A VC in Vacationland

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I have been watching the rise of the Megabus and BoltBus phenomena with a lot of interest. For the uninitiated, these buses are the beginning of an intercity passenger travel revolution in the US.  Business Week had an interesting article in April on the companies and the travel niche they have carved out between cities–ones that are perhaps too far for a car trip and not far enough for a plane ride.

What intrigued me is the potential to haul packages on the buses as well as passengers. You could use the same web-based reservation process to "book" your package, take it to the bus headed to the correct destination city and have it shipped. Granted, since the buses do not have a terminal, someone would have to offload the packages at curbside and store them until your recipient picked it up (or deliver it for an extra charge).  My guess, is that the whole process could be cheaper than the fully cost-loaded, highly taxpayer subsidized USPS parcel delivery system, but perhaps not a viable competitor due to the subsidy.

Perhaps it's all crazy thinking, but I believe there could be a disruptive business model for intercity parcel freight lurking in the Megabus/BoltBus revolution.  I'll keep thinking about it….let me know if you have any ideas…