Are Chinatown buses safe?

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February 18th, 2010 Subscribe To Our Feed

A Guide to the Chinatown Bus

The word is out-the least expensive technique to get from one major U.S. Town to another is on the’Chinatown bus’. In recent years this has become transportation option of choice for budget travelers in NY, Washington DC, and Boston, and more latterly on the West Coast. Scholars, backpackers, and an array of other savvy travelers have long adored the rock bottom costs that these bus companies offer. Notwithstanding the popularity of these bus lines it can still be difficult to find information on Chinatown bus service.
What exactly is a’Chinatown Bus’? Read on and you will have the near track on this great budget travel option.

Chinatown Bus history

The Chinatown bus phenomenon started in the latter 1990s when a businessman in NY’s Chinatown started running daily bus service from Chinatown in the Big Apple to Chinatown in Boston. The service was targeted at Asian immigrants who wanted to shop or visit family in either town and required inexpensive and convenient transportation. The service was bare bones-no advertising, buyer service, or bus stations. Customers simply went to the bus stop, waited for the bus ( or wagon ), and paid the driver upon boarding. For those willing to do without frills, they offered nearly the same service as standard bus firms at a significantly lower cost. Before long, the word spread and all sorts of folk started using the service. It became especially popular with students, budget travelers, or people for whom the service was simply more acceptable.

soon more bus firms copied this model and began offering service in other cities. Now you’ll be able to find this kind of bus service in Philadelphia, Virginia, Baltimore Washington DC, LA, las vegas and San Francisco. At this point the term’Chinatown bus’ is used more loosely to explain this sort of low-cost/low-frills service. Many if not most, of the companies don’t have Chinatown as their main location and may not serve the immigrant population at all . These operators are also sometimes known as’curbside’ operators.

How can tickets be so cheap?

$15 between Big Apple to Boston? $25 from Vegas to Los Angeles? It appears hard to fathom. Chinatown bus firms may be able to keep costs low because they operate in a basically different way from traditional carriers. Foremost, the service is terribly basic. There’s not much in the way of purchaser service or comforts. The majority of these operators do not have formal stations, picking up passengers at bus stops instead. They eschew standard advertising in favor of word of mouth. Further, lots of the operators play a very hands-on role in the operation-you won’t see idle middle management at a tiny independent bus company. Eventually, these operators make sure they fill their buses. That is why Chinatown bus operators customarily only operate on heavily trafficked routes. Indeed some companies only run buses at top times.

Are they safe?

When these firms first started operating, concerns were raised about safety standards. There is still controversy within the bus industry about whether these newcomers are complying with the same regulations as the traditional firms. However a task force set up by the central government to have a look at safety issues revealed that Chinatown bus companies didn’t perform better or worse than other types of bus corporations ( ie. Charter, tour buses ). All bus firms operating in the U.S. Must go through the same inspection standards and must comply with the same rules. Realistically there’s probably a selection of quality among Chinatown bus carriers. Some are fly-by-night operators attempting to make a fast buck, while others are legitimized entrepreneurs who plan to grow and operate a long-term business.

What you should expect

No frills service-the driver may be the ticket collector ; there won’t be a lot of purchaser service.
Comfortable buses. Regardless of the low fares buses are generally quite nice. Most buses are close to Greyhound and many are basically more luxury.
Communication challenges. Drivers are legally required to communicate enough English to help passengers in the case of emergency. In reality this is regularly sticked to rather loosely. At the very least, expect your driver to have an accent.
Possible delays. Many of those bus routes are on highly congested roads. When the roads are busy, expect delays.
Rest stops. Buses will have a toilet on board but there’s customarily a 10 or fifteen minute lavatory break on trips over four hours. Don’t be late returning to the bus, the driver won’t count heads before leaving at the appointed time.
Full buses. Buses definitely sell out at peak times ( weekends and evenings ). Book ahead or get there early if you want secure a seat.
Plastic Bags. A wierd tiny affectation on Chinatown buses is that each aisle seat generally has a plastic grocery bag tied to the arm. I assume they find this is the best way to keep the buses clean.

How do I find the Chinatown Bus?

Again,’Chinatown bus’ is a term used to describe a kind of operator and not an individual bus company. Many not related bus corporations fall into this class. Since most Chinatown buses do not spend money on advertising it can be hard to find out details about schedules and bus stop locations. Lots of the carriers are becoming savvier about the web and a few have websites with information. Usually a Net search will yield links to bus service to your destination. There are also many directories, such as chinatown-bus.org that include links for most Chinatown bus firms and the author’s employer, GotoBus.com, is a centralized booking site that has schedules and sells tickets online for most Chinatown bus companies.

The Chinatown bus is not for everyone. If you want an orderly system with Yankee style customer service, you should potentially stick to traditional carriers. However if you know what to expect and come prepared with a feeling of journey and humor, you should enjoy the trip just fine . You’ll also enjoy the money you save!

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