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Illini Shuttle, operated by Suburban Express, at Illinois Terminal in Champaign, Illinois.
Founded1983
Headquarters714 S Sixth Street
Champaign, Illinois 61820
Service areaIllinois, Indiana, Iowa
Service typeIntercity coach service
Destinations6 Universities served and Chicago Suburbs
Chief executiveDennis Toeppen, President
Websitehttp://www.suburbanexpress.com

Suburban Express is a bus service, based in Lisle, Illinois that provides weekend transport services for students at six universities in the American Midwest. The company was founded in 1983 by Dennis Toeppen. It challenged the local monopoly of Greyhound, leading to a price war that reduced fares for both companies.

The bus service has had more than 200 legal disputes with passengers and competitors and has gotten into conflicts with customers who post criticisms of the company online.

History

Early history

Suburban Express was founded in 1983 by Dennis Toeppen, with an initial investment of $600. At first, the University of Illinois would not sell Suburban Express tickets even though they were half the cost, since it received a commission from competitor Greyhound.[1] A price war led both Suburban Express and Greyhound to cut prices by more than fifty percent. Greyhound initiated two Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) investigations against Suburban Express: one in spring 1984 and one in fall 1984.[1] In 1985, Toeppen charged Greyhound with "predatory pricing" for lowering their Friday to Sunday campus service from $43.70 to $14.75.[2] The two had matched ticket sales by 1985. The travel center began selling Suburban Express tickets to compensate for lost Greyhound commission revenues.[1] Suburban Express’ service expanded to Eastern Illinois University in 1985 and to Illinois State University to 1989.[3]

Disputes with passengers and competitors

Since 1994, Suburban Express has initiated about 200 small claims actions against individuals, as well as civil lawsuits against four competitors.[4] In 2013, it filed 126[5] tort and contract damage lawsuits against customers it alleged violated its terms of service by printing out multiple copies of their tickets or using them on the wrong dates.[6][7] Many of the lawsuits were filed by Suburban Express in Ford County, 30 miles from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), disqualifying students from free legal aid.[8][9][10]

In early 2013 a customer said on Facebook and told the UIUC student newspaper he witnessed a bus driver tell an international student "If you don't understand English, you don't belong at the University of Illinois or any 'American' University'."[7][11] The Facebook post was shared 700 times and liked 600 times.[9][12] Afterwards, the student received an e-mail from Suburban Express saying he owed $570[13] in liquidated damages and was banned for life.[7][11] Suburban Express said he caused a disruption[13] and called the student "a bullying, self-important brat."[14]

This led[12][15] to a discussion on the subreddit for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign stating: "Don't ride Suburban Express! They're likely to sue you, have terrible reviews, and also this." The "this" linked to a series of anonymous insults to critics of Suburban Express, calling them "lonely virgins," "chronic masturbators" and other derogatory names that the moderator implied were posted by Suburban Express representatives anonymously.[15][7][5][16] On April 24, the company threatened to sue a Reddit moderator involved for alleged "false and libelous" statements if the posts were not removed.[17][12] The company received negative publicity as a result, which was called an example of the Streisand Effect.[7][16] According to Ars Technica, "internet vigilantes" took down the Suburban Express website, and hacked into his Reddit account in response.[5]

116 of the 126 lawsuits were dismissed with prejudice.[18] By May 2, the company closed all 126 of its lawsuits, and withdrew its threat of legal action against the Reddit moderator.[15][5] Later that same month, Suburban Express used a new attorney[17] and obtained a ruling granting motions that 20 of the cases be re-opened.[18] The company's owner also filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the university in order to identify Reddit users.[17]

Services

Suburban Express serves six universities in the Midwestern United States: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois State University, Eastern Illinois University, Purdue University, University of Iowa, and Indiana University. Weekend services transport students from all six campuses directly to several suburban Chicago locations.[19] Suburban Express is a "virtual" bus company, in that it does not own any buses or facilities, but instead contracts buses from other carriers.[1]

Suburban Express has a negative reputation on Yelp and Reddit, where customers claim the company has "cutthroat business practices," such as fining, banning and suing customers who allegedly violate its terms of service.[7][16][12] According to the company,[8]

we have a few very simple rules: Bring a printed ticket. Don't try to get on a bus you can't get a ticket for because it's sold out by using a ticket for another date. Don't try to get two rides when you have only paid for one. Don't try to ride with a counterfeit ticket.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Rozek, Dan (1985-10-20). "Fare wars - Bus service run by student butts heads with Greyhound" (PDF). Daily Herald (Arlington Heights).
  2. ^ Taylor, Barbara. “Greyhound pricing illegal, bus service officials claim.” The Daily Illini. Feb. 16, 1985
  3. ^ . Vol. GLI Schedule 397. 1999-09. Removed from publication {{cite encyclopedia}}: |work= ignored (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ^ Ruff, Corinne (2013-04-28). "Suburban Express lawsuits reach 125 this year; conversation continues on Reddit". Daily Illini. Suburban Express filed 209 lawsuits since April 1994, when the first lawsuit was filed in Champaign County...Champaign County Circuit Court records also show that Suburban Express brought a civil lawsuit against the Peoria Charter Coach Company in 2009. In the past, Suburban Express has filed 10 civil suits, including lawsuits against Amtrak, Champaign-Urbana MTD and then-Lincolnland Express, better known as LEX.
  5. ^ a b c d Gallagher, Sean (2013-05-02). "Nonstop to schadenfreude: Suburban Express' u-turn on reddit lawsuit". Ars Technica.
  6. ^ "Bus company wants to reinstate some lawsuits". News-Gazette. News-Gazette.com. 2013-06-26. Retrieved 2013-10-25.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Gallagher, Sean (2013-04-26). "Express to Internet Hate: Bus company threatens redditor with lawsuit". Ars Technica.
  8. ^ a b Brumleve, Will (2013-04-26). "Bus firm's lawsuits criticized". The News Gazette.
  9. ^ a b Ruff, Corinne (2013-04-28). "Suburban Express lawsuits reach 125 this year; conversation continues on Reddit". The Daily Illini. Champaign-Urbana. Retrieved 2013-10-25.
  10. ^ Geiger, Kim (May 01, 2013). "Bus Company's lawsuits anger students". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 6, 2013. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ a b Geigner, Timothy (2013-05-02). "Bus Company Threatens Redditor With Lawsuit, Meets Ken White, Runs Away". Techdirt.
  12. ^ a b c d Franz, Justin (2013-04-29). "Bus Company Threatens to Sue Redditor Over Bad Press". The Daily Dot.
  13. ^ a b "Judge allows bus company to refile some claims against passengers". News-Gazette. News-Gazette.com. 2013-07-31. Retrieved 2013-10-25.
  14. ^ Geigner, Timothy (2013-05-17). "Suburban Express Goes Double Or Nothing On Their Aggressive Behavior". Techdirt.
  15. ^ a b c Gallagher, Sean (2013-13-02). "Troll road: Bus company posts "dirt" on complaining passenger". Ars Technica. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ a b c Doctorow, Cory (2013-04-27). "Suburban Express bus-line sends bullying, cowardly legal threat to Reddit, discovers Streisand Effect". Boing Boing.
  17. ^ a b c Gallagher, Sean (2013-06-19). "Bus company that threatened redditor with lawsuit tries to reopen suit". Ars Technica. Cite error: The named reference "Ars-19Jun2013" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  18. ^ a b "Judge allows bus company to refile some claims against passengers". News-Gazette. News-Gazette.com. 2013-07-31. Retrieved 2013-10-25.
  19. ^ Suburban Express website
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