Greyhound losing business to Latino bus lines

PHOENIX — Forget Greyhound. When it comes to traveling by bus, Latino immigrants like Arturo Lopez are far more likely to hop aboard lines with names like Crucero, Autobuses Americanos and Transportes Baldomero Corral.

"I like it. It's fast," said Lopez, 53, of Sedona. The farm worker recently bought a ticket from Phoenix to El Paso aboard a Crucero USA bus. "Greyhound costs a lot and it takes a long time to get anywhere. These lines go direct."

Best of all, Lopez added, "the driver speaks Spanish."

Relatively unknown to the general public, Latino bus lines such as Crucero USA and others that cater to Spanish-speaking immigrants are flourishing in the Phoenix market and in cities throughout the Southwest at a time when ridership on Greyhound, the No. 1 bus carrier, is dwindling.

In Arizona, with a Latino population of more than 1.3 million, at least seven bus lines that cater to Spanish-speaking Hispanics have cropped up in Phoenix. Some travel east-west routes between Phoenix and other U.S. cities. Others travel north-south, cross-border routes between Phoenix and cities in Sonora and Sinaloa, Mexico.

The lines also have extended service to areas of the country that have seen a rapid growth in the Latino population, including North Carolina and Atlanta. As a result, Latino bus lines have grown into a $300 million industry nationwide.

Except to riders, the arrival of the Latino bus lines has gone largely unnoticed because their terminals are tucked away in tiny storefronts in predominantly Latino neighborhoods, closer to their customers.

Al Penedo, chief operating officer for one of the largest Latino bus lines operating in Phoenix, said the bus lines offer an affordable and familiar way of traveling for riders who tend to be low-wage workers in the United States. In Mexico, 93 percent of all transportation is bus, compared with just 3 percent in the United States.

While the Latino bus lines cater primarily to the Phoenix area's large and fast-growing Spanish-speaking population, non-Latinos also are discovering the carriers.

In January, Tony Smith, a 35-year-old communications engineer from Chandler, traveled by bus to visit his girlfriend in Mexico. Instead of paying $300 to $350 for a one-way airfare, he bought a $53 ticket on Transportes Baldomero Corral, or TBC, from Phoenix to Novojoa, Sonora, a 15-hour journey.

"I thought it was a great deal," Smith said.

Kim Plaskett, a spokeswoman for Greyhound Lines, said the Latino bus lines don't compete with Greyhound.

Crucero and Autobuses Americanos share a bare-bones terminal a few blocks east of downtown Phoenix. Both lines are operated by Dallas-based Sistema Internacional de Transporte de Autobuses Inc., or SITA, a subsidiary of Greyhound Lines.

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