Coffee, Tea or Satellite TV on Your Bus Trip?

In an experiment that may change the less-than-glamorous image of bus travel, Coach USA is installing satellite television on buses to Atlantic City, N.J.

The Houston-based company, the nation’s largest motor-coach and sightseeing conglomerate, has contracted with BusTV to offer scores of stations to riders en route from New York, Philadelphia and New Jersey to the gambling mecca. Programs will be customized--for example, boxing matches for those going to view the fights in Atlantic City, said Bill Cole, a Coach USA vice president. In the future, CNN might be offered on commuter runs and special programming on shuttle buses that serve hotels near Disneyland, he suggested.

Cole said Coach USA is the first commercial bus company to offer satellite TV, although many offer VCR programming. Initial deployment will be finished by June.