May 13, 2015
Franklin McNeill/PhillyVoice
Bolt Bus passengers prepare to board buses for Washington and Baltimore on Wednesday at 33rd Street in New York.
After Tuesday night’s derailment in Philadelphia, Amtrak commuters heading south from New York on Wednesday were forced to seek alternative means of travel. Some opted for low-cost Bolt Bus.
Phil Jacobs of West Hempstead, New York, the tour manager for ex-Jefferson Airplane member Jorma Kaukonen and rock band Hot Tuna, was about to book an Amtrak ticket around 11 p.m. Tuesday night before he saw the news of the accident.
"I knew there wasn’t going to be any service and went to the next option which was a bus service," Jacobs said. "I don’t take Bolt Bus too often. Hot Tuna has to play [Thursday] in Columbia, Maryland, so I have to be in Baltimore tonight.”
nvestigators saying the train was exceeding 100 miles per hour on a curve with a speed limit of 50.
"This has been a massive effort; it has been painful," said Nutter.
Kaukonen was among the 70 or so commuters waiting Wednesday at 33rd Street and 11th Avenue in Manhattan before they boarded buses to Baltimore and Washington.
"My first thought after hearing about the derailment was ‘that’s terrible.’ My second thought was: ‘How am I getting home tomorrow.,’" said environmental consultant Justin Krebs of Baltimore. "I thought that we might have to rent a car and drive back."
Krebs said that he takes Amtrak about once a week for his commute from New York to Baltimore.
"The train is so convenient for us because it’s so close to our [Baltimore] office; it’s two-and-a-half hours compared to three-and-a-half hours on the bus, and sometimes you might get stuck in traffic," Krebs said.
For some, the accident caused quite a headache.
“It impacted me a lot," said Linda Chen of Hoboken, New Jersey. She works in New York, but was traveling to Washington for business. "I couldn’t get where I needed to go today, so I had to find alternatives methods to getting there. I had to reschedule my appointments in order to get there in time. It was a lot of shuffling around.”
For others, transitioning from Amtrak to bus travel was seamless.
“I didn’t have any difficulty making the switch. I made my reservation at 6 in the morning," said Roy Smith, a money manager from Baltimore who rides Amtrak at least once a week to New York. "We’re thinking the train won’t be operational until Monday and if that’s the case it won’t affect me at all.”
Other bus services in Philadelphia and along the Northeast corridor are providing travelers with additional commuting options in lieu of the accident.
Greyhound Lines has added 10 additional roundtrip schedules from Philadelphia to New York, as well as six additional roundtrip schedules from New York to Washington D.C. Amtrak customers can also exchange their tickets for Greyhound tickets at their ticket counters for free until Amtrak service is up and running again.
Despite rail service from Philadelphia to New York being shut down, Greyhound said they had not experienced a substantial increase in Philadelphia passengers since the accident occurred.
Megabus will honor Amtrak tickets as well. Passengers can present their tickets upon boarding Megabus buses, when there is availability, for the following routes: Washington, D.C. to Philadelphia, Baltimore to Philadelphia, New York to Philadelphia, New York to Baltimore and New York to Washington, D.C.
