The 1880

Go Go BoltBus!

I go down to New York City quite a lot. To get there, I used to use Amtrak. However, due to their exorbitant rates (~$100 roundtrip), I decided to give the bus a try. However, if you follow the Boston Globe, you’ll know that it didn’t go so well for me (nevermind the disgusting emo picture). After that incident, I was back on the tracks again with Amtrak, paying a good Benjamin to get down to the Big Apple and back.

Then, along came BoltBus. A subsidiary of Greyhound (which happens to be “in an alliance” with Peter Pan– watch out for hostage situations!), BoltBus started service between only NYC & Washington, D.C.. However, on their site, they’ve been hinting at the idea of a Boston & New York connection, and sure enough, it’s launched. I’m going to NYC again in three weeks, so I thought I’d check what the fares were like.

How much did I pay? Eight dollars. And that’s on the expensive side– if you get it early, it can cost as little as $1 each way. To make things even better, they have free wi-fi on board for the ride.

First, I must point out that not everybody gets that $1 fare. BoltBus offers at least one seat on each bus for that rockbottom price. Then as seats start to fill up, the price goes up.

If you are, say, the fourth person to book a seat, it might cost $7. Wait a little longer, maybe $10 or $15. The top price is $20 if booked online, $25 if you buy your ticket last-minute from the driver. (There is also a 50-cent surcharge for booking online.)
–Scott Mayerowitz, ABC NEWS

How the hell can BoltBus sustain such low fares? The answer is simple: the interwebs. Instead of having to pay for facilities in bus stations or hire people to answer phones and sell tickets, BoltBus keeps all their business online– who needs a person to help you when you have a website?

In three weeks, I’ll be boarding this bus, and I’ll be sure to update then how the trip was. Will it be better than Amtrak? Probably not, but it’s 7% the price of the train. I’m assuming it’ll be a bit more than 7% the quality. Or at least, I can hope.