I’ve been to New York nearly a dozen times, but I’ve never driven there. To my suburbanite mind, navigating a car to NYC — and facing the Jersey turnpike tolls, the gridlock traffic and city’s overwhelming sprawl — is a job best left to professionals.
However, deciding which bus line to take for a weekend trip to New York City is a contentious issue. I’ve heard stories of people who were left in Baltimore for dawdling two minutes too long at the rest stop. And of buses stinking of dried fish. Some will fiercely defend the $35 Chinatown bus. Others insist its worth springing for the extra $15 bucks for the on board bathrooms, sensible driving and Wifi. This Washingtonian article has a great summary of all the bus lines.
Here’s what I found from my experiences with several bus companies:
Chinatown bus
Pluses = Cheap
Negatives = No bathroom, rude staff, broken seat, random rest stop in a parking lot outside Baltimore
DC-NY
Pluses = An, um, classier clientele than Chinatown bus, Wifi, movies, bathroom
Negatives = Wifi makes me sick, pick-up at Dupont Circle (I live off orange line)
Washington Deluxe
Pluses = Pick up at the orange line, drop off in Brooklyn (a 20 minute walk from my friend’s Williamsburg apartment), bathroom
Negatives = Late leaving DC, freezing cold on the way to New York, roasting on the return, no movie!
Now, with gas prices at a five year low and the other half of We’re Out of Here accompanying me on trips, I may scrap my bus experiment and just drive. My devotion to public transportation has faded in the face of the mile-long, bitter cold walk home from the metro stop (suitcase in hand) at 10:30 pm yesterday.
On the bus from DC to New York
I’ve been to New York nearly a dozen times, but I’ve never driven there. To my suburbanite mind, navigating a car to NYC — and facing the Jersey turnpike tolls, the gridlock traffic and city’s overwhelming sprawl — is a job best left to professionals.
However, deciding which bus line to take for a weekend trip to New York City is a contentious issue. I’ve heard stories of people who were left in Baltimore for dawdling two minutes too long at the rest stop. And of buses stinking of dried fish. Some will fiercely defend the $35 Chinatown bus. Others insist its worth springing for the extra $15 bucks for the on board bathrooms, sensible driving and Wifi. This Washingtonian article has a great summary of all the bus lines.
Here’s what I found from my experiences with several bus companies:
Chinatown bus
DC-NY
Washington Deluxe
Now, with gas prices at a five year low and the other half of We’re Out of Here accompanying me on trips, I may scrap my bus experiment and just drive. My devotion to public transportation has faded in the face of the mile-long, bitter cold walk home from the metro stop (suitcase in hand) at 10:30 pm yesterday.
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