Riding the Boltbus

Perhaps this isn't exactly a post about shopping per se, but I wanted to share my recent experience purchasing on-line tickets for a weekend trip I took from New York to Boston.

First, a little background on the Boston to New York bus market. Over the past several years, there has been fierce competition in this market with many private operators offering cheap, non-stop trips between the two cities. Several friends in the area cautioned me to be weary, as some of these operators are apparently less than reputable. After a cursory glance on line, I had no problem believing my friends. At last, I came to Bolt Bus. I have to confess to being someone superficial in my decision, as I was in a hurry and was immediately attracted to the site that seemed most professionally put together.

With only 3 hours notice, I was able to go onto the BoltBus site and make my reservations incredibly easily. I then simply printed out my ticket, made my way to Penn Station, presented my ticket and it was done! I have to compliment BoltBus on a really impressive level of efficiency.

The trip itself was great. True, it ran about an hour late, but so far as I know, Boltbus doesn't control the traffic! The bus was brand new, immaculately clean and very comfortable with a high level of amenities. Oh, and I forgot to mention, all this came at an astonishingly low price of $15. It should be noted that my 40 mile daily train ride from New Jersey to New York City cost considerably more than this with no amenities and little comfort to speak of.

So, overall, I highly recommend this service - you can't beat the price, the service is great, and for those of us that enjoy the convenience of on line purchases, the process couldn't be cleaner.

So I'm curious - have any of you taken the Boltbus? Was it a good experience? How does it stack up against it's competition?