Get a bunch of American transportation infrastructure enthusiasts in a room together, and it won’t be long before conversation turns to lamentations of the country’s stunted passenger rail. While it’s true that in comparison to European and Asian networks, Amtrak lags decades behind in terms of speed, reliability and amenities, what’s rarely mentioned is how poorly the United States maximizes the use of one of its strongest national resources: the interstate highway system.

There are 46,876 miles of asphalt currently crisscrossing the country, more than double the steel rails available to Amtrak. And yet, a failure of imagination has allowed mass transit along these roads — which, unlike passenger rail’s 500 or so available stations, lead to every conceivable destination — to fall into the depths of a low-buck nightmare.

While we lament the state of rail infrastructure in North America, we ignore the opportunities presented by a vast and generally functional interstate highway system. I argue that it’s time to lift bus travel out of the gutter in this feature for Inside Hook.