No more Chinatown buses (if can at all be avoided w/ out paying a lot for an alternative) I think; the ride from NYC to DC took about 6 hours!!!! Some of the reasons for the delays: the bus circled around NYC for like 30 mins to 1 hour, I got on the bus @ 10 AM, the bus left NYC close to 11 AM, no explanations or apologies from the driver/management, etc., then in Philadelphia we had to get off the bus (very difficult to get a clear answer from anyone who is running the operation as to exactly what's happening - many of the employees do not seem to speak or understand English well), wait for another bus about 30 - 45 mins, and finally we were back on the road (several passengers had by this point gotten into arguments with the "management" or other employees who were running the bus service re: the non-existent customer service, lack of clear (or almost any) communication re: unexpected changes, etc.) - so all seemed a bit better for a while, heading towards DC - EXCEPT - in Baltimore no one announced the fact that we were in Baltimore and a young mother with a child discovered a few minutes after we left the Baltimore station/stop that we had just left Baltimore; more shouting matches, attempts to discard passengers in the middle of the highway with cars going all around the bus at 60-70 miles an hour (finally the bus pulled over to the side of the road, still, I did not see a very safe way for the woman & her daughter to get off the highway, but the bus moved on) - after all that we finally made it to DC.
Is it worth it to pay more to do the NYC to DC trip in half the time & with some familiar kind of customer service as opposed to the "Chinatown bus service" kind? Definitely.
Will have to explore Megabus, Bolt, Vamoose & other bus services from DC to NYC for the next trip. I am off that Chinatown bus service kick, if I can help it. Wanting to punch the driver is not worth saving $s by using a $35 DC to NYC round trip "service". Next time I'll take a bus company that knows how to play the customer service game well.
Other than that; coming back to DC in an annoying & long bus ride, the trip to NYC was awesome & productive; looking forward to the next trip to film more bloggers for my indie film blogger doc. Some pics from the weekend tomorrow.
- Sujewa
Is it worth it to pay more to do the NYC to DC trip in half the time & with some familiar kind of customer service as opposed to the "Chinatown bus service" kind? Definitely.
Will have to explore Megabus, Bolt, Vamoose & other bus services from DC to NYC for the next trip. I am off that Chinatown bus service kick, if I can help it. Wanting to punch the driver is not worth saving $s by using a $35 DC to NYC round trip "service". Next time I'll take a bus company that knows how to play the customer service game well.
Other than that; coming back to DC in an annoying & long bus ride, the trip to NYC was awesome & productive; looking forward to the next trip to film more bloggers for my indie film blogger doc. Some pics from the weekend tomorrow.
- Sujewa
