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Riding the Bus - DC to NYC
Posted on July 16th, 2008 by Zach.
Categories: General, Sustainability, Urban Planning.
For anyone not living in the northeast corridor of the US, you may not have been watching the incredible rise in bus travel options. In the past 6-8 months - new low-cost bus services have been springing up between Washington DC, New York, and Boston.
When I was in college (and spent too much time on buses) you had essentially two options - you got your Peter Pan and your Greyhound. Peter Pan was always the better option because they were newer buses, and typically had a terrible movie playing to distract you. (Note: Clearly this dates my college experience - no portable DVD player or iPod…what!?!). Then there was the rise of the Chinatown buses, which early on, you were just as likely to sit next to a box of Chicken cutlets as anything else. These buses were cheap, dropped you off on the sidewalk in funky areas of the city, and were fun for the risk of when the last safety check was, and the amazing Kung-Fu movies onboard.
Clearly the Fung Wah/Lucky Star services ate into the old guard bus routes, and as a result you have seen a mainstreaming attempt of this biz model. Enter new services like BoltBus and Mega Bus - who are still picking you up on the random corner, but have new buses with claims of Wifi and other services.
As it happens, I find myself currently sitting on a BoltBus headed to NYC from Washington. I have to say, not a bad experience at the moment, as I blog this over their WiFi system, with a 30 Rock episode playing in the background. Not bad at all.
Getting on was easy - it is right at Metro Center in DC, so the Metro access from anywhere in the city is cake. They leave every hour on the hour and it costs about $20 when you reserve on the internet. If you register early enough, there are even some $1 tickets on each bus. Twenty bucks is cheap for this ride, the train would cost me a minimum to $100. Planes would be a little bit more, plus you have to pay for the taxi on both ends. Even driving, between tolls and gas I would bet I can’t make this trip for under $30.
As I have posted before, I am huge proponent of trains. There is no mode of land based travel that I would rather be on than the train. Not only that but the serious downside to the bus has always been that you are still beholden to bad traffic as you are in the car. Trains don’t have that problem, and I am always appreciative of that.
Yet as I sit here posting this, checking my email, and watching David Schwimmer play Greenzo, I have to say that this ain’t that bad - especially when I can take 5 trips for the price of one train ticket.
Oh yeah, and it reduces your carbon load, as well as reduces the amount of oil consumption per person in this country too –gotta get the enviro and national security hits in there!
Check out BoltBus if you are trying to get back and forth from New York to DC.
Tags: boltbus, megabus, bus travel, wifi, carbon reduction
Train travel is fun.
Posted on November 2nd, 2007 by Zach.
Categories: Sustainability, Systems of the World, Urban Planning.
I love trains. I love sitting here watching the world go by. I find myself more productive, more creative, more relaxed. I think it is the best way to travel.
For the most part trains could be better in this country. But Amtrak also gets a bad rap. They are working under impossible conditions politically for trains - basically no mandate whatsoever, and trying to service and impossibly vast country. I read recently that the Eastern corrdior trains (Boston to Washington DC) pay for much of the rest of the Amtrak system.
This is about to change - Amtrak recently received a large influx of cash from the federal government, effectively doubling its budget I believe. And it comes at just in time. The roadways of this country exist on a knife’s edge every morning and evening, especially around major metropolitan areas. Anyone who has been on Interstate 95 in the past couple of years will tell you that all it takes is a slight problem to create vast delays.
What if it transitioned to a for profit system? Free market folks claim that prices would go down as services went to compete for your business. I am not entirely convinced of this, but it would be an interesting concept.
First and formost for this to happen though, the US would have to realize the value and potential of rail systems to move people and product around the country. They would have to value it the way we value our roads.
Imagine what the price of a car would be if the Automobile industry had to pay to the upkeep of all the roads. Or maybe it would be on the Oil compaines to keep it up. Imagine the price of gas! Instead road work comes straight out of federal, state, and local taxes. We have essentially deemed upkeep of the roadways critical to our economic well being. And they are, you will get no argument from me on that front. Yet, highways around the country have hit critical mass. Train systems can move massive amounts of people and product on relativley reliable schedules for a 10th of the energy consumption.
SO we should be investing in track maintenance. As a society we should deem track infrastructure critical to urban development. It should at least return to the same level of importance as our highway system.
Just for a little G-Whiz, check out some of the new MagLev train systems and how they work. SO cool.
Tags: Amtrak, Trains, travel