Greyhound Offers Cheaper, Comfortable Alternative to Air Travel
When I was a kid my dad used to come to visit via Greyhound bus (my parents separated when I was young). I developed a bad opinion of bus stations and bus travel in general as part of this experience, but things have really changed. As an alternative to regional air travel, Greyhound bus service offers a comfortable ride free from the annoyances of traveling through our nation’s airports. There are few things as painful to me as being squeezed into an airline’s seat for two hours, waiting for security, and waiting for baggage - and paying an arm and a leg for the privilege.
Bus Seats vs. Airplane Seats
Greyhound buses offer comfortable seating compared to the narrow, uncomfortable seats found on most commercial airliners. In fact, Greyhound bus seats feature headrests, footrests and a reclining option for maximum comfort. And don’t worry, you can actually recline the seats without driving a seat tray into another passengers knees thanks to the added legroom.
Twist Here for Air
Don’t you just love the little twist dials above an airline seat that controls your air? Not only is the air usually warmer than the cabin temperature, it is recycled air probably carrying a collection of germs from everyone on board. Greyhound buses are equipped with air conditioning, and all buses have tinted windows, which help reduce glare and heat build up inside the bus.
Bolt Bus
Greyhound recently introduced a new service called Bolt Bus which features eight daily trips between Washington, DC and New York City. Bolt Bus has acquired a fleet of Prevost X3-45 motor coaches that feature a smooth ride and many amenities aimed at the business traveler:
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More Legroom: The standard coach configuration has been updated and seats removed to add about three inches of additional legroom per seat.
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Free Wi-Fi: Surf the web while you ride using the provided wi-fi service. Hot spots are being added to address some service interruptions, and file downloads may be slow, but for checking email and surfing the web you can’t beat the price!
- Power Up: Standard 110 volt outlets are located throughout the bus to power up your personal electronic devices.
Bolt Bus fares start as low as $1 and vary depending on daily demand. As is true with most travel arrangements, the cheapest fares are secured a week or two in advance of travel. I fully expect these types of services to crop up around the country as gas prices continue to rise and complaints in the airline industry increase. This may also provide an excellent opportunity for daily commuters to turn the driving over to someone else while they spend the time working, relaxing or catching up on Frugal Dad’s latest posts!
Image Credit: Tom in NYC
You didn’t link to Greyhound’s website!
I’m going to check this out for a 2-hour car ride to the airport for our next vacation and see if it will work for us. We usually fly out of an airport 2 hours away instead of the one in our town b/c then we can get direct flights and don’t have to worry about layovers. It would be pretty sweet if we didn’t have to pay for our car to sit in the airport parking lot!
Don’t forget Amtrak - they are a great alternative as well. Coach seats are like $89 all the way across the country. After last Christmas’ train trip from LA to Chicago, my wife and I are planning on taking the train as much as possible and avoiding air travel, due to the cost and the environmental issues. Great article!
Another aspect of Bus vs. Plane is the ability to make stops along the way. You can turn a Bus trip into a mini vacation and see some sites or places that you may not ever get to otherwise. Make the trip there part of the adventure.
The new Bolt bus might be a comfortable alternative to air travel but I wouldn’t say that about Greyhound’s regular bus service. I had to ride Greyhound a few times a couple years ago and it wasn’t a comfortable experience. The buses are dirty and so are a lot of your fellow passengers. Many of their employees are rude and their bus stations are usually located in dangerous areas. If there is a regional bus line available I would ride them but I’ll only ride Greyhound again if I have no choice.
With flying being such a hassle, I’m all about the bus and the train. I can read, listen to music, stare out the window, write—whatever I want.
Thanks for the Greyhound link. A trip from our town to the airport looked really good, but the trip from the airport back to our town wouldn’t work with when we’re flying back. Not going to work
I’ll look into it for future trips, though!
@David. I’ll have to check out Amtrak, too!