Since air travel and car travel cost a small fortune these days, many people are hanging up their travel plans and staying home this summer, sacrificing family trips, business trips, and more. The price of gasoline is just too much, so what is the option? Are there options? Well, yes there are. It seems that more and more people are choosing to travel by bus, and it is turning out to be one of the cheapest options in travel. Companies, such as Greyhound, offer lower fares and the new, Megabus, beats all of the competition; it offers rates as low as $48 round trip from Detroit to Chicago and $67 round trip from Las Vegas to Los Angeles! Statistics show that there has been a 13% jump in bus service recently. This is the largest jump in decades, and experts believe it is most assuredly due to the current high fuel costs. Yes, folks, with mounting fuel costs and congested airports, people are choosing bus travel causing a large, much needed spike in sales for the once lagging industry. A recent study by DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute of Metropolitan Development found American cities lost about 60% of their scheduled intercity bus service between 1980 and 2005. However, the study also found that bus service started rebounding when Mega-bus started its service in the city. It all makes perfect sense since, compared to other forms of transportation, buses have the best ratio of passenger to mile per gallon of fuel (148 passenger miles per gallon). That’s a whopping four times greater than air or car travel. So why not try the “big dog,” Greyhound? The transportation giant has a fleet of 1500 buses, offering service to over 1700 destinations and although it has always offered longer route destinations, lately it is more concentrated on short routes, from city to city. For instance, let’s say you want to travel from Los Angeles to San Francisco. By air, on Virgin America, it would cost you $241, but for that same trip on Greyhound, it only costs $88. In addition, Greyhound now offers its East Coast subsidiary, Boltbus, which launched in March, and offers routes from Boston to New York, Philadelphia to D.C,. and more. The company has already serviced 56,000 passengers in the short time it has been available for service, further proving that people want to save money on travel. Although bus travel in a great alternative to flying or driving, it’s not the only alternative. Limo-type super transporters are fancier, higher priced (albeit still lower than flying by far) “limo” style transports that only seat about 28 passengers and offer things like video entertainment, high-speed Internet access, clear cellular phone reception, meeting tables, reclining seats, drinks and snacks, and an onboard attendant to boot. Limoliner is the name of the company, and it is the very first on-ground transportation company that caters specifically to the business traveler. These “limo” style vehicles only go limited distances, but they are a much more comfortable alternative to the bus. Currently, Limoliner offers service from Boston to New York, but other companies are sure to follow suit in other cities soon. And last, but certainly not least, there’s always Amtrak. Although, the price is not as cheap as bus travel ( it’s $138 for a three hour trip vs. $48 for Megabus), it is still a good alternative to driving. Keep in mind though, that Amtrak is infamous for its late arrivals (the only downside).
Overall, it is nice to know that yes, in fact, there are alternatives to the now very expensive costs of traveling by air or auto. So don’t cancel your summer plans just yet… get on the bus people! The Gorilla is a big fan of the new age of bus travel and although he hasn’t done a bus trip since college, he may consider one in the future. The only problem is, people aren’t very receiving of one big hairy Gorilla getting on their bus and taking up two seats. It tends to make people a little uneasy.