A Jolt to the BoltBus
In today’s business section of the Globe, the paper wrings its hands about the sudden flood of low-cost bus carriers on the Boston-New York route. Newcomers BoltBus and MegaBus join the already established ranks of Fung Wah, Lucky Star, and good old Greyhound in shuttling college students and other bargain hunters between Beantown and the Big Apple.
But we think BoltBus is gonna be just fine in this competitive market. Much like the massively popular Fung Wah, BoltBus is already crashing.
Having a fender-bender with a member of the press on board had to have led to some expletive-laden tirades around BoltBus HQ.
BoltBus’s inaugural run yesterday from Boston’s South Station to New York’s Penn Station started smoothly, but ended with a screech - literally - as the shiny new motor coach, which was running more than an hour late, loudly scraped against construction equipment.
Bus riders have proven over the years that safety problems won’t dissuade them from a cheap way to New York. How else can you explain the continued presence of Fung Wah?
At least BoltBus has Wi-Fi so you can update your Facebook status while waiting for a replacement bus (or the paramedics) to show up.

April 25th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Live from BoltBus HQ… no cussing
or tirades so far… maybe later.
The crash happened… but was a
scratch on the rubber rail on the
side of the bus… no dents…
no paint scratches…. still one
crash is one crash too many
HQ is more concerned with being late..
traffic was bad but we need to be
smarter with routes and communication
to get around the traffic. Today went
better, we had fun with no issues. Full
buses with lots of smiling faces.
Nice to get the Boston service started.
We’ll now work to do the best job every
day that we possibly can.
Happy to be in Boston…..
David Hall