Best bus NYC to DC? — Page 2

Bolt's schedule is very limited, which is why they rarely get business from me, as well as they absurdity of boarding based on when you got your ticket.

I haven't done Bolt yet ~ as I said I am next weekend because of MegaBus having their rates at $45 going to DC from the moment they went on sale for the 17th (highway robbers!!) ~ but why is boarding based on when you reserve a ticket "absurd"? Why shouldn't someone who booked way in advance have a chance to pick their seat over someone who bought at the last minute? Actually, the one thing that annoys me about MegaBus is how a line will clearly be formed, but people will a) decide on their own that the line is obviously going backwards and you were in the front and all of a sudden a critical mass of people have decided THEY are the front before others who were there longer and/or b) come up at the last minute as the bus pulls up and just jump the entire line. It's less likely now that they've moved their stop, so you can't really have a two-way line, but that is annoying. Boarding in the order tickets were purchased would eliminate that confusion IMHO. And at least with MegaBus it's easy to tell ~ it's the first number in the reservation. (And the $1.00 fare is not necessarily for the first 10 seats. I've been the 6th purchased seat and paid $5.00. I guess it just depends on the time.)

That said, since MegaBus and Bolt Bus leave from the same area in DC and I'm obsessively early for my bus, I've seen plenty of Bolt boradings, and it has not appeared to be in any order other than how people go up to the door.

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You can always be put in the "Group A" boarding if you just simply sign up for Bolt frequent travelers (on the right side of their website). Also when you ride 8 times (I think) you quality for a free ticket!

The one time I took MegaBus, the bus was not full. I booked rather last minute and paid $12 each way from Boston to NYC. Can't believe they are overcharging to DC just because of Obama! In this economy, rip-off...just add extra buses (Greyhound does this on Thanksgiving weekend, for example) and make more $$ that way.

(In NYC there is a little office across the street from the stop...but I'm not sure its hours.)

You can buy Megabus tix from the guys on the street if/when that office is closed- I've done it for the 8:30am NYC/Boston run.

FWIW, Mega and Bolt both leave DC from just around the corner now ~ at the MLK library. So there's at least shelter now ~ more than up at MetroCenter.

Hockeynut, was the bus late or were you just early? I agree that there's not a lot of places to wait (if any) inside at odd times or on weekends, but they don't exactly promise you inside waiting. :) (And I understand if you were early ~ I'm obsessively early too. It's weird if it was late though as I'm assuming you were on the first bus out since you said you had to wait for the station to open ~ in which case early seems the correct answer?)

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OH! I see. I missed that it was the TO DC bus and was a little confused. I think 11:15 is the latest back from DC. NOW it makes sense. :)

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I was curious about this Bolt boarding based on when you buy your ticket, so I went to their website to look it up. What their policy actually is is this:

1) Their Loyalty Club members get to board first.
This makes sense ~ airlines do it all the time. Why shouldn't those who use the service a lot and are loyal to it get to go on first?
2) People who bought tickets in advance.
3) Walk-up fares.
This order also makes sense. Back before MegaBus or Bolt Bus, when the only option was the Chinatown line, I was almost bumped a couple of times in spite of having a reservation because they just sold tickets to whoever was in line before verifying how many people had reservations. They never made tick marks or never had a sheet on which they were checking off people as they got on. At least three times I was lucky enough to already be on the bus, but they were having to call another bus in to handle the overflow because they sold too many tickets. It is only fair to let pre-ticketed passengers on board first. I don't see what is "absurd" about that at all.

(That said, as I said earlier, it always seems like chaos at the bus door when I've watched one pull up ~ a big old clump ~ so I have no clue how they enforce the differentiation between the first two.

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In NYC, most of the time there is someone there to handle the boarding who calls out for all "A" tickets first. After that, any one who has preticketed can get on (B's and C's). People trying to pay for tickets at the site have to wait until everyone else has boarded and they see how many seats are still left. (They won't hold seats if you are late.) So, even if you are a Loyalty member or have booked in advance, if you are not there at the time they allow the first group on, you will have to board with the rest of the B or C ticketholders. It makes sense to get there early. I think they usually say they start to board 15-20 minutes in advance, but I've been there in really bad weather where they began to board almost a half hour in advance so people don't have to stand outside. I've never really found the boarding to be a problem. I'm a big fan of Bolt Bus.

Oh I have no problem with it. Someone else said they thought it was "absurd" that you're allowed to board "in the order you purchased your tickets". I think that's how it should be actually.

And like I've said, I'm always obsessively early anyway.

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I think the biggest issue with Greyhound is that they make so many stops.

Mega, Bolt, DC2NY, etc. are non-stop or maybe have one short stop.

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I think the biggest issue with Greyhound is that they make so many stops.

Mega, Bolt, DC2NY, etc. are non-stop or maybe have one short stop.

Jordangirl, Greyhound doesn't go non-stop to DC from NYC? Where do they end up stopping? I was under the impression they offered non-stop, but never having taken it, I must have been mistaken.

Either way, Greyhound's lines are sooo long. I took them from NYC to Boston on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend (gah, hate that day) and spent the extra $5 for a guaranteed seat. I had to book last minute, so other buses were sold out. Best $5 I ever spent, though. Got to bypass a line of at least 250 people. Still was the bus ride from hell, but that is another story.

Oh, I was under the assumption that it was the standard Greyhound type thing where they stop in every little town between here and there. Guess occasionally they do realize people have places to be.

I'll still stick with Mega or Bolt.

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