Bolt Bus Versus Megabus

Amtrak's expensive. Air travel is expensive and a pain. Driving on I-95 is no fun. That leaves the bus as an often preferred way of traveling between Washington, DC and New York City. There are numerous bus lines operating between here and there. To help you choose, we've posting two recent reviews that appeared on our companion email list, the Cleveland Park Listserv:

I took Megabus to New York this past weekend.  On the trip up, the heating/defrosting system wasn't working properly and the driver decided (wisely, I think) to pull over into a rest stop and wait for a new bus.  We waited two hours.  On the trip home, the bus's toilet was stopped up.

Megabus don't seem to be servicing or checking out the condition of their buses regularly.

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The Bolt Bus doesn't seem to have the same problems. I've ridden them several times without any breakdowns in the equipment. (I switched to Megabus for the double-decker seat, which was indeed pretty great.) I just thought it might be helpful to share my experience, since people can choose between the two. No general complaint intended; I feel lucky to have the bus options. (My experience with the non-Acela Amtrak is that it breaks down pretty regularly, even though it costs several times as much as the bus.)