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Why an eight-hour bus ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco might beat a flight

economist.com

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Re: Why an eight-hour bus ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco might beat a flight

#81

Post by hmahncke »

mgkimsal wrote: post #78
Nrsolis wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think they haven't? In the DC area, there is a single provider of taxi service from Dulles Airport (IAD). http://www.flydulles.com/iad/washington-flyer-taxi-service Any other taxi service trying to pick up fares from IAD are violating the contract between the Metro Washington Airport Authority and Dulles Taxi.

> Any other taxi service trying to pick up fares from IAD are violating the contract between the Metro Washington Airport Authority and Dulles Taxi. Why would I care if I've violated a contract between two other parties?

Dulles airport police will not let other taxis pick up passengers at Dulles.

Re: Why an eight-hour bus ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco might beat a flight

#82

Post by misingnoglic »

dopeboy wrote: post #17

I make this commute pretty often (albeit to Orange County, not LA) and I've been following these guys for awhile. I was under the impression their price would be a lot less than a flight. Their price roundtrip is $230. A roundtrip flight from SF to LA usually runs $160-$350 depending on how far in advance you book it. Taking the $350 ceiling - is a $120 savings enough to justify a ~6 hour difference? It's still a gre…

They used to be much cheaper, but then they rebranded as a "luxury service."

Re: Why an eight-hour bus ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco might beat a flight

#83

Post by toyg »

matthewmacleod wrote: post #56
Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #10

> the current route is a perfect example of that awkward travel distance to which there is no good solution. Others abound, such as Washington-Boston or London-Edinburgh There is a very good sleeper train, the Caledonian Sleeper, between London and Edinburgh (and several other points in Scotland). That's a "good solution" for that route, and I'm more than a little surprised that the London-based Economist seems not t…

More to the point, the standard train service between Edinburgh and London is less than 4:30, and around £50 each way booking a few weeks in advance. I do this fairly frequently, and generally it takes the same amount of time as flying, while being a fair bit more convenient. Rail is pretty good :)

> around £50 each way booking a few weeks in advance

Man, how many of those £50 tickets are actually available? A train from Manchester to London, which is less than half the distance, costs twice as much on a lucky day (and 3x on the same day, if not more).

Re: Why an eight-hour bus ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco might beat a flight

#84

Post by awjr »

Ok I'm confused. Yes the journey is normally 6 hours, but the bus takes an 8 hour longer route. I've tried sleeper buses and one of the problems can be the odd pothole nudging you awake.

I'd be happier for a bus to take the more direct route and then let me disembark as I choose when I wake up or park up somewhere quiet for a couple of hours.

Re: Why an eight-hour bus ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco might beat a flight

#85

Post by andrewaylett »

Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #10

> the current route is a perfect example of that awkward travel distance to which there is no good solution. Others abound, such as Washington-Boston or London-Edinburgh There is a very good sleeper train, the Caledonian Sleeper, between London and Edinburgh (and several other points in Scotland). That's a "good solution" for that route, and I'm more than a little surprised that the London-based Economist seems not t…

Add to which, I've successfully left my East-Edinburgh house at 0630, taken the 0735 flight to LCY and made it to the office for the 0945 stand-up. Although I'd probably leave at 0615 since the new security area was set up -- I don't do it often and the last time I cut it a bit tight.

If you need to get to central London and don't fly to City Airport if it's an option, I'd suggest your routing may be sub-optimal. EDI--LCY is definitely workable as a day trip.

Re: Why an eight-hour bus ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco might beat a flight

#87

Post by tvaughan »

kilroy123 wrote: post #79
Brakenshire wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Buses like this should be fitted with accelerometers, and drivers be rewarded for good driving. Actually the same applies to ordinary buses, a careful driver makes the journey much more comfortable.

In Mexico at least, if the driver goes over the speed limit a semi-loud buzzer goes off. Which really encourages them to slow down under the limit.

Same in Chile. The speed limit is 120km but the buzzer on the bus sounds at 100km.

Re: Why an eight-hour bus ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco might beat a flight

#88

Post by maxxxxx »

rustoo wrote: post #44
Doctor_Fegg wrote: post #10

> the current route is a perfect example of that awkward travel distance to which there is no good solution. Others abound, such as Washington-Boston or London-Edinburgh There is a very good sleeper train, the Caledonian Sleeper, between London and Edinburgh (and several other points in Scotland). That's a "good solution" for that route, and I'm more than a little surprised that the London-based Economist seems not t…

Such buses are quite common in India too. Many people prefer sleeper buses even though the prices are similar to flights. One reason is that they have to travel to the airport (city a) and then travel from the airport (city b). A couple of interesting links: http://www.indiatimes.com/boyz-toyz/cars-and-bikes/sleeper-a... http://www.deccanherald.com/content/599348/scania-drive-1st-...

I loved those in India when I travelled around. We would often save the cost for a hotel and just sleep in the bus.

Re: Why an eight-hour bus ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco might beat a flight

#89

Post by matthewowen »

et-al wrote: post #75
cvsh wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It also potentially eliminates the need for 1-2 nights of hotel rooms. Depending on your travel situation, that might be more convenient.

Except in this case we're talking about SF/LA, which is only an hour-long flight. I do this flight every other month or so and it's a breeze. You leave work a bit early on Friday, get to the airport in about an hour, board the plane, they serve you a drink, and the captain tells you to fasten your seatbelt because we're descending. It's 1 hour to the airport, 45 minutes through security, 1 hour in the air, and anothe…

Imagine that you aren't staying at a friend's house, but rather at a hotel or AirBnB. Avoiding paying for one extra night instantly saves you money. And if you don't expect to do much the night you arrive anyway, there's no real cost (plus you don't have to leave work early, which may be advantageous).

Re: Why an eight-hour bus ride from Los Angeles to San Francisco might beat a flight

#90

Post by tomjakubowski »

jtraffic wrote: post #63
andbberger wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Roundtrip

Yeah. When I looked initially, I didn't go far enough into checkout.

Their site's fare calendar is a dark pattern. Normally when searching for round trip fares on, say, Google Flights, selecting the departure date from the calendar shows the (lowest) round trip fare departing that date. When you then select the return date, the (lowest) round trip fare departing on your departure date and returning on your return date is shown.

Cabin's site shows you the one-way price both times even when booking a round-trip. It's not until you click through that you see it's $115 each way.

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