Anyone familiar with that bus? Have heard it's very inexpensive. Any feedback appreciated.

They are about the same price as Greyhound and Peter Pan, which have lowered prices to compete with the buses.

My two cents is they are a lousy idea for tourists and a much better idea for people who live in NYC or DC and are trying to get back and forth. I've heard great stories, and I've heard horror stories. The major complaints tend to be about safety concerns, lateness, schedules, etc. They are, however, supposed to be quite comfortable.

Why I say they aren't great for tourists is because of the unreliability quotient. If the bus never shows up and your stock in the bowels of Chinatown as a tourist, do you have the wherewithall to find alternative transportation. At least with Greyhound/Peter Pan, there's a good chance that an express bus is expected to leave in another hour. No such luck if you are standing in Chinatown at 4am trying to get to DC.

The Chinatown buses generally leave every hour, too, and if one is cancelled you just take hte next one. Chinatown in DC is tiny and virtually part of the Metro Center area, anyway.

Actually, the Chinatown buses are not every hour. There can be five to six hour gaps between buses during the middle of the day. Also, each bus service takes off from a different place in DC, making it difficult to catch a different bus line if yours never shows up.

Check out:

http://www.staticleap.com/chinatownbus/

Thanks very much for the remarks and for the web site. DH and I spent our first week in NYC last year and loved it soooo much, we went back again for a long weekend to go to the Met. We dropped our opera tickets in Baltimore so we can go to NYC yet again. Yes I know Chinatown NYC is a "fer piece" but we are looking into the bus travel options from the DC area where we live as alternative to train travel. There's a good bus from Baltimore also-is that Peter Pan?

Mike, the first two bus lines I checked (New Century and Eastern) depart from 513 H Street and 715 H Street, just over a block apart. Between 7 AM and 8 PM, they offer a combined 15 buses, with the longest no-service interval being 2.5 hours (9:30 AM to noon).

Here's a link for most Chinatown bus information for US and Canadian cities:

www.ivymedia.com