I am traveling by Amtrak in a few days.

You should not consider Amtrak unless desperate. Even then, generally a bus would be better. Amtrak does not exist. It legally has to exist but it is worse than useless, because it pretends that it might actually be something you'd want to use.

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bluGill 6 days ago | parent | next [-]

Having take a bus and amtrack I'll take amtrak. My bus was just as late, and there was less opportunity to walk around. Amtrak has sleeper cars which are probably better than the coach seats I was in (the bedrooms areea good price for 4 people but had 5 and so couldn't make the numbers work)

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0_____0 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

I took Amtrak from Boston South Station to Montpelier. You have to go south to Connecticut before you can get the Vermonter. The Vermonter was canceled due to contention with a disabled Metro North (or something...) and my connecting train turned into a bus.

When I've gone to NYC, it's honestly been less hassle to just take the bus.

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bombcar 6 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

A trick that won’t always work - get the sleeper for four and have the fifth visit. You just gotta be nice to the conductor and the sleeper attendant.

But the other option is to just all get lower level coach seats next to each other - sometimes five or six is about all they have down there. Make a new friend!

	▲	bluGill 6 days ago \| parent [-]
		Where it won't work is getting into the dining car - the cost of meals on a train is a large part of why sleepers are a "good" deal. (Amtrak meals are expensive for what you get)

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ghaff 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I've taken a "luxury" bus from the Boston area to NY once. I'll stick to Amtrak although, given where I live, it's not very efficient. Boston area to DC really takes too long though I've done it.

I hate driving into NYC though I've done it with someone else (or because I was headed somewhere else afterwards). As you say, with multiple people, the numbers don't really pencil out--especially given it takes longer for me.

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0_____0 5 days ago | parent [-]

I do BOS-NYC occasionally. Have driven, taken the train, and have taken a bus. The train was fine, but the bus was also fine, was far cheaper and the bus terminal is just as central in Manhattan.

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ghaff 5 days ago | parent [-]

I'm using the RTE station as opposed to BOS proper. Driving would still be faster/cheaper in general. But then I'd have to drive into Manhattan.

	▲	0_____0 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		It makes me so mad that we have a rail system that has all the structural necessities to make HSR a reality, yet we're stuck with service that last looked modern 50 years ago. If there's one place in the USA that would have the ridership to support a HSR it would be the Boston-DC metro axis.

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ectospheno 6 days ago | parent | prev [-]

It is the fastest way to D.C. for much of the eastern seaboard.

	▲	0_____0 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		This is only true in the region served by Acela that is south of NYC. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is taking Amtrak from BOS to DC unless there's a really good extenuating circumstance.