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Comments (13)
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Save/ShareFor a recent trip from New York City to Boston, I opted to ride LimoLiner instead of take a train or a rental car. As I blogged about yesterday, Amtrak is disrupting most of its New York City to Boston service June 14 to 17. So if you're traveling that route on those dates, you may especially want to consider LimoLiner as an alternative.
UPDATE June 12 4p.m.: The installation of a new bridge span on the Thames River Bridge, originally scheduled for June 14 through 17, has been rescheduled for June 16 through June 19.
While not exactly "budget travel"—my ticket was $140 roundtrip on four days' notice—LimoLiner was less costly than Amtrak's offer of $162 roundtrip (offpeak, regional service), and cheaper than renting the cheapest rental car (including gas and insurance costs) in the NYC area on a weekend—at least as far as I could find via Orbitz.
The most distinctive part of LimoLiner is that it comes with a "bus attendant" who serves meals en-route and who hands out earplugs so that you have the option of enjoying the movie that's shown as well as the live CNN coverage. (Because you need to use headphones to hear the movie, passengers who aren't interested in watching can be blissfully left to read or work on their laptops in the quiet. (Incidentally, 110-volt power plugs are available at each seat station.)
The WiFi signal is outstandingly strong. The bus has two "repeaters" on-board to ensure broadband-strength WiFi Internet connections—and steady cell-phone service, too.
The bus was speedy, making only one scheduled stop, in Framingham, Mass.
On my trip, the meals were okay. The options were a chicken or a vegetarian sandwich, with a choice of a carb-based snack and a beverage. The seats were super comfy (reclining what felt like 160 degrees for easy napping). The young "bus attendant" was actually attentive, helping some elderly customers get blankets to stay warm in the A/C. Another perk: LimoLiner features a standard toilet seat like you'd find in a house instead of on a bus. On my trip, the bathroom had a vase with some fresh flowers.
Last details: Each row only has three seats, allowing for more elbow room and better views of the flat-screen monitors that broadcast movies and live CNN. The New York City stop is outside of the Hilton New York; in Boston, it's at the Hilton Back Bay. Average trip time is four hours.
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I've heard of luxury cars, yachts, planes, RVs and now buses! The one question I have is whether the length of the time was tedious compared to Amtrak?
Posted By Megan Sterritt on June 11, 2008, 12:58 PM
Hi, Megan,
Thanks for your comment about LimoLiner (and about the iPhone).
The length of time for the trip was about as fast as Amtrak’s regional service, or about 4 hours between New York City and Boston. Delays can push it to five hours or more. Whether you travel during rush hour or not is one factor. Amtrak’s Acela service is faster, at 3 hours 30 minutes.
On my trip on an early Saturday morning, it was clocking slightly over four hours to Boston.
Kind regards,
Sean
Posted By Blog Editor on June 11, 2008, 2:59 PM
Wow, so I guess they are quite comparable!
Posted By Megan Sterritt on June 11, 2008, 3:31 PM
Where do they pick up/drop off? Do they have a website where you can purchase tix in advance?
I will be needing transportation NYC-BOS roundtrip in Sep and have starting looking into Amtrak/Greyhound/Megabus, etc. This may be an option!
Posted By curls on June 12, 2008, 4:18 PM
Hello,
As I wrote, the pick up/drop off stops are: The New York City stop is outside of the Hilton New York; in Boston, it's at the Hilton Back Bay. They have an intermediate stop on some routes at Framingham, Ma., a suburb of Boston. They only stop there by passenger request. Their website is limoliner.com.
Hope you have a good trip. Feel free to let us know, one way or another.
Thnks,
Sean
blog editor
Posted By Blog Editor on June 12, 2008, 4:34 PM
Is this type of service available from the Washington, DC metro area?
Posted By sarah on June 16, 2008, 9:16 AM
Passenger beware! I just took a trip on the LimoLiner and had a very bad and very costly experience. When I boarded the bus, I took my wallet out of my zippered tote bag to retrieve my license for the attendant, put it away, then I settled in. My seat tray wasn't working, so I asked the attendant if I could switch seats. She agreed, but told me I couldn't move my tote bag (which contained my wallet) myself. She said only she could move my bag, which incidentally wasn't that big, to the new seat because it is LimoLiner's policy that a passenger can't move a bag to another seat when the bus is in transit. This policy didn't make any sense and the attendant was acting very odd, but I went along with her and moved to a different seat, then she brought my bag over a few minutes later. That was the only time I didn't have my tote bag in my possession; in fact, I rested my feet on my bag throughout the whole trip. When I stepped off the bus to retrieve my keys, I noticed my wallet was missing. After I checked the contents of my tote bag in my car with no luck, I tried to return to the bus to look for my wallet but the bus was already leaving. The on-call manager (also the CEO) didn't get back to me until the next afternoon. When he called me back after checking about my wallet, he said the attendant didn't know anything about my wallet (What a surprise!) and they were not responsible. When I spoke with another LimoLiner attendant at their lot in Framingham, she told me that LimoLiner does not have a policy that a passenger can't move their bag to a different seat -- that that was ridiculous. I guess it was my fault for trusting that LimoLiner has honest employees.
Posted By Paula on June 29, 2008, 7:33 PM
The website lists tickets at $89. one way. How did you get the lower fare?
Posted By Faye on August 3, 2008, 7:03 AM
LimoLiner -Actually LemonLiner: Failed Equipment; Poor Customer Service
When we got on the bus the attendant said the bathroom was broken and we would stop in Hartford. “Is this usual”, I asked. She said it never happened before. Turns out it was her maiden voyage as well.
When the bus broke down in New Rochelle, the driver was not sure what to do - he was new as well. We were on a railroad overpass with a very small breakdown lane, with the bus shaking every time a truck drove passed.
Three of us were able to call a cab, get out of the danger and continue our journey to Manhattan. LimonLiner has refused to reimburse us claiming that another bus arrived shortly to transport the stranded passengers.
Very poor customer service. I will never use the service again
Posted By Hal on May 11, 2009, 2:11 PM
I was on the Limoliner this weekend. My return bus was delayed arriving at the pickup point for over 1 1/2 hours due to an engine problem. The problem was repaired on the road and the bus continued in service. It broke down again 30 minutes into our trip and Limoliner left us stranded on the side of the road for 7 hours before a replacement bus came to pick us up. We were originally due in Framingham at 7:45 PM. We actually arrived after 4:00 in the morning. To add insult to injury, they are refusing to reimburse me for my ticket because I purchased that ticket at a charity auction. Instead they are offering me a voucher for another ride. Frankly, I'm not interested in dealing with this company ever again, so a free ride gives me nothing. The bus was fine, the ride acceptable, the customer service is hideous.
Posted By Susan on March 23, 2010, 10:52 AM
I've taken Limoliner at least 10 times. NEVER had a problem, but won't take it again if these maintenance problems aren't fixed!
Posted By pkd on August 23, 2010, 6:14 PM
Unreliable, unusable. This company cancels rides at the last minute, issues a refund, and good luck to you! I booked 2 seats from Boston to NY, relishing the thought of business class seats and service. A few hours before the trip I got an email with the lame excuse that the driver had called in sick. End of the story: at the last minute I could only book cramped cheap seats on Greyhound. Only a third rate hole in the wall outfit would cancel because a driver calls in sick; either they're a small outfit or they didn't sell enough seats to cover the cost. Either way, skip them!
Posted By Dis Gruntled on December 30, 2010, 6:32 PM
WAKE UP and attempt to discover what Customer Service is. You have no idea.
Posted By Costache Valentin-Cristian on May 6, 2012, 9:58 AM