Final answer:
Intermodal or multimodal transportation means using multiple modes, such as road, rail, air, and sea, to transport goods. The broader market definition would have served bus companies aiming to merge by portraying them as a minor entity in an expansive market.
Step-by-step explanation:
When a company uses intermodal or multimodal transportation, it means that the company is using multiple modes of transportation to move goods. This can include any combination of transportation methods such as road, rail, air, and sea to facilitate the shipping of goods in the global economy. For instance, a shipment might start its journey on a truck, which carries the cargo to a rail station; from there, it could be placed on a train to travel across the country, where it's loaded onto a cargo ship and finally delivered to its final destination by another truck.
The bus companies, Greyhound Lines, Inc. and Trailways Transportation System, likely preferred the broader definition of the market as 'the market for intercity transportation, including personal cars, car rentals, passenger trains, and commuter air flights' because this would present them as a smaller player within a much larger market, thus reducing concerns about a monopoly situation post-merger and increasing the chances of the merger being approved by regulators.