DC to NY, How Do You Get There?
It looks like lawmakers want faster rail service between DC and NYC. Yesterday at Union Station John Mica (R-Fla.) announced that he is outlining a railroad safety bill that will include high speed train services between the two cities. Personally I don’t think safety and high speed should be linked together but that’s only my opinion. Currently the quickest way to get from DC to NYC is is by plane from DCA to JFK but the cheapest way is by bus. The quickest train is the Acela which is sometimes the most expensive way to get to NYC and takes 2:45 minutes and travels around 84 mph. Mica wants a new train that can make the trip in less than 2 hours and push speeds up near 150 mph.
So the question I have is does :45 minutes really necessary? To get a high speed train under 2 hrs from DC to NYC is awesome but is it cost effective for the business traveler?
I took a look at the going prices of trips to NYC from DC by Train, Plane, and Bus for today. Here is what I found, you may or may not be surprised. FYI – I just took the cheapest ticket that I could find.
BoltBus – www.boltbus.com – Trip takes about 4:30 hours. Goes from Downtown DC to Madison Square Garden. Price $20.00 + Tax
American Airlines - www.aa.com – Trip takes 1:05 minutes. Goes from DCA to JFK Price $126 + Tax
Amtrak – www.amtrak.com – Trip takes 2:45minutes Goes from Union Station to Penn Station Price $155.00 + Tax
Today the Train is the most expensive way to get from DC to NYC. So what is your perfered way to get to NYC and are you infavor of a faster train between the cities?
The Acela is nice but its pretty expensive. If this new train was even more expensive, you’d have to be pretty baller to ride it.
BTW – the Acela is shaky as hell. If you have a laptop it will jerk your screen around like crazy.
Think about how many delays this would have? It’s raining, delayed. It’s Snowing, delayed. It’s Windy, delayed!