The Chinatown bus services began in 1997 and have been growing since. The first buses were used as shuttle buses between Chinatown and Brooklyn for Asian immigrants. Services like Fung Wah buses, Sunshine Travel and Travel Pack (now Lucky Star) allowed immigrant students to travel from New York to colleges in Boston. In 2001, 9/11 had a great effect on the bus services. Travelers that would usually travel by plane began to use buses instead and many tour operators, now unnecessary, turned to inter-city bus services.
In 2002, the Chinatown bus services experienced rapid growth with the beginning of online ticketing. GoToBus.com became a way for companies to introduce their services to a wider audience.
The quick expansion of bus services created more bus companies from 2002 to 2005. Along with Fung Wah, Sunshine and Travel Pack, there was Dragon Coach, New Century, Eastern Travel, New Century and Today’s Bus. New bus services also meant new bus lines. Buses still traveled from Chinatown to Brooklyn and New York to Boston, but now they also traveled from New York to Washington and New York to Philadelphia.
In the past couple of years, the Chinatown bus services have been the most known for the controversies with the safety of the buses. After 2 buses from major Chinatown bus companies caught fire on the I-91 in the summer of 2005, state and city governments began to impose strict regulations on bus lines. Led by Sen. Charles Schumer, surprise inspections and forced disclosures were enforced throughout the city. To answer this initiative, Chinatown bus services were forced to improve their quality and improve safety measures or shut down.
Along with stricter regulations, Chinatown bus services had to compete against major bus services like Greyhound.
Ultimately, a student short on cash will always choose to take a cheaper Chinatown bus. If you can pay $35 for a one-way ticket from Pittsburgh to Chinatown, you’d definitely take that over a $52 ticket from Greyhound. If you walk through New York’s Chinatown, there’s no doubt that you will at least see a Fung Wah bus or a Lucky Star stop with a crowd around it before your walk is over.
However with gentrification this may change. With rezoning and “Afforadable Housing” that isn’t so affordable, Chinatown bus services may have to move, raise their prices or disappear.
Chinatown is also host to plenty of other alternative types of transportation. The N, Q, R, 6, M, J, F, D and B all make stops in Chinatown. It is usually the trains’ last stop in Manhattan and used by many residents to travel to and from their homes in Brooklyn or Queens. While there are plenty of subway paths under Chinatown, there are also bus services like the M15. Since the streets are so crowded, buses aren’t the best way to travel but still useful for many going to school or to their Chinatown apartment.
The newest form of transportation in Chinatown are the bicycles! Citibank has started to plant bike share stations throughout Manhattan and Chinatown is now home to more than 10 stations scattered around. The bikes themselves have not been put into the stations as of now but it’s something to look forward to in the future.
