On The Road: The Bus Is the Engine of Group Travel

When I arrived at the American Bus Association, bus operator membership revenue represented a small portion of the association’s total budget. While ABA proudly represents the broader travel and tourism ecosystem, we can never lose sight of our most important member: the bus operator.

The bus is the engine of the group travel industry. When bus operators are healthy, so is the entire ecosystem. Tour companies grow. Destinations welcome more visitors. Attractions, hotels, restaurants, and travel suppliers all benefit.

That reality has shaped an important shift inside ABA. We are refocusing our strategy around a simple principle: ABA should work for bus operators every day.

That commitment is already producing results.

This spring, ABA filed suit against New York City’s punitive idling bounty hunter program. For many operators, compliance costs and enforcement penalties now exceed $50,000 annually.

But this issue impacts far more than bus companies alone.

Rising enforcement costs ultimately increase expenses for tour operators, destinations, and travelers. ABA’s efforts are designed to help protect the broader group travel industry from unnecessary financial burdens while preserving affordable access to one of America’s most important tourism markets.

The program also raises serious concerns about privacy and unfettered citizen enforcement. Under the current system, private individuals are financially incentivized to surveil and target commercial operators through a bounty-style enforcement model that has rapidly expanded in scale and aggressiveness. ABA believes businesses operating safely and legally deserve reasonable protections and consistent standards.

ABA is also tackling another major issue facing operators: insurance costs.

We are conducting a comprehensive review of the commercial bus insurance market to help lay the foundation for future reforms focused on increasing competition, confronting abusive litigation practices, and helping policymakers better understand the pressures facing private operators.

Success in this effort would not only strengthen bus companies but also help lower transportation costs across the broader travel industry. When operators face unsustainable insurance and legal costs, those expenses eventually ripple outward to tour companies, destinations, attractions, and travelers themselves.

At the same time, ABA continues expanding its advocacy influence on behalf of the industry. This year, ABA was recognized by Washingtonian as one of the Top 500 advocacy organizations in Washington, D.C., reflecting the growing voice and visibility of the bus and group travel industry at the federal level.

These efforts reflect a broader shift inside ABA. We are building an association that fights harder for operators, delivers more operational value, and recognizes a simple reality: when the bus industry is healthy, the entire travel ecosystem is healthier and stronger because of it.

We need each other, and ABA is committed to making sure the entire industry moves forward together.