Buses World News
In brief: Worldwide montly news & informations about Buses, Busmakers, Passengers' and the Transport Industry
Bus Wars * USA - Talking Transportation: There’s no doubt which is the cheapest.
Fung Wah charges just $15 one way between New York and Boston. The Lucky Star bus can be as little as $12 Westport,CT,USA -Westport Now, by Jim Cameron -October 13, 2008: -- You see them every day zooming along I-95. Buses, crammed with folks heading from New York City to Boston and back. They carry exotic names like Fung Wah and BoltBus. And they’re the hottest thing in interstate transportation these days because they’re also the cheapest... The New York-to-Boston corridor is one of the most heavily traveled in the nation. The air shuttles alone carry 700,000+ passengers a year at a one-way fare of $300 (first class seats coming in December will be $100 - $250 additional) for the seldom on-time half-hour flight... Amtrak carried 613,00 passengers between the Big Apple and Beantown in 2007, up from 460,800 a year earlier. Mind you, their journey runs four hours and 15 minutes (three and a half hours on Acela) and costs $89 one way ($105 on Acela). But hey, it’s a train--immune to the weather and traffic... If you look at the 220-mile trip by car, assuming 28 miles to a $3.70 gallon of gas, the trip would cost you about $30 one-way, not including tolls and stress. Assuming two passengers, that’s almost 16 passenger-miles per gallon... Compare that to 39 passenger-miles per gallon by train, 42 passenger-miles per gallon by air or 184 passenger-miles per gallon on the bus (according to the American Bus Association.). Which do you think is the “greenest”?... There’s no doubt which is the cheapest. Fung Wah (Chinese for “magnificent wind”) charges just $15 one way between New York and Boston. The Lucky Star bus can be as little as $12 (all fares quoted based on a Friday – Sunday roundtrip booked online two weeks in advance). And departures are every hour. Of course, you do leave from Chinatown... In fact, there are now more interstate bus passengers to and from Chinatown each day than the Port Authority Bus Terminal, a fact which has captured the attention of New York City lawmakers and police...Labels: cheap bus fares
CHEAP BUS FARES * USA - The Chinatown Bus Experience
This blog post will cover my recent adventure through Manhattan and the nightmare of an experience with two particular Chinatown bus lines: Apex/Todays Bus... NY,USA -Sippy's World, by sippy -29 Jun 2008: -- The picture below gives you a glimpse of the chaos you can expect to experience when attempting to board your bus in Chinatown NYC...
However, the return trip from chinatown/NYC at 9:30 6/28/08 was a horror... We asked the two women who were selling tickets which bus was for DC and which was for Philadelphia. They could not communicate to us very well, and just kept repeating “yes, DC” and “yes, Philadelphia” over and over... The result was an oversold bus, full of people that were able to butt in front of us even though we had reservations. We were there 20 minutes early as specified on the ticket, but we had no seat on the bus. There were many other angry reservation holders as well... This new bus arrived 10 minutes later. At this point, everyone was angry and shoving to get a seat on the bus. Luckily we were able to board at the very end, but their were others behind us that were left behind. The bus was overcrowded and we were forced to sit at the back, which smelled so strongly of urine that people were beginning to get sick. The two women continued to sell tickets and even stuffed two people on the bus that had no seat. The driver road about a mile down the road before understanding what had happened, even though the two passengers implored him the entire way to stop... The bus finally departed again, but after going a block or two, it died at a stoplight. Over the next 10 minutes, the bus would die at traffic lights (idling low and then sputtering to a stop) and the driver would get out of the bus (in the middle of traffic), fiddle with the engine, and then recrank it. After an uprising from passengers, the bus driver finally agreed the bus was not suitable for interstate travel and took us back. Back at the street corner again, a new bus showed up and unloaded all of its passengers - we boarded this bus and left... We transfered buses again in Philadelphia for some reason. I think it was at this point that the driver realized he had passengers from DC on his bus, so another bus was called in to take us the rest of the way... The bus driver was the most dangerous driver I had ever experienced. I consider myself an aggressive driver and this person was absolutely uncompromising and reckless. He would swerve in/out of traffic, rev the engine as high as it would go, tailgate other vehicles, speed upwards of 80mph constantly, and take turns at extremely unsafe speeds (at one point the right side wheels briefly left the pavement and skidding back to the surface after an abrupt jerk on the steering wheel). The bus was taking potholes and uneven ripples in the road at such high speeds, that the entire structure was shimmying and rattling violently with each hit. The bus would literally skip across the pavement after each bump was hit going 70+ mph. Even in downtown DC on new york avenue (which has camera-ticketing systems for speeding vehicles), the driver was going 55mph+ and racing past traffic. The shaking was so violent, that it woke me up several times (I was in a near comatose state from lack of sleep), one of which involved a piece of luggage clocking me in the forehead (it was thrown out of the overhead cabin by sheer centripetal force going into an onramp at what must have been an unsafe speed). I was surprised we were not all killed that night. I was certain we were going to flip over... I have been researching the Chinatown bus lines and have learned a lot in the process. For one thing, the bus lines (such as Apex and Today-Bus) actually outsource each trip to various coach lines (as noted in the footnote on their website, in light gray font: Each service is provided by different licensed coach operators). So, you have no reason to expect you will receive a safe driver or a bus that is in good shape. This does not excuse, however, the overselling of tickets that happened and the apparent complete disregard for those that have standing reservations to board first. I would also question the adherence of these coach lines to US DOT required safety standards... My advice is to first consider alternatives to the Chinatown bus lines. Greyhound started a low-fare bus riding service called Boltbus that actually has comparable prices, and you can be reasonably certain the bus and driver will be acceptable. A Jewish-owned low-fare bus service called Vamoose also has extremely cheap rates. If you really want to try a Chinatown bus line, be sure to visit a site like GoToBus.com or Chinatown-bus.org to compare various lines and their policies. Labels: cheap bus fares
