/Coach USA". WAMU. Archived from the original on February 22, 2012. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  10. "Notice regarding Eastern Travel on Megabus' official Facebook page". Facebook. August 13, 2009.
  11. Schwieterman, Joseph; Antolin, Brian (July 11, 2019). "How Greyhound, Coach USA sales will impact intercity bus lines". Metro Magazine.
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