A new player in the Boston-N.Y. bus wars?

And then there were four? Fung Wah used to be The Way for low-cost bus service to New York (never mind the mechanical problems, loose wheels, crashes, and that unpleasantness with the visually-impaired passenger). And then there was Lucky Star. Yes, these buses were sometimes funky but you could usually get on. And cheap. Yes, my brutha, dirt cheap.
Then last year Vamoose arrived. It promised guaranteed seats (the Chinatown lines sold tickets, regardless of whether they could provide a seat for everybody) and WiFi (yes!). All this for only $22, a mere $7 more than the Bus Kings.
But the devil, they say, resides in the details. And it turned out Vamoose ran afoul of regulations in Cambridge and Boston. Cue the sound of screeching brakes.
Turns out there could be a fourth option in the offing.

Newsweek’s travel blog has this piece about BoltBus launching service between New York and D.C. BoltBus, a division of Greyhound, specializes in lower-cost fares (they start at $1 one way and go up as seats fill until they hit regular rates), and they offer WiFi and power outlets. Sweet, no?
The New York-DC route is a heavily traveled one, and BoltBus is going head-to-head here with a few carriers, including Vamoose. Think bus wars.
So let’s play: Speculation. It’s fun. You’ll like it. Like New York-DC, Boston-New York is a heavily traveled route and would be attractive for BoltBus: We have, after all, many legions of the Backpack Army, seeking cheap transport and loving WiFi. Greyhound already has an eye on the market here. Its fares are competitive, and in December it started offering guaranteed seating for a price.
And, unlike Vamoose, Greyhound is already here and has terminals, which presumably would give it a hand up.
So I called the folks at BoltBus and spokesman Dustin Clark said he wasn’t sure about when or whether the company would be moving into Boston, but had been told that the company was planning to announce expansion plans around the end of the month.
Stay tuned.