I completely agree, and I'm very glad to see this perspective in this thread. I used to ride cheap buses because I didn't have much money, now (pre-corona) I still ride them even though I'm doing well. You meet people, hear fun stories, find yourself in interesting situations... There are "filters" on the population that rides airplanes or trains, but all of humanity rides the bus. And while the chance that a grandma unpacks her food and shares some with you on the plane is nil, I've had it happen to me multiple times on the bus, so there's that :)