"Better Value Than Acela - www.LimoLiner.com

[henry6]

I still want pictures!

[NY&LB]

This sounds like a valid form of transportation between Boston and NYC with some very nice features, however the one area in which it can NOT compete is capacity, one Acela trainset has a capacity of something like 256 passengers (someone can add the exact number but that's close enough), that would require 10 busses(using a nice round number) or a bus departing every 6 minutes, this bus is nor scaleable transportation! Scaleability totally goes out the window when you consider regional trains where there is some flexibility in adding a car or two, I would guess AMTRAK does not have the ability to run second sections like the REAL RRs did.

[hsr_fan]

304 passenger capacity on Acela.

[NY&LB]

Thanks!!! So that's now 12 busses or one every 5 minutes!

[Alloy]

When I saw a price advertised in a heading, I thought it was spam. The forum policy is that we don't quote rail ticket prices on here--it's strictly, "one hundred dollars more expensive than the regionals," and so forth. So should we be consistent, and not "advertise" the price of this service?

Moderator's Note: LimoLiner fare removed 12/14/06 from the referred post per Forum guidelines.

[travelrobb]

They pride themselvs on the the class of acela. Seems to me the legndary "Chinatown bus" (which i know nothing about) competes with regional

Please. Limoliner doesn't get to choose their competition. Limoliner may prefer a rivalry with Acela because in many ways--comfort, particularly--Acela is the gold standard for traveling between Boston and New York. But it's totally an aspiration on their part. Apart from the attendant with snacks and the two whole channels of satelite TV on the Limoliner, the service they offer doesn't seem that much different than the Regional in terms of accomodations, speed, or price. The Limoliner is certainly much closer the Regional in all these as well as market segment than the Chinatown bus, which caters to a much different demographic. Don't drink the Limoliner KoolAid!

I was looking at the Limoliner site today, and several things stood out. First, I noticed all the pictures were close-ups, carefully cropped, so it's hard to get a sense of what the bus--or the experience of riding it--is like. (I'm still not even certain if it's a full Greyhound-size coach.) More substantially, when I checked late afternoon departures from New York, availability was wide, wide open--I think one bus had fewer than seven of the 28 seats sold. Finally, though they're touting a service expansion beginning next year on the website, a look at the new "expanded" schedules actually shows fewer frequencies--47, comapred to 57 now.

So who knows...

[Irish Chieftain]

304 passenger capacity on Acela.

If David Gunn was given the wherewithal to rearrange the configuration of the AE to nine-car-long trains, then that would have been up to 496 seats at least.

[asyouare405]

Please. Limoliner doesn't get to choose their competition.

...

Chinatown bus, which caters to a much different demographic. Don't drink the Limoliner KoolAid!

I have the impression limoiner, successfully or not, is catering to a demographic also, the kinda that takes driving services and taxis rather than taxis and subways around the city, but doesn't have a personal jet or driver. Thats who I Acela, or maybe businessclass Regionals

I saw a few more pics on google image if you havent looked there already.

So who knows...

..not me, thats for sure.

Lastly, what is the overhead of a train vs the overhead of a bus? Maybe 70 a seat with a few people is enough money for them, plenty of companies make money runing 1/2 full buses at for much less. Its not like going out and ruining their own trains on the NEC was an option.

[Irish Chieftain]

plenty of companies make money runing 1/2 full buses at for much less

Care to name them? Be careful that you don't name a subsidized operation.

Even full commuter buses make a three-percent profit margin at best.

[travelrobb]

According to the website, each bus costs $550,000. That sure seems like an expensive ride. It appears from the schedule that they have three busses, which in 2007 will make 47 trips a week, or something like one roundtrip a day.

[JoeG]

Their service sounds very nice. It provides free snacks, wifi, various kinds of entertainment, and a conference area. Because of the free snacks and the attendant, it sounds more like Acela First Class than Acela Business Class. It doesn't, however, seem to have any kind of alcohol.
On the other hand, a bus is a bus. For my part, I'd stick with the train, but I can see that many people would find Limoliner appealing.
As others have remarked, it's hard to see how this service can make any money.

[henry6]

Marketing ! That and positioning. That's what it is all about. As time goes on the price will rise because they have set the stage for demand for those who want "exclusivity". It is just a sure bet limousine style ride while sharing the costs. With 27 others, but sharing the costs. And riding a limousine. There is a very real and very big high end market in exclusivity marketing. If you do it right you win. And what is best about this scheme is that you only need 25 people a day per trip instead of hundreds on a bus, train, or plane! Cool.

[wigwagfan]

To all requesting pictures of the LimoLiner, here you go. Another good source is here.

Technical specs: The LimoLiner bus is an MCI E4500 motorcoach, 45 feet in length, 102 inches wide, and equipped with leather seating in a 2x1 seating configuration. The rear of the bus is equipped with a club seating area with table. A small galley is aboard the motorcoach.

To compare, a standard, late model Greyhound bus is an MCI G4500. MCI's webpage shows the G4500 as a discontinued model, and today they offer only the E4500 and J4500 ("luxury motorcoach"), and the D4005/4505 ("American Classic").

Don't ask me what the technical differences are. Those who wish to divulge into that, feel free to hit up one of the bus/motorcoach forums online.

[Tom Curtin]

Tom Nelligan wrote

It's a bus, albeit a luxury bus, that's subject to getting stuck in traffic at all of the well-known highway bottlenecks between Boston and Manhattan

Amen to all of the above Tom. And to your list, I would add "weather." Any way you slice it bus travel is one of the lowest activities man can sink to in life.

Anyway, it's kind of interesting that now we have two complete polar extremes in Boston-NY bus travel: Fung Wah, and Limoliner.

[FatNoah]

It would be interesting to see where LimoLiner patrons board the bus. Given it's Framingham pickup/dropoff location, that does make it more accessible to riders from west of Boston.