Apropos Jeffrey Tucker's great article on the underground economy, I just wanted to bring the LRC Blog's attention to the wonderful Chinatown bus. I'm working in DC for the summer and commuting back to Philly on weekends to see family, and in weighing my options, there was driving my own vehicle with gas at $4.50 a gallon, taking Amtrak at a $200 round trip, flying for an obscene price, or riding the Chinatown Bus at $28 a round trip. Chinatown Buses travel between the various Chinatowns of the Northeast corridor: Washington, Philly, New York, and Boston. Just as Jeffrey pointed out about the underground economy's attribute for market relief, Chinatown Bus offers a relief valve for beleaguered travellers in the corridor. Paying $4.50 a gallon driven by insane energy regulatory policies restricting refinery capacity and currency depreciation makes this option unappealing. It isn't worth paying Amtrak its price for its extremely unreliable and slow service. Besides, at that price, I should be riding a bullet train. Flying is not normally an option between DC and Philly, but it might be for a flight from DC to NY, where you'll probably get to your destination just as fast on the Chinatown Bus (at $35 a round trip) than you would flying. You see, with Chinatown bus there are no security screenings, checkpoints, or the ridiculous harassment that it takes to get on a plane. Nobody tells you to put a seat belt on, or what the latest DOT regulations are for listening to your iPod on a bus. In fact, with competition being so fierce, many buses are offering wireless for laptops, and the buses are modern and well taken care of.
You only have to show up 20 minutes before departure and just get on the bus. Also, you don't even need to buy a ticket in advance as you can pay right there, cash only. They do allow for credit card purchases if you want to do an online transaction, but that's it, otherwise just cash. The lady who sells you the ticket is rude, but so are the over-regulated unionized ticketing agents at the airport. When you're paying $2,000 to have your family tortured by the TSA on a flight that's going to be cancelled by an airline bailed out from the government, where whinny ticket agents seek to find ways to make your stay in the airport more indefinite, you easily find the hidden pleasantness in the rude Chinatown bus ticket lady. Besides, even though the Chinatown ticket lady can barely speak English, she's infinitely more efficient and more intelligent than the vast majority of airline ticket agents. Where to? Philly, round-trip? 28 dollar! New Yok, round-trip? 35 dollar! No pay, get off the bus. Sweet music to my ears.
Speaking of music to my ears, the bus departs and arrives in DC at the corner of H and 5th Street NW, which Jeffrey will be glad to know is on the same corner of the Archdiocese of Washington's traditional parish of Old St. Mary's. Which is right under the nose of the Government Accountability Office, one of those bureaucratic GDP bean counters who could care less about Gregorian chant or the Chinatown bus.
