Planes, trains and Chinatown buses
May 14, 2006 | 12:00am
On a recent visit to the United States, I made a side trip to Massachusetts to visit my dad. Since he was unable to drive to New Jersey where I was staying, and thinking it easier for the mountain to come to Mohammed, I considered my options: I could a) fly to Massachusetts, b) take a train, c) rent a car or d) hop on a bus.
I’ve never liked buses. Daylong trips up the East Coast from Georgia to Massachusetts back in college gave me a lifelong phobia of tacky bus rides. There’s something about a Washington, DC bus station at 3 in the morning that would give even Wes Craven the permanent creeps.
But then my sister-in-law mentioned something that sparked my interest: Chinatown buses.
Over the past 10 years or so, upstart bus lines have sprung up in New York and Boston’s Chinatown districts, offering amazingly low fares to and from major cities and giving Greyhound and Peter Pan a run for their money.
Operated, naturally enough, by local Chinese, the Chinatown buses used to cost as little as $5 or $10 for a four-hour trip between New York and Boston. Now they’re $15, but that’s still an attractive bargain, especially when you consider that gasoline alone for such a trip would cost you $40 to $60.
But I still had my doubts and reservations. It is perhaps pedestrian to say the expression "Chinatown bus" does conjure up certain images, such as rows of well-padded Chinese passengers clutching chicken coops and stacks of siopao or hopia boxes, tirelessly shuttling their goods between the cities’ restaurants.
Then there was another little problem. The Chinatown buses had an unfortunate tendency to catch on fire. Two of the three main Chinese-operated bus lines – Fung Wah and Travel Pack – experienced road blazes over the past two years that pretty much torched their buses, sending passengers fleeing from their seats.
The fires reportedly started in the rear tires, then quickly spread to the interiors. Soon, all that was left on the highway was "a charred mess," one observer of the Fung Wah inferno told The Boston Globe.
"I’m looking at the back of the bus where we were sitting, and it’s not even there anymore," said another passenger.
"It’s torched," said another passenger who managed to catch the blaze on videocam. "Every seat is burned. All the little TVs are cracked and melted. It’s amazing."
Actually, this perked up my interest even more. I mean, of how many bus lines can you say that it is advisable not only to bring along snacks or reading material for the four-hour drive, but maybe a personal fire extinguisher as well?
Why Chinatown buses tend to catch on fire proportionately more than others is unclear. Again: the imagination conjures up images of illegal wok cooking going on in the back seats.
A more prosaic explanation is that these upstart bus lines have somewhat laxer safety standards than the big-name carriers. But they’re still quite popular, despite the horror stories.
At any rate, with all this in mind, I purchased a one-way Greyhound ticket from New York to Boston, and a one-way ticket from Boston to New York on a "Lucky Star" 61-seater. (This somehow seemed the safest and most fortuitous company name among the three Chinatown bus lines I researched on the Internet.) I wanted to compare the two experiences.
Surprise, surprise. The Greyhound bus was crowded, packed with Boston students who had presumably spent the weekend partying in NYC and were snoring their way back to Old Beantown. I was pretty much forced to watch Just Like Heaven with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo because the monitor was a foot away from my head. (Actually, it wasn’t completely unwatchable.) And the trip, with no stops, took about four hours and 20 minutes, probably due to afternoon traffic.
Compare this to the Lucky Star experience. You catch the Chinatown buses at South Station in Boston, which is fortunate because from there you can easily catch a subway or Metro T train just about anywhere in the city. As you approach the bus loading area, you notice a couple makeshift booths operated by young Chinese people. They’re quite friendly and enterprising and offer you bus schedules (no, they do not distribute fire extinguishers).
Buses leave every half hour or so from about 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. (up to 2 a.m. out of Boston) and you can purchase your tickets online. You will need to print out the boarding pass in advance on your home printer, however.
You climb aboard the Lucky Star and your first welcome observation is that this is a clean, new bus. No chicken coops in sight. No Chinese passengers either, except for the "conductor" who takes your ticket when you board.
The Lucky Star was also way less crowded than the Greyhound, with only 15 people seated when we pulled out of South Station at 9 a.m. We left on time, which is worthy of applause, and despite a 10-minute stop at a roadside Roy Rogers, we managed to pull into New York in four hours and five minutes, beating Greyhound’s time.
We did end up deep in Chinatown on Canal Street, which meant a little orientation (no pun intended) before I could locate the nearest subway station.
But all in all, the Chinatown bus experience is much the same if not better than going Greyhound or Peter Pan. This possibly comes down to the American experience of "blending in": immigrants have long understood that the best way to customers’ hearts (and wallets) is to provide good, reliable service at a cheaper rate than their competitors. Another success story has been the Cuban immigrant-run shuttle buses that run from New Jersey along the Hudson River straight through the Lincoln Tunnel to Port Authority, a service that costs commuters a reasonable $2 per trip and beats driving any day.
And that’s all I’m trying to pass along to Filipino travelers who may find themselves seeking a quick, cheap shuttle between New York and Boston, or, for a little more money, Philadelphia and Washington DC. Don’t be put off by a few reported bus barbecues, or the possibility of traveling alongside a bunch of chicken cages. Check out the Chinatown bus lines. And bring along some marshmallows. They could come in handy in a bonfire.
