Fung Wah Transport Vans operates a shuttle service between
Boston and
New York City. Their vans are substantially cheaper and less comfortable than
Greyhound or
Bonanza. The trip takes between 4 and 5 hours, depending on traffic and how fast the driver goes. (
Bonanza schedules for 5 hours, but they also stop to change buses in
Providence.) Usually they stop at a
McDonald's and rest area on
I-95 in
Connecticut.
Fung Wah has both airport-shuttle-type minibuses (relatively comfy seats, but too little legroom) and regular old 15-seater Econolines (I've never ridden one of these, but I can guess how comfortable it is). I guess the minibuses run at peak times. There is no luggage space, so everybody piles their bags under their seat and in the aisle. In my experience it's not necessary to arrive more than 15-20 minutes early in order to get a seat, but I've only ridden the 4pm run each way, which is a minibus. The drivers do not speak much English; when I've ridden, the passengers have been about half Chinese and half not.
As of January 2002, the Fung Wah schedule was as follows.
BOSTON - Crown Royal Bakery, 68 Beach St, (617) 338-8885. Near Chinatown on the Orange Line and Downtown Crossing and South Station on the Red Line. Buy a ticket at the Fung Wah table in the bakery and they will point you to the bus. Departures at 7 or 8 for $15; 10, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 23.30 for $25.
NEW YORK - Mahayana Buddhist Temple, 139 Canal St, room 101, (212) 925-8889. Take the shuttle from West 4th St (on the A-C-E and F-V) or Broadway and Lafayette (on the 4-5-6 and F-V) to Grand St. There is a ticket window plainly marked "Fung Wah" on the front wall of the temple, and buses stop right in front of it. Departures at 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 for $25; 16, 17, 19 for $15; 22 for $25 again.
A standard round trip ticket is $45, but there is a special for $20 if you take an early cheap one from Boston and a late cheap one back.
I highly recommend these people if you just want to get there and don't want to mess around with a lot of stuff or pay a lot. At $25 I'm not sure if it's worth the discomfort, but $15 (less than half a Bonanza ticket) is a steal.
Update, August 2003: They have, and have had for a while, a website: www.fungwahbus.com. Thanks also to the noder (whose name I've forgotten) who msg'd me this several months back.
Since last year Fung Wah has also acquired several full-size coach (Greyhound-type) buses,
which are much comfier than either small kind.
At the moment all Boston-New York tickets are $10 each way, probably because competing van companies recently started offering $10 one-way tickets. There are also a couple of
New York-Providence runs for $25 one-way, $45 round trip.