Battle of the Buses

The primary way that I’ve gone to and from DC has been by bus, being that I don’t own (or care to own) a car and all.  That said, for several months I’ve been a pretty loyal customer to Eastern Travels, which is one of the bus companies that operates under the more commonly-known Chinabus – you know, the crazy-cheap busline that gets you to various places in the northeast on the cheap?  The past month, however, I have finally gotten around to trying the alternatives to the Chinabus: Bolt Bus and Megabus, the more organized competitors to Chinabus.

So without further ado, here’s my quick, early-morning review of all three buslines!  Personally (and at this particular juncture in my life), pricing takes top importance, followed by comfort and then extra amenities such as sockets and whatnot.

CHINABUS (EASTERN TRAVELS)

Pros: cheap ($21 w/ online fee); fun to be on, especially when you get a crazy driver!

Cons: when you get a crazy driver, you may be delayed thanks to the 5-0; very disorganized and sometimes shady; almost always packed to capacity; delays frequent on Friday’s.

I’ve spent the most time riding the Chinabuses out of the three, so I can definitely give some stories of what I’ve seen over the months, most of which isn’t good for this bus, especially after trying the alternatives.  Pricing aside, you have to be really careful when booking on Friday evenings; every time I did the bus was delayed at least 30 minutes, although one time it was delayed over 2 hours, long enough to say “Fuck it” and jump on Amtrak instead.  You definitely have to have a sense of adventure to ride these buses, since most of the time the drivers are plain psycho.  A common thing you’d see: Eastern Travel buses speeding while in the speed lane of a highway – like easily 75-80mph at times.  There was one time my bus was pulled over for speeding – ended up waiting about 25 minutes before we moved again – but we still got into NYC within 4 hours, which was amazing!  The departure and drop-off locations for Chinabuses are sometimes pretty sketchy, and can change on-the-fly, depending on the city and time of day.  In NYC, for example, they usually take up MTA bus line stops to pick people up.  But more drastically, they usually pick up and drop off in old parking lots between buildings or, in one case in DC, in a wide alleyway normally used for freight traffic.  Friggen awesome!  And Lastly, be ready for some crammed seating – because of the busline popularity, these buses are almost always stuffed to the ceiling w/ passengers!

BOLT BUS

Pros: very, very comfortable seating; sockets in every seat; all-American bus drivers that have bus licenses!

Cons: most expensive of the three ($25 w/ online fee)

I’ve ridden Bolt Bus twice, and in both cases I was not disappointed at all with my ride.  The buses never ran late, left almost precisely on-time, and seating was brilliant!  Everything about the bus was pretty slick: two sockets per person (very nice for my media player and phone) made the trip really good, and I personally had ample leg room, which is not a common trait in buses in my experience, given my height.  However, the pricetag makes it much less desirable today.  So…

MEGABUS

Pros: cheapest of the three ($19.50 w/ online fee); lots of space to yourself; movies shown that are good; double-decker buses!!!

Cons: sockets – ya either got ‘em or ya don’t; you could end up boarding a Chinabus chartered by Megabus.

The most recent run of buses has been Megabus, which initially blew me away by how cheap it can be, and then floored me when I had a socket to myself in the seat!  The fact that the buses are double-decked makes riding Megabus compulsory at least once, people!  The bottom level actually has tables and everything for groups of people I suppose, while the top houses the bulk of the seats.  Even with this arrangement, the seats are very comfy and despite the lack of overhead compartments, odds are good the seat next to you will be empty so you can utilize that!  However, the second ride did not have electric sockets, nor did the third, which leads me to believe that a small number of their buses actually have sockets, which sucks.  Also, when you go on their website you’ll notice that two types of buses run under the Megabus name: the trademark double-decker buses and then the single-level buses, which can sometimes “become” Chinabuses!  Whoa, dude, what’s up with that?!  I honestly don’t know, but because of this, I’ve always made sure I booked rides that were on the double-deckers so I knew I was going on a Megabus, er, bus.

FINAL CHOICE

~Megabus~

So there you have it, folks!  This will most likely be the bus I’ll be riding to and from DC for a good while.  Oh, never take Greyhound – they just suck 100%. Aight, time for me to pass out before I do just that on my keyboard… <yawn!>