Today we are dabbling with commuting and a little bit with the Sixth borough (aka Philly.) For the past 5-6 years the housing market skyrocketed making the cost of living very expensive in cities such as New York, that along with long commutes into the city from Brooklyn, Queens, and the other boroughs Philadelphia has become a sort of Sixth borough. Artists, hipsters, and YoCoPros have been able to transition easily with a short trip down 95 with little problems. Many have even been able to do the commute as well.
The estimated commute in New York is around an hour, the commute via train or bus from Philadelphia is between 1.5 and 2 hours. As the market increased so did the people moving to Philadelphia, and now that the market has sunk over the past year it hasn’t stopped. People are still able to find a lower cost of living with similar if not better benefits right here in Philadelphia. This allows for many to work from home part of the week and commute into NYC only part time and even for those that have done it five days a week the overall cost savings have been significant. There is only on small problem, making the commute smoother. As more commuters and a travelers take the adventure from PHL to NYC little has been done to accommodate them. For years there have been just a few ways to make this venture.
The first is via Amtrak, unfortunately the prices are outrageous, with a round trip costing around $150, not viable for the dailies. Amtrak also has their business Acela trains, which are even more out of reach at almost $300 for a round trip. Both are ridiculous, which leaves us with two other choices. Septa/NJ Transit, or the often-dreaded China Town Bus.
Ok, so lets start out at 30th street station and hop on the Regional Rail, R7 Trenton Line, this will obviously take you to Trenton but you need to get off buy a ticket and wait for New Jersey Transit to take you the rest of the way into the city. This is a cheap round trip costing around $30, but you have to deal with limited Septa Service and having to transfer both ways. This leaves us with the last alternative of the China Town Bus, which has been a popular due to its $24 round trip fairs. Unfortunately the buses are busted, they are older buses that are closer to the graveyard than to New York, but the company has been well prepared with buses readily available for when buses break down on the commute.
In 2008 that all changed, a company called Bolt Bus magically arrived out of nowhere and has been gaining huge popularity between college students, and commuting professionals. It has even taken away a lot of business from Amtrak. Bolt bus costs around $20-$25 round trip and you can even catch cheaper rates of a $1-$7 depending on how early you book. Bolt Bus entered the Philadelphia market as a joint venture between Peter Pan buses and Greyhound. They are able to provide great amenities with very low prices. They can do so by not picking up at the Bus Stations but at designated pickup spots throughout Philadelphia, DC, NY, and Boston. The buses are brand spanking new, with wider leg room, free Wi-Fi, electrical outlets in the seats, bathrooms, and even some buses have leather seats. We can’t say enough about Bolt Bus. Our weekly commute starts at 30th Street to catch the 6:30 bus, one stop over the bridge at Cherry Hill (Right outside the mall) and then straight to NYC (34th and 8th to be exact which is right outside Madison Square Garden.) Total travel time just barely under 2 hours, getting us to the city at 8:30am, and the trip back usually takes 1.5 hours. A recent competitor has entered the market as well, Mega Bus, also offering very cheap fairs that are similar in price but don’t offer the amenities of Bolt Bus, they have also recently bought out the China Town Buses.
In our opinion there is no better alternative for basic visits or daily commuting!
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