Leather seats, additional legroom, wireless Internet access, and power outlets in every row. What a way to travel! Wait, did I mention this is on a Greyhound bus?
Dirty buses, questionable fellow riders, and a pauper’s way to travel may be what comes to mind when you think about taking the bus for intercity travel. Canadian incidents aside (warning: this is not a nice story), that may not be an accurate assessment of bus lines anymore.
The recession has forced many cash-strapped travelers back to the buses and, to their credit, some bus companies are stepping up with features and amenities that today’s commuters want.
This past spring, Greyhound put 102 new “luxury motorcoaches” — the Prevost X3-45 model — in service chock full of great amenities (listed above). The company also bought some of those same spiffy buses for BoltBus, its joint venture with Peter Pan Bus Lines, which is upgrading 150 of its own buses with wireless access. Stagecoach Group’s Megabus.com also offers more attractive amenities in its fleet.
OK, granted, these “better buses” run in the Northeastern US for the most part. But with oil prices (and thereby gas prices) doing the cha-cha every couple months, improvements on the bus lines are likely to be a permanent fixture.
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Jenni! WARN people when you link to articles like that!
Sorry Patrice and other readers! Ghastly, wasn’t it. I’ve included a parenthetical warning now.
I’ve found that the best place to find bus tickets is http://www.busjunction.com
It’s a ticket search engine that searches through all the major bus lines like Megabus and Bolt Bus, and also some of the Chinatown ones.
This is exciting news. I plan on using Greyhound from Miami to Key West early next year. I look forward to the new amenities. Go, mass transit, go! Thanks for the article!
Re: Stephen – thanks for posting the bus tix site!
Re: Rog – Thank YOU for reading! I hope Greyhound is providing these perks on your Florida route by next year.