If you're sick of air travel and the many major flight interruptions in recent years, you might be reluctant to fly again, especially shorter distances. Gas prices make long-distance car travel unappealing as well. Fortunately, you have other options.
Recently I booked a bus ticket between Washington, DC and New York City for about $36, which wasn't even the cheapest bus option. I've traveled this route many times by plane and car, usually with much frustration and delay. The bus, I've found, has the best balance of convenience, cost, comfort, and departure and arrival times. And with multiple pickup and drop-off points for different bus companies, I can customize my trip by choosing those that take me closest to where I need to be. To drive the same route costs more than twice as much in gas and tolls alone, not to mention the price of a rental car or the hassle of driving. Flying is never as quick as it seems, once you factor in getting to and from the airports and clearing security. From time to time I'll opt for the train (Amtrak's Acela is clean and fast but expensive), but for this route, nothing beats the bus.
One of the biggest hurdles to traveling by bus and train, however, is a lack of travel apps that include these modes of transportation, specifically aggregator search and bookings apps like those that find and compare details for a trip. For flights, rental cars, and hotels, there are plenty like Expedia, Hotwire, Orbitz, Priceline, Travelocity, Trivago, and so on.
A few do exist for bus and rail travel, but there aren't nearly as many. These are the ones you need for traveling in the US and Canada in particular, listed in the order of how strongly I recommend them:
Save Money With Buses and Trains
Many of the apps mentioned here tell you what services will be aboard your train or bus, such as Wi-Fi (not always reliable even when it's available) and food and drink services. The better bus companies offer free bottled water and sometimes even snack boxes. Some trains have observation cars with panoramic windows. And just as you can choose a class of service on the train, some bus companies even offer business-class options (Vamoose Gold is one example) with fewer passengers, more room, and premium seats.
Another reason to consider trains and buses is that they have a lower carbon footprint than flying or driving, though for bus versus car, it depends on the number of passengers and type of car. Trains are typically the most efficient. Certainly, the US needs to improve its rail infrastructure overall, but it is slowly getting a little better, with $368 million in federal funding going to improve the system and Amtrak debuting new cars for some of its long-haul routes. Bus companies have done a good job of filling in the gaps that exist in the US rail network, and in my experience, the competition has made them markedly better in service, price, and routes over the last 20 years.
For more on travel tech, check out our story on tourism tech for exploring your own city.
