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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

#61

Post by Nrsolis »

visarga wrote: post #54
rustoo wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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'm wondering why airports don't try to monopolize airport taxi business. It's the logical extension of traveling from point A to B end-to-end.

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.

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

#62

Post by boultonmark »

arjie wrote: post #50
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…

I thought it was average at best. I've taken long-distance sleeper trains all my life, but the Caledonian Sleeper has rubbish breakfast, poor bedding, and you have to exit the train right after it arrives. I mean, one of these three is fine, but all three and it was worthless for its objective. It costs a hundred quid and this is what you get? I could take Virgin for half the price and be there in 5 hours and actuall…

Oh what nonsense. I travel on Caledonian Sleeper all the time and while the breakfast is perhaps not amazing (although its fine) you only have to exit the train immediately at stops that are not the ultimate destinations (like London, Glasgow etc) there you routinely have up to an hour to get off. The bedding criticism is also odd as it's all white cotton sheets and pretty comfortable. Also Caledonian Sleeper has ordered new coaches and are investing a lot in the service. See: https://www.sleeper.scot/news/85-newtrains The sleeper service is an amazing service and I love the ability to spend £100 and get a room saving a packet on a London hotel. I can arrive in London at 6.30/7.00am head to meetings & then be back in Scotland in 4 hours.

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

#63

Post by jtraffic »

andbberger wrote: post #49
jtraffic wrote: post #47

The article says $230, but https://www.ridecabin.com/ says $115. Am I missing something? This makes quite a difference.

Roundtrip

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

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

#64

Post by sologoub »

cvsh wrote: post #22
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…

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

The main advantage seems to be no travel the morning of and no need for a hotel for previous night.

However, I usually do 6-7am flights and get there before 9am, 10am to office after BART from SFO. Flights back go as late as 9pm.

In the end, southwest will set you back less than $120 if you book in advance.

I also much prefer my own bed, as opposed to hotels or buses, but that's a personal preference.

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

#65

Post by rwallace »

buro9 wrote: post #33

This seems a little odd. I fall asleep in vehicles as a passenger sometimes, but have that peace of mind of being in a safety belt and with some air bags around me. On a plane, an accident is unlikely to occur... same with a train. I don't think I'd want to fully trust my life to a bus driver (and all of the third parties out on the road that could trigger an incident on the road) without some means to mitigate that…

What's the actual fatality rate in buses per million miles travelled? It might be not quite as good as planes and trains, but I'm pretty sure it's far better than cars.

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

#66

Post by elif »

arnarbi wrote: post #37
clamprecht wrote: post #4

"The drivers intentionally go slowly and take back roads so that the trip, normally six hours, lasts eight." Why not just get there 2 hours early, park, and sit for 2 hours. This would (1) reduce vehicle motion, so you can sleep better, and (2) allow people who aren't asleep anyway to get out early if they want. It may also save gas, although once buses are electric, this becomes less of a factor.

Driving slower might quite possibly save on fuel, even if it takes longer. Parking a bus that long where it is convenient for the early risers to get off isn't necessarily easy either. Plus, as others mention, you'd wake everyone else up.

Agreed. When you get into the part of the efficiency scale where aero dominates, it becomes an exponential cost increase for speed. 60mph and 68mph are night and day in a school bus.

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

#67

Post by the_mitsuhiko »

koide wrote: post #51
buro9 wrote: post #33

This seems a little odd. I fall asleep in vehicles as a passenger sometimes, but have that peace of mind of being in a safety belt and with some air bags around me. On a plane, an accident is unlikely to occur... same with a train. I don't think I'd want to fully trust my life to a bus driver (and all of the third parties out on the road that could trigger an incident on the road) without some means to mitigate that…

You know there are overnight busses in Europe, right? With barely a seat belt.

Still against the law. So is lying in beds in a bus. This keeps coming up sometimes with tour busses.

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

#68

Post by kolinko »

Brakenshire wrote: post #58
cwilson wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've taken quite a few overnight buses during a 6 month trip through South America. Even when paying for the luxury option (which is literally $10-$15 more, totally worth it) and having fully reclining comfortable seats, it all comes down to one thing, the drivers. If the drivers are maximizing for time you're not going to sleep very well because they are driving like a maniac. Sudden halts, near misses, and sharp co…

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.

Do we really want to measure drivers by smoothness only, ignoring other factors like safety?

When a difficult situation on the road arises, the drivers may be less likely to hit breaks, knowing they are being constantly watched.

A better option would be to allow passengers to rate the drivers easily, Uber style. Such system would count in more factors, and (I guess) would be less likely to optimise for just one factor.

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

#69

Post by melling »

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…

50 years ago in Japan they invented fast trains to cover such distances. We didn’t adopt them in California because Americans prefer cars.

Fast forward 40 years and it’s not so easy to get the right of way to build straight track. Now 10 years in we’re hoping to invent an even faster method of transportation so we can take a longer route.

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

#70

Post by the_mitsuhiko »

jetti wrote: post #43
mschuster91 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd usually pay $800 roundtrip for CHI->DAL; By car (and Google Maps measuring) that's about 3.000km total. Hamburg-Munich is about 1.500km total, so half the distance. But ÖBB Nightjet tickets start for ~160€ to 250€ roundtrip, about half the price and Amtrak is losing money? How is that even possible?

There is more to it than just a single rail line. Who owns the rail that ÖBB Nightjet uses? Amtrak has to make payments to the owners of the rail that they ride on. They are incremental payments and not access fees but that is still a cost. Second, Amtrak has many more employees (including their own police force), which will add cost. Third, Amtrak also owns at least 2 train stations (Union Station in Chicago and Pen…

OeBB needs to pay to the individual companies that own the track. In Austria that is OeBB Infra which is an independent company. In Germany to dB Netz etc.
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