I’ve never liked buses. Daylong trips up the East Coast from Georgia to Massachusetts back in college gave me a lifelong phobia of tacky bus rides. There’s something about a Washington, DC bus station at 3 in the morning that would give even Wes Craven the permanent creeps.
But then my sister-in-law mentioned something that sparked my interest: Chinatown buses.
Over the past 10 years or so, upstart bus lines have sprung up in New York and Boston’s Chinatown districts, offering amazingly low fares to and from major cities and giving Greyhound and Peter Pan a run for their money.
Operated, naturally enough, by local Chinese, the Chinatown buses used to cost as little as $5 or $10 for a four-hour trip between New York and Boston. Now they’re $15, but that’s still an attractive bargain, especially when you consider that gasoline alone for such a trip would cost you $40 to $60.
But I still had my doubts and reservations. It is perhaps pedestrian to say the expression "Chinatown bus" does conjure up certain images, such as rows of well-padded Chinese passengers clutching chicken coops and stacks of siopao or hopia boxes, tirelessly shuttling their goods between the cities’ restaurants.
Then there was another little problem. The Chinatown buses had an unfortunate tendency to catch on fire. Two of the three main Chinese-operated bus lines – Fung Wah and Travel Pack – experienced road blazes over the past two years that pretty much torched their buses, sending passengers fleeing from their seats.
The fires reportedly started in the rear tires, then quickly spread to the interiors. Soon, all that was left on the highway was "a charred mess," one observer of the Fung Wah inferno told The Boston Globe.
"I’m looking at the back of the bus where we were sitting, and it’s not even there anymore," said another passenger.
"It’s torched," said another passenger who managed to catch the blaze on videocam. "Every seat is burned. All the little TVs are cracked and melted. It’s amazing."
Actually, this perked up my interest even more. I mean, of how many bus lines can you say that it is advisable not only to bring along snacks or reading material for the four-hour drive, but maybe a personal fire extinguisher as well?
Why Chinatown buses tend to catch on fire proportionately more than others is unclear. Again: the imagination conjures up images of illegal wok cooking going on in the back seats.
A more prosaic explanation is that these upstart bus lines have somewhat laxer safety standards than the big-name carriers. But they’re still quite popular, despite the horror stories.
At any rate, with all this in mind, I purchased a one-way Greyhound ticket from New York to Boston, and a one-way ticket from Boston to New York on a "Lucky Star" 61-seater. (This somehow seemed the safest and most fortuitous company name among the three Chinatown bus lines I researched on the Internet.) I wanted to compare the two experiences.
Surprise, surprise. The Greyhound bus was crowded, packed with Boston students who had presumably spent the weekend partying in NYC and were snoring their way back to Old Beantown. I was pretty much forced to watch Just Like Heaven with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo because the monitor was a foot away from my head. (Actually, it wasn’t completely unwatchable.) And the trip, with no stops, took about four hours and 20 minutes, probably due to afternoon traffic.
Compare this to the Lucky Star experience. You catch the Chinatown buses at South Station in Boston, which is fortunate because from there you can easily catch a subway or Metro T train just about anywhere in the city. As you approach the bus loading area, you notice a couple makeshift booths operated by young Chinese people. They’re quite friendly and enterprising and offer you bus schedules (no, they do not distribute fire extinguishers).
Buses leave every half hour or so from about 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. (up to 2 a.m. out of Boston) and you can purchase your tickets online. You will need to print out the boarding pass in advance on your home printer, however.
You climb aboard the Lucky Star and your first welcome observation is that this is a clean, new bus. No chicken coops in sight. No Chinese passengers either, except for the "conductor" who takes your ticket when you board.
The Lucky Star was also way less crowded than the Greyhound, with only 15 people seated when we pulled out of South Station at 9 a.m. We left on time, which is worthy of applause, and despite a 10-minute stop at a roadside Roy Rogers, we managed to pull into New York in four hours and five minutes, beating Greyhound’s time.
We did end up deep in Chinatown on Canal Street, which meant a little orientation (no pun intended) before I could locate the nearest subway station.
But all in all, the Chinatown bus experience is much the same if not better than going Greyhound or Peter Pan. This possibly comes down to the American experience of "blending in": immigrants have long understood that the best way to customers’ hearts (and wallets) is to provide good, reliable service at a cheaper rate than their competitors. Another success story has been the Cuban immigrant-run shuttle buses that run from New Jersey along the Hudson River straight through the Lincoln Tunnel to Port Authority, a service that costs commuters a reasonable $2 per trip and beats driving any day.
And that’s all I’m trying to pass along to Filipino travelers who may find themselves seeking a quick, cheap shuttle between New York and Boston, or, for a little more money, Philadelphia and Washington DC. Don’t be put off by a few reported bus barbecues, or the possibility of traveling alongside a bunch of chicken cages. Check out the Chinatown bus lines. And bring along some marshmallows. They could come in handy in a bonfire.
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