Cheap bus from Chinatown

I haven't taken one of those buses, BUT they do break down regularly. For $20 it is worth a shot. Good luck!

Ive taken the chinatown buses a bunch of times to boston and philly. Great experience if you don't want to talk to anyone (bc you'll likely be the only english speaking person on the bus.) Its cheap!

you can also try the bolt bus. i haven't taken it. not sure if it's more reliable than the chinatown buses or not.

https://www.boltbus.com

A co-worker of mine has taken it and likes it better than Peter Pan. Plus you don't have to deal with Port Authority.

Bus is a bus, its just as bad as peter pan, etc. and Yes Jamzer, def not dealing with Port Authority is key. Its not that bad, I usually take a tylenol PM and listen to music.

Bolt is better run than teh Chinatown buses.

I go to DC, not Boston, so WashingtonDelux is the $20 bus I have found myself on several times. There was wifi, and I preferred it to Amtrak...
$20 and headphones, no worries.

I took apexbus to DC and there were very few asians and it was mostly young 20ish year olds.

it broke down on the way home and we had to hang out in a truck stop for an hour. we also drove on the shoulder from exit 1 to 7 in jersey going 30 mph.

so...ya get what ya pay for.

Bolt busses are cheap if you buy well in advance. i think they start at $5 when they very first go on sale & they also have free WiFi and plugs for your laptop. The Chinatown busses are ok. The one I took to Philly oversold and had 2 girls sitting in the aisle, but you know - $20 round trip, I guess you get what you pay for.

My cousin who lives in Boston takes one of those buses a few times per year to visit NYC. I think he often is the only non Chinese person on the bus (his wife is Chinese), but I have never heard a complaint from him. He thinks it is a great deal and he is quite sophisticated, and all that.
Good luck!

I've taken the Fung Wah bus to DC -- $20 one way, $35 round trip. It was a very comfy, clean, new bus as nice as any long-distance bus. Driving was okay despite the fact that the driver ate his lunch with one hand on the highway (nervewracking when I saw it, but it didn't seem to affect his driving).

The only thing I'd warn you of is to take them seriously when they tell you to arrive 30 minutes early. On our return from DC we got there 35 minutes before "departure" time and got two of the last six seats (despite having prepaid reservations for that exact time) and when the bus is full it leaves. Not sure what would have happened if we'd been much later.

Yep.. I have taken them to Boston and DC a million times and somehow never had a problem bigger than traffic. Fung Wah, Apex, Eastern, Bolt, any of them were the same. Good luck! take it!

I haven't taken one but have read news articles about the drivers going to sleep and crashing the bus. They are cheap because they aren't as regulated as a common carrier like Greyhound

Which one are you thinking of using? There are 3 or 4 of them.

MEGABUS!!!

http://www.megabus.com/

First of all, it's incredibly cheap (under $10 if you reserve early, and still under $20 if you're later). More importantly, my friend (who's been taking it a lot lately) says that the buses are all new, so they're in great shape, clean, and comfortable. And, they have WIRELESS INTERNET somehow . . .

I come from New Hampshire, so I bus up to Boston a few times a year. I'll definitely be using Megabus next time I go. In the past, I've always used Fung Wah (which is the most official Chinatown bus, along with Lucky Star). It's MUCH better than Greyhound, whose buses I've found to be dirtier, less comfortable, etc. If you want to take Greyhound, you can get it for the same price as Fung Wah ($15) if you type in a special code. I think for boston it's NYBOSR, but I'm not sure. You can find it online.

But again, I actually think the Fung Wah is better than Greyhound. And it sounds as though Megabus is by far the BEST.

I took the megabus to boston for $30 roundtrip. I def recommend it. Best thing is your seat is reserved for that departure time. I believe boltbus has the same policy too. I have taken greyhound and had to wait for the next bus even though I showed up 30 mins before departure.

used Bolt before, 2 thumbs up