I took a last minute, one day trip down to New York yesterday to deliver a large order of tortfeasor shirts, and transportation cost me a total of $22. Apparently, competition between rival independent bus companies has brought the price of a one-way ticket from Boston to New York, or back, to $10!

I’m not sure as to the evolution of what people refer to as “the Chinatown bus”. Greyhound operates a bus to New York from Boston’s South Station (an actual bus station). They used to charge something like $75 (now $20-$25). I’ve taken an independent bus called “Entertainment Tours” for $15 - $20 (now $25), also departing from South Station (but arriving at the curb next to Penn Station, which is only a train station). Meanwhile, Chinatown has buses on street corners that used to charge $20-$25, but are now down to $10.

The whole system is extremely confused. Lucky Tours, Travel Pack, and Fung Wah all have websites, but they seem to be related. I went to Chinatown looking for the travel pack bus, but saw that the lucky tours bus was about to leave. I bought a roundtrip ticket and got down to New York. Coming back from New York, I went into a little office next to a Chinese bakery where someone took my ticket and gave me a new one that said “Travel Pack” on it. Then four of us got on one of those little buses (I call them “retirement buses” because you often see them dropping of senior citizens at shopping malls ie). That bus then drove us around the block and dropped us off. Then a full size bus (3/4 full) pulled up and we were rushed onto it.

The whole Chinatown bus industry fascinates me. It’s an example of a supply and demand structure that drives prices so low that profits seem unattainable. The price cuts are made possible by the large demand (the bus was pretty full), and the reducing of overhead (no stations, old buses). The companies seem to be in competition, but then they work together – saving trips by absorbing passengers onto one bus. The marketing is mostly word of mouth, completmented by ads on the buses themselves and cheap banners hanging next to chinese bakeries. The industry is bigger than Boston to New York; I saw buses leaving New York’s Chinatown bound for Philadelphia and Washington DC too.

The only drawback to the system is that it isn’t as reliable as the more established carriers. My bus broke down 1.5 hours away from Boston, which ended up adding about 2 hours to the trip. Too bad there is a clear legal disclaimer on the ticket: “We do not responsible for any items left behind and any time loss or subsequent expenses due to the traffic delay, mechanic failure, inclement weather etc. Late comer will not be entertained. All your base are belong to us.” (okay that last sentence wasn’t actually on there, but it was implied.)