Megabus, minibucks * USA - Road to savings begins with bus company that wings it
This is not the summer of love... High gas prices and road construction have made this the summer of when push comes to shove 
Milwaukee,WIS,USA -The Chicago Sun Times, by DAVE HOEKSTRA-June 29, 2008: -- This is why I am sitting in the back of a Megabus headed for Milwaukee... The 56-seat bus is half full, mostly with young people. The bus is clean and the bathrooms are basic (although the sink doesn't work). Better yet, the price is right: $16 round trip, making this express bus service one of the best ways to tool around the Midwest this summer... Megabus.com -- as it is technically called -- is a subsidiary of Coach USA, a UK-based Stagecoach Group company... Megabus is popular because you can get a one-way ticket for as little as $1.50, depending on when you buy it. The earlier you book, the cheaper the ticket. My $16 round-trip fare was booked three weeks in advance... No-frills Megabus is cheap because it keeps its expenses low... There are no Megabus stations. Riders wait on city sidewalks, rain or shine... Hey, we got used to that !!... (Photo by Brian Jackson/Sun-Times - Megabus destinations include: Milwaukee, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Bloomington/Normal, Indianapolis, Ann Arbor, Columbus, Cincinnati, Champaign, Cleveland, Memphis, Detroit, Madison, St. Louis and Columbia, Mo.)Labels: cheap bus fares
BUS CHOICES * USA - Booking it to N.Y.
Competition means lower fares. But what's the best bus line to take?Boston,CT,USA -The Boston Globe, by Nicole C. Wong -June 29, 2008: -- Surging gas prices and airline fees are making day trips and weekend excursions to New York that much more expensive. Yet one mode of transportation between the Hub and the Big Apple has actually gotten cheaper: the bus... You can thank intensifying competition. BoltBus and MegaBus launched service on the popular Northeast Corridor this spring and undercut the three incumbents by offering some tickets for $1, $5, or $10 each way. Lucky Star quickly slashed its $15 price to hang onto customers... The Globe tested the five low-cost bus lines - BoltBus, MegaBus, Lucky Star, Fung Wah Bus Transportation Inc., and the pooled operations of Greyhound Lines Inc. and Peter Pan Bus Lines. We bought our tickets online and anonymously boarded the New York-bound buses from Boston's South Station on various days and times over the past month... Don't expect to make friends on the bus. Most riders sleep, read, listen to music, or talk to their traveling companions. Some gab on cellphones, but many drivers ask that calls be kept short... BoltBus and MegaBus shuttled us around in coaches that were noticeably cleaner than the competitions', but that's because they're new. The interiors are also designed differently... The rest of the experience depends on your driver. BoltBus aimed to hire drivers whose fun, friendly attitude would remind riders of Southwest Airlines flight attendants. Our MegaBus driver tuned the radio to old Top 40s music - and amicably turned it off after someone asked him to lower the volume. Our Greyhound driver stood outside the bus door warmly reminding passengers to watch their step as they got off. And our Lucky Star driver also treated passengers quite well, but we got a little nervous when he made a vulgar gesture when he was cut off by another driver... More important than demeanor is the driver's skill at, well, driving... Nevertheless, we liked BoltBus the best. Stretching out in a seat while sipping on free Wi-Fi and electricity can make even an hour-late, traffic-tangled ride bearable . . . and dare we say enjoyable?... That we were able to read online content at all was a minor miracle. We usually grow nauseated when reading on the road. But BoltBus's cushy seats and suspension - plus the driver's skill - provided an unusually smooth ride... (Video from YouTube, by dollyboston - June 13, 2008: "NYC BoltBus") Labels: cheap bus fares
CHEAP BUSES * USA - Banishing buses to L'Enfant
Washington,DC,USA -The Examiner /The Greater Greater Washington -19 June 2008: -- DDOT is planning to force all low-cost bus carriers, like Bolt Bus, DC2NY, and the Chinatown buses to stop loading in Chinatown and at various other spots around the city (a few pick up in Dupont Circle), reports the Examiner... Instead, all buses will have to load and unload at a special zone at 10th and D Southwest, right by the L'Enfant Metro... (Photo by mattlehrer on Flickr)Labels: cheap bus fares
Cheap Bus Fares * USA - Competition to escalate
Megabus is starting runs to Baltimore, 7 other Eastern cities
Baltimore,MAR,USA -The Baltimore Sun, by Laura McCandlish -March 20, 2008: -- A $1 bus fare to New York City? Sounds too good to be true. But Megabus.com says it will offer some early-bird fares that low when the low-fare carrier begins East Coast service in late May... Megabus said yesterday that it will start service from New York to seven cities besides Baltimore, including Washington, Philadelphia and Boston... Megabus is jumping into the market at a time when buses are luring more passengers with bargain fares, especially in contrast to train and plane... Owned by Scotland's Stagecoach Group, Megabus opened its first U.S. hub in Chicago in April 2006, and expanded to Los Angeles last summer. It has since carried more than 900,000 passengers and currently serves 24 Midwestern and West Coast cities...Labels: cheap bus fares
