First, there was Fung Wah—a cheapie touring-style bus running several times a day to and from New York and Boston, Chinatown to Chinatown, with so many companies selling tickets to the same bus that it was unclear who was in charge, kinda like Chinatown.
That was in 1998. By 2002, competitors had sprouted up and the range of cities expanded down the East Coast. With the advent of online ticketing—and increasingly long airport security lines—demand soared.
Then came Megabus, BoltBus and other competitors with buses from Washington, D.C., to New York, leaving from and arriving at a variety of locations, adding Wi-Fi, electrical outlets and even cheaper tickets with advance purchase.
And since 2004, the next-next generation of buses to New York has eliminated the biggest inconvenience of all: They leave directly from downtown Bethesda (originating in Arlington).
The buses take four hours and cost less each way than the tolls. A crafty cheapskate can wake up in Bethesda, have a full day in New York—museum, meal, matinee—and sleep back in Bethesda for about $100, the same as a one-way regular train ticket from Union Station to Penn. It’s awesome.
There is only one complication. There are two bus companies leaving from Bethesda. Judging solely from their Web sites, Tripper Bus and Vamoose are virtually identical: price range ($25 to $30); amenities (bathroom, Wi-Fi, electrical outlets); luggage allowance (two bags plus a carry-on); discount/reward/membership deals (every fifth one-way ticket is free when you purchase with a credit card); stop locations (near Bethesda Metro to near Herald Squarish); ability to walk on (yes, with cash).
Which is T.J. Maxx and which is Marshalls? We’ve teased out the differences between these very similar deals and arranged them in SmackDown format for ease of interpretation.
Price one way
Vamoose: $30. May be bought online at www.vamoosebus.com using a credit card. Walk-on riders accepted, space permitting (space permitted on the trip we observed), with cash.
Tripper: $25. May be bought online at www.tripperbus.com using a credit card. Ditto with the walk-ons.
Bottom line: Tripper on points. Five bucks is five bucks—an extra bagel, maybe.
Departure points:
Vamoose: 7490 Waverly St. (near the Booeymonger at Bethesda Metro).
Tripper: 4801 Edgemoor Lane (in front of Crossfire Restaurant near Bethesda Metro).
Bottom line: A draw. Both are about one block from the Metro, convenient to Metro parking, close to food and coffee.
Number of departure times on a given weekend from Bethesda:
Vamoose: 22 (Friday at 7, 8:10, 10:10 and 11:10 a.m. and 1, 3:10, 4:55 and 7 p.m.; Saturday at 7, 8:15 and 10:10 a.m. and 12:10 and 3:10 p.m.; Sunday at 7, 8:15, 9:30 and 11 a.m. and 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 p.m.)
Tripper: 13 (Friday at 8, 10:10 and 11:10 a.m. and 3:10 and 5:40 p.m.; Saturday at 8:15 and 10:10 a.m.; Sunday at 8:30, 9:30 and 11 a.m. and 1:30, 4 and 6 p.m.)
Bottom line: If you’re scoring at home, that’s 22-13. This isn’t rocket science, folks.
Bathroom amenities:
Vamoose: Bus toilet! It isn’t pretty—it could flush more effectively—but the most important test is the smell test, and it passed. There’s hand sanitizer instead of a sink.
Tripper: You’re not going to want to read a novel in there, but it’s better than no bathroom at all. Smells OK, has enough toilet paper, the toilet was clean and working and there was hand sanitizer.
Bottom line: Best flusher wins, and it’s Tripper.
Discounts:
Vamoose: None.
Tripper: $1 fares available if you are the first to book a ticket on that particular bus (though that’s poorly explained on the Web site). You can reserve seats up to two months in advance, so your best bet for getting the dollar fare is reserving at midnight 60 days before your trip. Customer service (!, see below) seems willing to negotiate cancellations and rescheduling—a big plus.
Bottom line: Gotta love that deep discount, even if only one person per bus gets it. Plus, being willing to discuss a refund? Yay, Tripper.
Customer service over the phone with a human being:
Vamoose: Available! A human politely answers your questions from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., with a transfer to a cell phone at other hours for emergencies.
Tripper: Available! An equally polite human answers your questions from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., taking emergency calls at other hours.
Bottom line: Vamoose and Tripper spend this round holding hands.
Wi-Fi:
Vamoose: Good. Watched some streaming video just fine. Not all its buses are connected, so be sure to check when reserving.
Tripper: Wi-Fi on all buses, but it’s spotty and slow—a page only loaded about 25 percent of the time.
Bottom line: Tripper landed more jabs, but they were ineffective. Vamoose takes the round.
Electricity:
Vamoose: Worked half the time. On the return trip, the only outlet nearby was busted, inciting paranoia that my laptop had blown a fuse and inspiring conversation with very nice, very self-important seatmate (a hazard of any form of travel between Bethesda and New York).
Tripper: Outlets at every seat, all working.
Bottom line: Knockdown for Tripper.
Stops along the way:
Vamoose: Discretion of driver. In my case, it was once, to visit a New Jersey rest stop.
Tripper: Passenger vote, which was overwhelmingly not to stop.
Bottom line: Democracy wins.
Extras:
Vamoose: None
Tripper: $5 coupon for next trip, bottle of water.
Bottom line: As noted above, five bucks is five bucks. And water is nice, unless it makes you need to use the bathroom. As noted above, try to avoid bus bathrooms.
