Passengers who paid $15 to ride Lucky Star buses between Chinatown in Manhattan and Boston were apparently lucky that they or their luggage did not fall onto Interstate 95 at high speed.
On Thursday, federal regulators, citing a variety of mechanical and operational violations, ordered the company that operated the Lucky Star fleet to take all 21 of its buses off the road immediately. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said that, in one instance, the company dispatched a bus “that had an approximate 4 foot by 2 foot hole in the bottom of the motor coach and significant frame damage.†The agency cited Lucky Star separately for “rotted floors†in its buses.
In its order, the federal agency said “Lucky Star’s widespread and serious noncompliance†with federal safety laws posed an “imminent hazard†to the public. Inspectors found that 10 Lucky Star buses broke down a total of 80 times in a span of less than 13 months.
Lucky Star, which has operated since 2003, notified its customers of the shutdown on its Web site: “Per the order of USDOT, Lucky Star Bus has temporary ceased operations. All affected e-ticket customers will be receiving a refund automatically. Thanks!â€
The shutdown came three months after the agency issued a similar order to one of Lucky Star’s main competitors, the Fung Wah bus service. The two lines had their New York bases about a block apart near the east end of Canal Street. Each charged $15 for a one-way ticket on a one-stop trip along Interstate 95 between New York and Boston.
The services have long been popular with college students and Chinese immigrants. But when federal inspectors began cracking down on discount intercity bus companies after some deadly crashes, they found that the low fares often came with poor maintenance and untrained drivers.
Discount fleets drew some business away from more established companies that pay rent for gates at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown. The competition led some of those companies to set up discount operations under other names.
For example, Greyhound Lines and Peter Pan Bus Lines teamed to create the Yo! Bus service, which offers trips between Chinatown and Boston for $15 to $25 each way. Yo! Bus also travels between New York and Philadelphia.
