Lurker1999

www.boltbus.com

Right now only the New York-DC route is available for $1 and up with the Boston-New York route available later this year.

Walk up fares are supposedly capped at $25 which could be interesting competition for LimoLiner going Boston-New York since BoltBus is offering free wi-fi, greater seat pitch and in-seat power. What that actually translates into remains to be seen but if the wi-fi is workable and you can get 70W out of the 110V socket this could definitely be another option to Amtrak or the shuttle flights.

The NWA kid

That looks like a great deal. I wish there was a deal NYC-Baltimore like that.

Lurker1999

Megabus is joining the fray it seems, also starting at $1+ and maxing out around $15 I believe. Wifi but no power and they don't have permission to load at South Station yet. They're supposed to start Boston-New York service in April.

This may actually create some nice healthy competition in the market.

BOShappyflyer

I'm pretty excited about it, even though I don't usually go to New York (just nice that the option is there).

I've only taken the bus once to NY, and that was through Lucky Star. It was okay, but I would try the Boltbus or the Mega Bus just because they have wifi. I could get a lot done in those few hours...

fatfrog

Saw a posting on fatwallet last night about buszoo.com
I think it's a no-frills, non-luxury Chinatown bus without wifi or plugs or anything like that, but also offers $1 fares to/from more cities than just NY/DC (I believe including Baltimore, FWIW NWA Kid)

humanoid94

Oh man, and here I thought I was getting a good deal on the 40/roundtrip dc2ny bus. Now I know I was getting ripped off!

bennytma

I'm sitting on the Bolt Bus right now NY-DC. A short trip report. Ticket was $10 o/w 2 days in advance. 830a departure was ontime. Interestingly the bus leaves from Canal and 6th Ave in NY which is two blocks from the tunnel to NJ so no sitting in traffic in the city.

Wifi is not password protected and is fast enough to watch youtube videos with no problem whatsoever. The electrical outlet is 110v with constant current - no fluctuations ala Amtrak. My sony vaio has had no problem charging up the entire trip. The sockets are stupidly placed ala American's new biz IFE - in the back of the headrest of one seat. So if both people need the outlet, someone is gonna get stuck with two cords hanging in front of them. Seat pitch is at least 32 inches probably closer to 33 or 34 - definitely more than FungWah and Greyhound. There is a pair of handicap seats which offer even more legroom.

The buses are brand new with a couple of flat screen tvs hanging from the ceiling every few rows. The ride is pretty smooth. The driver is friendly and as we waited to depart was talkative about the new service. NY-Boston/Philly starting in April with more cities planned incl Pitt etc. He was pretty knowledgeable and conscious that this is a new service on a competitive route. Also, fwiw, walk-up fares can be paid via cc on a hand-held cc swipe machine.

If only the Acela service had wifi.....$10 plus wifi and decent legroom on Bolt makes $105 without wifi on the Acela less appealing.

laguardiaguy

MegaBus starts New York-Boston service on Friday May 30, 2008. All seats are free the first week, with a fifty cent service charge per reservation.

Net of it is I reserved four RT's for a grand total of fifty cents all in. Works out great for me since I need to be in BOS that weekend anyway.

And I booked four $2 NY-Philly RT's in July for for a grand total of $8.50

The service looks pretty no frills, but for those prices who cares.

Lurker1999

Not to mention the walk-up prices for the bus vs. the Acela make it a no-brainer if you can spare the time for the bus.

rxrfrx

You can now book BOS-NYC (South Station/Penn Station) on the BoltBus website. Plenty of seats are available for $1.

It's pretty neat... the reservation interface is pretty nice, and you get a confirmation email with the SSID and WEP key for the bus you'll be on. If you give your phone number, you also get text message confirmations containing a code that you can present to board the bus (no printout required).

lizzle

Has anyone done standby for different days? Are the strict about this? The website states that the ticket is for scheduled trip only, but Greyhound isn't as strict people think...

crhptic

When I took Bolt Bus a couple of weeks ago, a guy showed up an hour early and the driver let him on the bus (of course, there were seats available). There were also some people who narrowly missed the prior bus, and he let them on too (but only after a. lecturing them on showing up on time and b. making sure they wouldn't be displacing any paying pax). As it turned out, the bus left with empty seats even after accommodating all of these early- and late-comers. I suspect that if there were paying walkup pax who wanted the seats, the 'standbys' would have definitely been turned away. And I personally wouldn't push it trying to standby with a ticket for a different DAY (not to say that couldn't ever work, though).

ArizonaGuy

Standby?! When walk up fares are allegedly capped at $25 and some of you are paying $10, just pay again. Change several times and still be less than a shuttle or Acela service.

lexande

"Less than Acela" is not saying much. $25 is a lot of money, of course you should try not to pay it if you don't have to. Though the fact that you can buy a reasonably-priced walk-up ticket just in case makes the "hope you can negotiate with the driver" strategy significantly less risky.

laguardiaguy

Has anyone ever rode Megabus. I'm going NYC-BOS next weekend and I'm curious about what to & not to expect.

Although for free it will take alot to make me unhappy.