New Luxury Travel Alternative Between Boston and New York, Competition for Acela Express Options

[CNJRoss]

Press Release Source: LimoLiner


LimoLiner Introduces New Luxury Travel Alternative Between Boston and New York
Friday October 3, 6:00 am ET

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 3, 2003--
New Service Enables Business Travelers to Recapture Lost Productivity En Route in a Comfortable, Wired Environment; Offers Comparable Door-to-Door Travel Time as Plane and Train with Fewer Hassles and a Lower Price

LimoLiner, a new luxury vehicle service operating between Boston and New York, officially commenced service today. The LimoLiner is a first-class, 28-passenger vehicle that offers Boston and New York commuters a comparable door-to-door travel time as plane or train services, but with fewer hassles, more luxury, a low price ($69 each way) and onboard conveniences such as wireless internet access at each seat that enable passengers to be more efficient and productive en route.

Full press release here.

Website: www.limoliner.com

Note: $69 fare is "introductory" -- stated near end of release

[Sloan]

It'll be interesting to see if this new mode gains acceptance. Business people have such a "knee jerk" reaction to air travel, LimoLiner is going to have to do some major marketing to overcome that mode loyalty.
BTW, Greyhound dabbled in first class motorcoach travel in 1961. In that year, paid a "premium" of $1.18 above the New York—DC fare for an express ride south on I-95. Seating on the ScenicCruiser was the normal 2&2. There was a perky stewardess on board who served you a prepackaged sandwich, tomato soup in a paper cup, and a non-alcoholic beverage of your choice.

Greyhound didn't offer this service for very long, and I can understand why. Despite the cachet of a stewardess on board, passengers were still riding on a bus subject to traffic congestion and the pitch, roll, and yaw of movement which are not agreeable to people with queasy stomachs. BTW, how is one going to have a privacy on LimoLiner with cellphone chatter and laptops beeping and buzzing? IMHO, bathrooms on buses are worse (cramped and smelly)than airliner water closets!

[KevinKorell]

If you look at the downtown-to-downtown times of the Limoliner, all of the trips, with the exception of the late night one, are over 4 hours. Acela Express, even on the weekends with the New Haven layover, is no more than 3-1/2 hours. I bet the Limoliner does not get up to 150 mph!!! And although AMTRAK sometimes runs into "traffic" (i.e. trackwork, local commuter trains, etc.) the Limoliner is more exposed to problems that could occur on I-95.

[JAChooChoo]

The LimoLiner is an MCI with 6 rows of 2+1 seating in the front compartment, then a galley and restroom.
The rear compartment has 2 tables, one for 4, one for 2, then 4 seats at the rear. 28 total passengers.

That means 10 buses to match one Acela trainset.
So their daily capacity is 4% of Acela.
No real competition

[DFDoug]

Interesting idea, however I feel it will fail as well.

One item in "Sloans" note...he referred to the bathroom on a bus. On a tour I took a couple of years ago (visiting 6 railroad museums), the guide explained the use of the "International Room" at the rear of the bus.

When you are going to use the room, you are "Russian"; when you are in the room you are "European" and when you return to your seat, you are "Finnish"!!!

Doug Heinrichs
Deerfield, IL