I live in Calgary, Alberta. For a long, long, long time there has been a company doing the exact same thing between Calgary and Edmonton (a 3 hour drive). I love it- in fact, I take it instead of a plane: its more comfortable, and when you factor in baggage/security, only takes about 20 minutes extra (not to mention it saves the organisation I work for a couple hundred).
Amazingly the nicest busses I have been on are in Mexico (Tampico/Monterrey). They have huge comfortable brand new Merc busses available, with fully reclining seats. No wifi yet but some busses have plane-style entertainment systems.
The contrast between those and Grehound McAllen-Houston was amazing, more Spanish was required on the US side of the border, and it was hard to immagine the bus was road legal.
Its £1.34 a litre where I am (more or less $10 a gallon) yet public transport usage has more or less remained the same, people have instead opted to just travel less.
Thats partly because bus fare (at least here in the north) has been going up just as fast as petrol prices.
As my current place pays overtime I would need the cost of petrol to go up to 5gbp/litre (~$40/gal) without an increase in the cost of the bus to make catching it worthwhile, factoring in the longer trip times.
Decent wifi and a nicer bus would certainly change my view on the tradeoff though. The sooner they make the top deck a first class, recliner seating, no child zone the better :)
