Bus Wars

According to a New York Times article, the famed Vamoose Bus company has stopped serving Tenleytown and McPherson Square. This is because it trespassed on the rights of a competitor, Washington Deluxe, which had previously received a ruling from a Rabbinical court guaranteeing it the right to serve Washington. Since the owners of both companies are Hasidic Jews, the Rabbinical court thing was important. Nonetheless, it was reinforced by a recent New York court ruling.

We all grew to know and love Vamoose, but now it only goes to Bethesda and Arlington, and I'm definitely not going out to the damned suburbs to get a bus. Washington Deluxe has now started to serve Tenleytown in order to pick up Vamoose's slack, but its schedules are crappier; most of its buses originate from Farragut Square. However, Washington Deluxe is slightly cheaper--unlike Vamoose, it matches the price of the Chinatown buses.

Speaking of the Chinatown buses, the Times also reported that, three days ago, a Fung Wah bus going from NYC to Boston flipped over. Fung Wah is also the company that had two buses explode in the past year, although luckily the passengers were able to evacuate both times.

If I ever take the Chinatown bus to Boston, I'm not going to take Fung Wah.

Also, the Department of Justice is investigating all of these companies for noncompliance with the various Federal bus regulations, meaning that this whole cheap-fare game might soon be endangered. If so, that would be sad. Being forced to pay $60 for Greyhound or $90 for Amtrak would really suck.