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Tag: transit

  • Search for the Best Bus Fare with Wanderu


    Bus travel is one of the most affordable ways to get to New York City. But you’ll want to shop around to make sure you’re getting the best fare. Rates can vary significantly by day of the week and even time of day. And if you’re fortunate enough to live in an area served by more than one bus company, you’ll want to do some comparison shopping. All this is made much easier with Wanderu’s bus fare comparison tool.

    At Wanderu.com, all you have to do is enter the starting point and destination for your trip and the date you’d like to travel, and they’ll show you bus routes with fare information. You’ll be able to see if ticket prices vary by time of day.  And you can scroll through dates to see if you can save some money by traveling on a different day.

    In addition to direct routes, the search shows multiple bus routes that require a transfer at some point during the trip. Sometimes these multiple bus routes are actually faster and less expensive than the direct route. For example, we did a search on travel from Knoxville, TN to New York City and found that by transferring in Washington DC, we could save $42 and arrive an hour earlier than if we took the direct bus. That’s the kind of information that would not be easy to figure out on your own but is simple with Wanderu’s search.

    Wanderu partners with 25 transportation providers, and they recently announced that Greyhound, the country’s largest provider of intercity bus transportation, has been added to that team of partnerships. For now, the new Greyhound additions to the search are concentrated in the northeast U.S., but additional stops will be added in the future.

    It’s about time someone made comparison shopping for bus travel easier. Good work, Wanderu.

     

  • Try Whisk Car Service With $5 Ride Offer

    Whisk Car Service - One Ride

     

    Whisk is an app-based NYC car service that uses the GPS in your phone to know where you are so they can send a car out to you.   Whisk is an alternative to using taxi cabs. You’ll receive notice when a car has been dispatched to pick you up (and it includes a description and photo of the car to make it easier to spot).  Many of the Whisk cars are black Lincoln Towncars.  See the Whisk FAQ.

     

    Deal on Whisk Car Service from Gilt City

     

    Whisk Car Service – One Ride – Pay $5 for one ride within Manhattan, point-to-point anywhere south of 96th Street.

     
     
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  • 25% Off Any Go Bus Trip in July


    Go Bus is offering a 25% discount off any trip in July with the promo code “HAPPYJULY”

    Go Bus provides express bus service between New York City and the Boston area (stations are in Cambridge and Newton).  Taking the Go Bus is always an affordable way to get from Boston to New York City, but with this special discount it’s even a better deal.

    Find out more about Go Bus transportation between New York City and Newton & Cambridge, Massachusetts.

  • Three Day Amtrak Sale


    Amtrak is having a three day sale on Northeast Regional Fares March 18th – 20th.

    You can travel to or from:

    Boston and New York City for $37

    Baltimore and New York City for $38

    Washington DC and New York City for $42

    Visit the Amtrak sale page for the full terms and conditions.

  • Amtrak Winter Sale – 20% Off Fares


    Amtrak’s annual winter sale is in progress.  If you book your train ticket by January 27, you can save 20% on select routes across the country.  There are trains to New York City included in the sale.

    One of the nice things about taking the train to NYC is that you’re delivered right to Penn Station, in the heart of the city. No need for cabs or shuttles from an airport.

    Amtrak’s Winter Sale.

  • Discount Airfare Deal from Virgin Atlantic

    plane-iconVirgin America Airline is offering an interesting deal through Amazon Local.  You purchase a $5 voucher that is good for 15% off flights on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays or 25% off flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays.  You’ll need to book your flight by January 15th. Your travel must be completed between January 8th and March 6th.  And flights must be booked at least 21 days in advance.

    If you can meet all the requirements, 25% off, or even 15% off airfare for just $5 is a pretty good deal.

    See the Amazon Local deal details and make your purchase.  There’s a limited time left and they’re selling fast.

  • Friday Finds for December 13th 2013

    “Friday Finds” is a weekly round-up of useful and interesting things found online.

    Wanderu’s Search Tool for Buses and Inter-City Trains – This is a cool tool for finding the best deal and most convenient mode of bus travel from Boston or Washington DC to New York City.  You pick the day you want to travel and you’re presented with a list of options that you can sort by departure time, arrival time, travel duration, or price.  It’s just like the airline searches, except for buses. Neat idea. So far, the only routes to NYC are from Boston and DC, but the site developers expect to expand nationwide in the upcoming year.

    Rainy Day Fun in NYC – What if you plan a trip to the city and it’s pouring down rain when you get there? Walks of New York provides good ideas on how to spend your time indoors, where you’ll stay nice and dry.

    New York Times City Room, New York Today – An excellent morning roundup of what you need to know for a day in the city. Includes weather, transit issues, events, and headline city news.

     

  • Find Some Help Getting Around the City with a Smartphone App

    subway-icon-bwFor the most part, New York City is laid out on a pretty straight-forward grid system, but it’s easy to get turned around in the canyons of tall buildings, and even easier to get confused when you’re under the city traveling on the subway system.  So before you set out on your next adventure, load up your smart phone with some helpful apps.

    The MTA maintains a gallery of transit-oriented apps. There is a wide variety of apps to choose from.  Pick the one that best suits your needs for the are you’ll be traveling in.  MTA Apps Gallery.

     

     

  • Easier Ways to Save with Amtrak

    Amtrak recently announced that they have an improved online booking system. We checked it out and found that the system really does make it easy to find the cheapest rates. You just pick where you want to travel to and from, plus the dates you want to travel, and they’ll show you a list of all the available trains. You can sort the list by departure time, price and by duration. And the best part is that they clearly lay out the prices for their Saver, Value, Flexible, and Premium Service fares.  There can be a significant difference between the different fare types. On a mid-week trip from Washington DC to New York City, the fares ranged from $49 for the “Saver” rate to $125 for the “Premium Services” rate on the same train. The main difference between the fares is how refundable they are.

     

    Here’s a breakdown of the Amtrak fare types:

     

    Saver Fares – The lowest fares available. These include special offers, web-only discounts, and advance purchase discounts. Saver Fares are non-refundable but they can be canceled and the ticket value will be saved to an eVoucher that you use toward future travel with Amtrak.

    Value Fares – These can be fully refunded if canceled more than 24 hours prior to the scheduled departure. There is a 10% refund fee if canceled less than 24 hours in advance. Value Fares can also be canceled and have the ticket value transferred to an eVoucher that you can use toward future travel with Amtrak.

    Flexible Fares – These are fully refundable without any refund fee.

    Premium Service Fares – These include upgrades, such as first class service and sleeping accommodations.

     

    Fare Discounts

     

    ALWAYS start by checking the available fares as an “adult” traveler using the general “buy tickets” tab (not the “other discounts tab”).  You can try other search options after that, but we found that some of the best discounts only displayed for an adult traveler without any discounts applied.

    In searching through fares with Amtrak’s online booking service, we checked prices with several of their discount options and compared them to the Saver Fare. The Saver Fare was often significantly cheaper than the fare with discount programs such as Senior, Military or AAA. But if you do your fare search with one of those discount programs checked, they don’t show you the Saver Fare. So, be sure to do your search under both the “other discounts” tab and the standard “buy tickets” tab to make sure you’re really getting the best rate.  And even under the regular “buy tickets” tab, if you’re an older traveler and you put yourself under “Senior” when you enter the number of people traveling, they won’t show you the Saver Rate.

    Great news for families traveling with children –  kids age 2-15 get a 50% discount and infants under 2 years of age travel for free.

    See Amtrak’s official information on the fare discounts they offer.
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