Maybe that works for the small percentage of people trying to get from Boston to Miami,

No they go all over East of the Mississippi. People travel them all the time. It's literally just a few bucks for anyone responsible enough to plan things ahead.

and those seats come with a raft of fees

No they don't.

you can't make money charging $20 roundtrip.

Whatever. Take it up with them.

I live in Albuquerque, and ABQ to Chicago is $300+ roundtrip on a bus - and even at minimum wage, the lost wages on four days of sitting in a metal box are enough that it's cheaper to pay $400 and fly.

That's nice. Cut back on the drinking, smoking, drugs, gambling, weekends at the movies, wasting money on all sorts of other garbage that people waste their money on, plenty to go around for people who have their priorities straight.

I know a lot of folks who work at places like Buffalo Wild Wings. If by "consumerist garbage" you mean a 2002 Ford Explorer that barely runs, yes, they waste a lot of money on consumerist garbage.

Better to trash the car and organize their lives in a way so they don't need a car, hopefully lose some weight here in this overly obese land, AND have some extra money for vacations to Chicago.