It's true. A New York company provides service to Florida on spacious buses that boast Internet access, movies and attendant staff. They'll even take your car.
By SI LIBERMAN
Published December 18, 2005
"Champagne? Or would you prefer red or white wine?" the smiling attendant in beige slacks, matching jacket and gold-colored sandals asked.
Ensconced in wide seats, my wife, Dorothy, and I opted for the Champagne, to ease our trip to Florida from New Jersey. We were among a collegial group of passengers, mostly snowbirds, traveling not in the first-class section of an airplane but on a carpeted, 31-passenger bus.
Our bus had a small kitchen, four TV monitors, bathroom, Wi-Fi Internet access and, in addition to our attendant, two other staffers who alternated as drivers.
The ride included complimentary drinks, yogurt, salty and sweet snacks, as well as overnight accommodations in the Fayetteville, N.C., Holiday Inn, a buffet dinner (choice of salad, fried chicken, pot roast, fish, cake, fruit) and breakfast. We also paid to have our car loaded onto the accompanying car carrier.
The service is sold by Hampton Jitney's Ambassador Class service.
After boarding the comfortable bus in central New Jersey and spending the night in the North Carolina motel, we arrived in West Palm Beach the next evening. Our car was waiting for us.
Hampton Jitney Inc., a 32-year-old, Long Island-based company that moves 500,000 commuters a year between Manhattan and the Hamptons, initiated Florida runs in 1990. At that time, it used 54-passenger buses and leased car trailers. Through the years, the weekly service, running from September to late June, has carried an increasing number of travelers from as far north as Canada. The boarding takes place in New York and New Jersey locations.
The company introduced the more upscale Ambassador Class service a few years ago, offering fewer but wider reclining seats and a larger variety of drinks and refreshments.
The price for the Ambassador Class is $1,528 for two people and a car, $350 more than for the standard service on the 54-passenger buses.
Saving wear and tear
We settled on the Jitney as a matter of convenience.
One of the two New Jersey boarding-disembarking and car-collection sites, the Ramada Inn near Exit 8 of the New Jersey Turnpike, is only a 45-minute drive from our home. There is also a boarding-disembarking location in Cherry Hill Township, N.J., two on Long Island and one in Manhattan.
The Cherry Hill stop, begun this year, is a short drive from Philadelphia.
Having previously traveled this route by plane, our car and Amtrak's Auto Train, we found this Jitney trip far less stressful. It spared us many hours of driving and competing with 18-wheelers on busy Interstate 95.
In addition to the West Palm Beach service area, east coast passengers and vehicles are also dropped off and picked up at service sites in Kingsland, Ga. (near Jacksonville), Titusville and Fort Lauderdale. West coast service areas are in Orlando, Brandon, Sarasota and Fort Myers.
Except for a minor glitch, we were satisfied with our trip: For the first four or five hours, we were unable to listen to the music channels or watch movies on any of the TV monitors because headsets were not available. The attendant had forgotten them.
However, she purchased them during a lunch stop in a Virginia shopping center, apologized as she distributed them, and we still managed to take in four movies on the trip.
The bus stopped every three or so hours for 15 minutes for a rest stop.
Most passengers appeared to be Jitney veterans.
"I don't fly, and I love going on the bus," said Marcella Cook, a Riverhead, N.Y., widow who has been traveling this way to and from Orlando a couple times a year since 2002. She has a home in Lakeland. "It's like going to a party," she said with a laugh. "They serve goodies, entertain you, you meet nice people and they have excellent drivers."
Eleanor and Alan Honigman, who have a condo in West Palm Beach, boarded in Cherry Hill. "It's only a quarter of a mile from where we live, very convenient," Mrs. Honigman said. "We've traveled with them five other times. It's very comfortable."
One time, she added, their car arrived the day after they did."They put us up in a hotel, paid for meals. They're very reliable. We already have a reservation to return home in May."
According to the company's president, Geoffrey R. Lynch, 36, ridership dramatically increased in recent years. Fears after 9/11 and a couple of fatal train wrecks have been contributing factors. Also, he said, using top buses and adding Cherry Hill and Titusville service areas to the Florida run have helped.
"Internet access is now available on every one of our 35 coaches. We began offering it this year as an $8 a day option."
- Freelance writer Si Liberman spends his winters in Palm Beach and the rest of the year in Interlaken, N.J.
IF YOU GO
Contact Hampton Jitney Inc. by going to www.hamptonjitney.com calling toll-free 1-800-327-0732 or by writing to the company at the Omni, 395 County Road 39A, Suite 6, Southampton, NY 11958.
Ambassador Class New York area to Florida one-way fares: Car and driver, $1,061. Two passengers and car, $1,528. Passenger only, $488. Car only, $695.
One-way fares on the standard Jitney bus: Car and driver, $869. Two passengers and car, $1,178. Passenger only, $329. Car only, $695.
