China Town Bus - The Cheap Way to Travel the East Coast

As we followed the designer clad Asian women's prompts of "DC, DC" from one bus to another and back to the terminal, the mid-twenties east-coast-classic attired woman next to me asked, "This is the only way to DC for $28, isn't it?" A driver adjusted the door trying to get it to close securely, of the last bus they lead us to. "I guess we're not paying for safety."

Two busses drove off, empty, including the one with the broken door, and a few minutes later another bus pulled up. They quickly ushered us aboard and we set off to DC. China town busses deliver people non-stop between Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington DC for minimal cost.

A quick Internet search for "china town bus" or "bus from Philly to NYC" turns up at least twelve companies of varying website competence with names like Lucky Star Bus, Fung Wah Transport Vans, Inc., Dragon Coach and P2P Circulator. A few clicks and you've purchased your ticket and are ready to hit the road. That is after you've printed your ticket and found the bus location. While busses in Philly and Boston drop passengers within a four-block radius of the Philadelphia Convention Center and Reading Market East Station or Boston's South Station. NYC busses pick up and drop off all over the city. Some companies operate out of Penn Station on 31st and 8th Ave. Other's stop on the side of the road near the Manhattan Bridge, and still others line up on a little known street called E. Broadway, hidden under the Manhattan Bridge.

It is under this bridge that experienced Chinatown bus travelers meet. Walking down the street every few feet women wave tickets in your face asking, "Where you go?" Pick your bus and off you go with minimal wait times in heated busses. For those of us who like to plan ahead, managing time can be a bit difficult when at the mercy of the organized chaos that is cheap independent travel. This is when you discover the weaknesses in your chosen company's websites. New Century Travel has the most graphically appealing bus, but their online tickets seem to baffle bus ticket takers. And, their website offers only slightly more information than calling the station where most questions are answered with, "go to New York Station." The posted schedules never seem to match the real timetable, but luckily the ticket takers are as flexible as they seem disorganized. Showing up an hour and half late for a bus with a ticket departure date from the day before I actually purchased the ticket, they waved me aboard rapidly talking in Chinese pointing and waving to my printed receipt. P2P Circulator follows a more dependable schedule and ticket takers recognize the printed version of their tickets.

Travelers of all types sleep, read and work aboard coaches with reclining chairs and onboard restrooms reeking of pungent toilet cleaner with doors that often fly open. Limited only by congestion and minimally by traffic laws, drivers skillfully keep time, rarely appearing in highway accident reports. Travel sagas tell of dragging overstuffed bags up and down subway stairs, past live shrimp stands through crowded streets to board busses smelling distinctly of crab and filled with muffled snoring and phone conversations. But in the end, travelers get to their destinations with a story to tell and money in their pockets!