million miles on a bus — is that something special?
Probably any vehicle can go that far, if you keep at it long enough. A friend of mine is a bicycle enthusiast and over 40 years has put 250,000 miles on some parts of his bicycle. At 10 miles an hour that is 25,000 hours or about 2 hours a day. No wonder he is in good shape! And I should get out and ride more! I guess it also depends on how much you can replace and still call it the original vehicle. In Europe, a building is 500 years old if most of the stones that were put there 500 years ago are still there. In Asia, where stone construction is difficult and wood rots, a building is 500 years old if it has been continuously maintained and renovated regularly for 500 years — even if none of the timbers, shingles, etc., are from the original construction. Philosophy aside, I think 5 million miles is plausible for a heavy-duty vehicle. But not common, for at least two reasons. First, things break. Second, you have to have enough drivers keep at it for long enough and fast enough to go
