Travel decisions - car, plane or motorcoach? - are getting more complex
I'll be attending the APTA Rail Conference this coming week and decided to drive up to San Francisco rather than fly. Normally, driving from Los Angeles to the Bay Area is a much cheaper option than going by air. But with the price of gasoline topping $4 a gallon, it's a pretty close call.
Figure that the round-trip will be about 800 miles on the ground and that my car gets 30 miles per gallon on the highway. That means that I'll burn approximately 26 gallons of gasoline. At $4.10 per gallon, that's about $107 in gasoline. Of course, you really should factor in some wear and tear on the car. This is probably conservative, but I'm going to add another $50 to the total, making it $157.
With two weeks' notice, I could have booked a $150 round-trip flight to and from San Francisco. That means that the car trip could actually be more expensive than a plane trip. Plus, you also lose time when you drive, several hours in each direction, even factoring in the wait at the airport, etc.
One option that I considered, briefly, was booking a trip on Megabus, which recently announced that it will be discontinuing its runs from L.A. to the Bay Area. With two weeks' notice, I could have booked a round-trip for as little as $56! It's not that simple, though, because I would still have to get to Union Station in downtown L.A., which adds some car mileage and, possibly, parking fees.
Also, if I flew or traveled by motorcoach, I would be without a car when I arrived in San Francisco. Which in some ways is good. Parking your car at a hotel can be expensive. In point of fact, I've fudged a little on this scenario because I'll be staying with my parents in San Jose and taking Caltrain into San Francisco. I admit that I'm being a bit lazy and simplifying things by using L.A. to S.F. instead of L.A. to San Jose, but I think you get the picture.
The point is that with fuel prices climbing into uncharted territory, the economies that we used to enjoy by driving instead of flying have gone away. It still makes sense to drive, however, when you have passengers, especially when it's a family of four, like mine. With four people, the costs are nearly the same for the car but are quadrupled for air travel.
Although I've never seriously considered traveling by motorcoach (vs. driving or flying), I'm going to start looking at that option more closely, especially if discount carriers like Megabus can build a strong following. The travel game is changing, and we need to be more flexible in our decision-making.
Until next time.
Steve
Figure that the round-trip will be about 800 miles on the ground and that my car gets 30 miles per gallon on the highway. That means that I'll burn approximately 26 gallons of gasoline. At $4.10 per gallon, that's about $107 in gasoline. Of course, you really should factor in some wear and tear on the car. This is probably conservative, but I'm going to add another $50 to the total, making it $157.
With two weeks' notice, I could have booked a $150 round-trip flight to and from San Francisco. That means that the car trip could actually be more expensive than a plane trip. Plus, you also lose time when you drive, several hours in each direction, even factoring in the wait at the airport, etc.
One option that I considered, briefly, was booking a trip on Megabus, which recently announced that it will be discontinuing its runs from L.A. to the Bay Area. With two weeks' notice, I could have booked a round-trip for as little as $56! It's not that simple, though, because I would still have to get to Union Station in downtown L.A., which adds some car mileage and, possibly, parking fees.
Also, if I flew or traveled by motorcoach, I would be without a car when I arrived in San Francisco. Which in some ways is good. Parking your car at a hotel can be expensive. In point of fact, I've fudged a little on this scenario because I'll be staying with my parents in San Jose and taking Caltrain into San Francisco. I admit that I'm being a bit lazy and simplifying things by using L.A. to S.F. instead of L.A. to San Jose, but I think you get the picture.
The point is that with fuel prices climbing into uncharted territory, the economies that we used to enjoy by driving instead of flying have gone away. It still makes sense to drive, however, when you have passengers, especially when it's a family of four, like mine. With four people, the costs are nearly the same for the car but are quadrupled for air travel.
Although I've never seriously considered traveling by motorcoach (vs. driving or flying), I'm going to start looking at that option more closely, especially if discount carriers like Megabus can build a strong following. The travel game is changing, and we need to be more flexible in our decision-making.
Until next time.
Steve
my choice is a plane is very fast an can get you to your travel destination fast
Posted by: theywee | May 31, 2008 at 08:43 AM
Yes. It's a close call deciding on whether to fly or drive these days.
Posted by: Claudine | May 31, 2008 at 10:32 AM
megabus may have left the west coast, but there are still other options that are cheaper and faster than greyhound:
http://www.gotobus.com/chinatownbus/
http://www.cashuttlebus.com/services.asp
Posted by: brian goldner | June 02, 2008 at 10:31 AM
And you don't ever want to ride Greyhound. Way, way too sketchy. Amtrak is also an option, BTW. Either the slow but beautiful Coast Starlight, or the roomy but boring San Joaquin via Bakersfield (with a two to three hour bus connection on the south end).
Posted by: | June 11, 2008 at 10:15 PM
And you don't ever want to ride Greyhound. Way, way too sketchy. Amtrak is also an option, BTW. Either the slow but beautiful Coast Starlight, or the roomy but boring San Joaquin via Bakersfield (with a two to three hour bus connection on the south end).
Posted by: | June 11, 2008 at 10:15 PM