Chinatown Bus Lines-budget Traveler’s First Choice

By Author: Christer rodi
Total Articles: 11
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Traveling in the U.S. is expensive but with the introduction of Chinatown buses, getting from one city to another has become cheaper. It has become the first choice of transportation for budget travelers that mostly include students, backpackers, tourists and mostly the residents.

Chinatown Bus History

Chinatown bus service was started in the nineties, basically for Asian immigrants by a businessman living in Chinatown, New York. It was and still is the cheapest way for them to visit their friends and families living in Chinatown, Boston. The service was with no frills, advertisement or customer service. The word spread about this inexpensive bus line and people from all walks of life started using this transportation.

Soon enough other bus companies followed suit and started similar transportation services for many other cities. Now you can find similar kind of services for Baltimore, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Virginia, Washington D.C. to name a few. The term Chinatown bus has now become associated with this type of low-cost low-frill transportation services. Many bus ...
... companies do not have Chinatown as their main location and are not meant especially for the immigrants. They are referred to as curbside operators.

Inexpensive Prices

The tickets are so cheap that it is sometimes hard to digest but Chinatown bus operators are able to keep the prices low as they operate in different way than the regular carriers. First of all, the service is pretty basic as there is very little or no customer service or amenities involved. Secondly, there are no formal bus stations; they pick up passengers from bus stops. There is no advertising involved and words of mouth have made it a popular carrier. Furthermore, the operators are totally involved and you would not find many people involved in giving or collecting tickets or other operations. This is why it sometimes gets difficult to obtain the Chinatown bus schedules as they have limited helpers and no one in particular can guide you with the schedules. Lastly, they usually operate on heavily trafficked roads that too with jam packed buses.

Safety Concerns

Since the time these bus lines have started there has always been an ongoing debate about whether they are safe or not. However every bus line in the U.S. undergoes the same inspection standards and has to comply with same norms. But yes, there is a difference of quality amongst different operators.

Where to find about Chinatown Bus

Many of the operators are net savvy and have a website that displays information and bus schedules on their sites. You can book your tickets from there itself and know about the various tours and stops.

www.chinatownbus.net is a centralized site where you can get Chinatown bus Schedule and other information regarding online tickets, popular bus lines for Chinatown bus services.