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ChineseCheaper to fly or drive? What about the bus?
Image courtesy of femaletrumpet02 via Flickr.
Today on the LA Times Daily Travel & Deal Blog there was a post asking, “In California, is it cheaper to drive or fly?” According the the author, if you’re going to San Francisco it’s cheaper to fly and if you’re going to Las Vegas it’s cheaper to drive. Of course, the author ignores other modes of travel to those two cities that may be cheaper, namely taking a bus (either Megabus or Greyhound).MetroRiderLA is going to give you the information that the LA Times neglected in order to help you find the cheapest way to appease your wanderlust.
San Francisco
In the spirit of Wad’s Bay Area transit adventures, we’ll start with a trip to San Francisco. According the the L.A. Times Travel blog, flying is the way to go if you’re looking to save money. Total flight cost, when taking advantage of a Southwest Airlines sale, is $109. Driving will cost you $129 round trip. And what about the missing element? A trip on the Megabus, booking tickets at the last minute, will cost you $73. The Greyhound will set you back $88.
If you’re looking to save money on a trip to San Fran, riding the bus is clearly the way to go.
Las Vegas
You may be a high roller, but you’d rather spend your cash on the slots rather than the ride. The LA Times Travel blog says you should consider driving if you want to get to Vegas on the cheap. Putting the pedal to the metal will cost you $87. If you hop on a cheap Jet Blue flight, you can get to The Strip for $113. Of course, if you’re a real bargain traveler I’d recommend the Megabus, at $62 for a round trip ticket, you can afford to take some risks in Vegas. The Greyhound clocks in at $85.
Of course, if you’re traveling with a group, driving may turn out to be the best deal because costs can be shared. That is unless you and your friends manage to nab some of those $1 seats on the Megabus.
Discussion
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What about Amtrak to SF, Fred? I know it doesn’t quite go to SF and that the Coast Starlight is currently suspended due to the mudslide, but with the wheelchair I tend to avoid busses because they usually like to refuse to take you, which leaves you in a pretty bad spot. Has anyone here ever done it before?
Sadly since Amtrak doesn’t go up into 4th and King I’ve really considered flying Southwest into SFO as my best bet into SF.
The reason I didn’t include Amtrak was precisely because it doesn’t go directly to SF. But you bring up a good point about the wheelchair. I’d like to take the Amtrak trip to the bay area just to try it out, but haven’t had the opportunity yet.
Thanks for coming up with alternative budget travel options, Fred. We’ve added a link to your post on our blog, too.
If we’re talking about cheap ways to get to San Francisco or Las Vegas, and not just comparing apples to oranges, I’ve also scored affordable travel by using Craigslist ride shares. I rode from SF to LA one-way for $15, and took a ride from Los Angeles to Las Vegas for $40. That was before Megabus days and I only rode with one other friendly passenger to Vegas as opposed to a car full on the $15 ride share. I’ve also talked to people who’ve taken cheap gambling junkets to Las Vegas from Chinatown but I’ve never tried one of those myself (though I’d like to!).
I rode the first LA to Las Vegas Megabus ride and it was heaven. The bus was clean and the views of the desert beat those from a car by a mile. I’d recommend that trip to anyone.
Good luck and happy travels,
— Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel Deal Blogger
Thanks Jen. Your Craiglist ridesharing tips are great as well, never thought of that! And in all fairness, I did find that the LA Times Travel section did do an extensive review of the Megabus service to San Fran this past September. You can check it out here.
can’t you transfer from amtrak to caltrain in san jose to get into the city directly? sure, it’s not a one-seat ride, but it’s price-competitive with flying.
round trip:
LAX-SJC – $132
San Jose to San Francisco – $15
The times rider is an idiot, and makes the classic mistake of assuming that gas is the main expense of driving. The actual cost of driving is somewhere around $0.50/mile (which is on the AAA site, where , in other words, driving LA/SF and back (or vice versa, in my case!) will cost you about $390.
Dumbass.
Ok, highway miles are going to cost less than the average (less wear and tear, and your insurance doesn’t care about road trips), but still–SF/LA is going to cost you way more than $129.
That article also sets a pretty important bar with 20 miles per gallon. My friend and his big gas-guzzling GMC Envoy takes two tanks of gas to make it to SF at 50 bucks each refill. So that ends up being nearly 200 dollars in gas.
Whereas driving a hybrid camry at 35 mpg takes only three quarters of a tank of gas one way (so like 34 bucks), and if you’re a lead foot, takes about five hours. So you can do the trip for about 70 bucks in a hybrid and pretty damn fast [well, only if you ignore the wear and tear argument of the above poster]. Not the best solution from a carbon or environmental standpoint, but we were just talking about money.
Dave: I’ve considered that but Amtrak’s West Coast service isn’t known for being on-time and the San Jose arrival is fairly late at night (8:30) with the last Caltrain departure at 10:30. Maybe if I had no checked bags I’d jump off the train at SJ Diridon, but I’d be hesitant to book a trip for there and not have the option of a guaranteed, even if late, Thruway connection in Oakland. Either by Thruway or Caltrain you’re getting into SF later than 10pm. For a 10pm arrival I could probably fly out of LAX after work and also get there about 10pm.
I really wish it were better and I think the CHSR project is desperately needed in California… but right now, we don’t have great choices.
Which is probably why companies like Megabus can exist, but with the wheelchair and with my prior bad experiences with coach companies, I don’t seriously consider them when traveling alone.
The main disadvantage of using Amtrak is that it is the slowest option into San Francisco. It’s just over 10 hours just to get to San Jose, then you have to transfer and take a different train to get into San Francisco, so for the typical person, bus/driving/flying is more time efficient.
Mind you if you’re not in a rush, except for the transfer, Amtrak is probably a more comfortable solution, especially if you have handicap concerns.
i’m happily car-free.. but i LOVE that drive up the coast. beautiful, poetic, and intense
i’m also interested in virgin america. if memory serves me, they do $50 one ways.. mini-flat screens at every seat. bells and whistles.
Forget about the high speed rail project, I don’t think it’s happening.
Upgrading the Amtrak infrastructure we already have would be much more affordable and politically viable.
I’m talking more frequent daily trains, reinstating the Coast Daylight (this is under planning right now) and extending the San Joaquins so that instead of ending in Bakersfield, they would end in Lancaster, where people could transfer to Metrolink for the rest of the way into L.A. That’s a two-seat ride from L.A. to Oakland on rail, no thruway buses involved.
It’s a cheap Band-Aid solution, but it is doable. Honestly, I would rather the high speed rail be built. I hope it is.