I’ve been wondering for some time now how the Chinatown bus operators could make money charging only ten bucks from Boston to New York. Now, from the investigate desks of Time Out NY (sadly, story not linked at their website) comes word that the Chinatown bus lines have been locked not only in a price war but in a street war of violence, intimidation and murder.
As ABCNews descibes one stabbing incident,
The brawl between two drivers began on a bus parked at Pike and Henry Streets just after nine last night. The fight spilled onto the street and one driver, just 20-years-old, was stabbed through the chest. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police reached the scene in time to grab a suspect which was another driver.
Police say this may be part of the on-going, violent competition among discount bus companies in Chinatown.
They’ve established multi-million dollar businesses carrying passengers from New York, to Chinatowns in Boston, Washington and Philadelphia. A roundtrip is a bargain as low as $20 dollars.
But the battle for customers now involves companies with links to Asian organized crime. Last year, the founder of one bus company was murdered. Buses have been destroyed in a series of arson attacks and detectives say last night’s Chinatown murder may be the latest killing in a bloody war.
This seems to have become a mini-scandal in New York, but I have heard no word in Boston. Are the mafia rings run out of New York alone? I have to admit I’ve become addicted to the cheap bus trips to New York and would be sad to see all the bus companies closed.
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