Tired of high bus and rail fares, New Yorkers of all stripes are fighting back by taking the "Chinese buses" to Boston and Washington. We tried them out, and they look like a useful addition to the travel arsenal--and a great replacement for oft-grotty Greyhound.
We took Chinese buses to and from Boston--one Fung Wah, one Travel Pack--and were startled by the professionalism and comfort. These were shiny, brand-new luxury buses, with bathrooms and movies--certainly higher quality than the Greyhounds that ply the New York-D.C. route, and at least on par with Peter Pan bus stock.
(Rider beware--the Chinese bus companies also use minivans sometimes, and these should be avoided; for one thing, although they make a bathroom stop, they don't have onboard bathrooms. Ask when buying your ticket or look for the words "Big Motor Coach" when buying a ticket online.)
The truly neurotic may have found fault in our driver's speed-demon style, but he seemed pretty solid to us. Literally speeding to Boston, we enjoyed a cheesy kung fu movie about a masked vigilante (subtitled in English) and part of Miss Congeniality, starring Sandra Bullock (subtitled in Chinese.) The mostly middle-class crowd on the bus was about half Chinese. (And if you really want to know, the vigilante was secretly the son of the good cop. Who knew?)
Arriving on a sidestreet in Boston's Chinatown, we couldn't believe our watches: three hours and 45 minutes for New York to Boston, in comfort.
The major problem is boarding the bus; in Boston, for instance, tickets are sold out of a Chinese bakery and the buses board at an utterly unmarked location across a major intersection. In New York, there's a cloud of sales stands on a certain block of Division Street, just by the Manhattan Bridge on-ramp, and the buses pull right up to the curb. The salesmen are responsive but brusque, with limited English. If it's your first time taking the Chinese bus, arrive well in advance to scope out the sales and boarding locations.
The Chinese buses are run by a chaotic welter of companies, whose names often don't match the sides of their buses. Travel Pack and Fung Wah are the most established companies running to Boston; they charge $30-50 roundtrip, depending on time of day, and run a very frequent service.
Buses to Washington are more sporadic. Dragon Coach runs the more frequent service, with 5 departures per day for $40 round trip; Washington Deluxe Bus runs two round-trips a day for $35, leaving from midtown Manhattan instead of from Chinatown.
Chinese buses also run from New York to Philly (but frankly, you might as well take the commuter rail); New York to Richmond, Va. (at $80 roundtrip, much less of a bargain) and New York to Detroit ($100 roundtrip and a miserable 15 hours, three times a week.)
Greyhound isn't taking the Chinese challenge lightly. The mega-bus company now offers $25 one-way tickets and $40 round-trips from New York to Boston, so you get the low price of the Chinese buses without the cultural experience (or the thrill of supporting a small business--or the nervousness of not knowing quite who regulates the business.) Go to www.greyhound.com.
To explore the world of the Chinese buses, go to www.ivymedia.com/bus, where you find prices and departure times for these routes as well as others across the country.