Transport grumble

Objectively, I know there are economic reasons why it is cheaper to buy a bus ticket from Boston to New York than it is to buy a bus ticket from Boston to a smaller city that the first bus passes through, but must the cosmos rub it in by actually making the latter more expensive than taking a bus from Boston to New York and then a second bus from New York (backwards over the same stretch of highway) to the smaller city? And don't even get me started on Amtrak. I want my old car.