Green Vacation Travel
By Bus

When traveling by bus, there are many things to consider and ways to reduce the environmental impact. Having a better understanding of the impact is vital to making an intelligent decision for your green vacation travel.

Buses are divided into two fundamental categories. First, there is the issue of local bus travel versus renting cars and other options. The second issue is one of longer city to city transportation.

1) Is riding a bus more efficent? Mass transit of any sort is more efficient that other modes of transportation. And having a bus that is full is likewise more efficient than a bus that is empty. Though the vehicle is using more resources than an empty bus, it divides the resources spent over better productivity through carrying additional passengers. Likewise, if you are traveling, most likely the bus is taking the trip anyway. So if you consider the resources already spent, it is like riding without costing any additional resources.

2) Should I wait for a Hybrid bus? Actually the technology regarding Hybrid vehicles is still developing for the mass transit market. They are getting more and more efficient but are not necessarily reducing emissions or decreasing resources costs. That being said, supporting the industry does help justify the creation of newer technologies that may be more beneficial for the future.

3) What about a natural gas powered bus? These are not that much more efficient than other forms of fuel, but they do come from more domestic sources. Likewise, it reduces the need for oil production which can reduce the strain on that industry. Additionally, emissions are reduced through the use of natural gas.

4) How can I make a tour bus more efficient? Often tour bus companies will leave their vehicles idling for hours so that it is air conditioned when the passengers arrive. If you do a little more due diligence and specifically request that the vehicles not be maintained in this way, most companies will comply and reduce the resource drains immensely. Likewise, planning your trip around traffic patterns, avoiding traffic, etc. will assist in reducing the resouce cost greatly. Lastly, choosing a bus that fits the size of your group rather than utilizing a vehicle much to large for your group would be more efficient.

Most people think of Greyhound and Trailways for their bus travel, of course. There are several eco-friendly bus companies that exist in various regions as well. They can be used for your eco-friendly travel or for ways to enhance your green travel when arriving in an area.

For example, you could fly to Southern California and then use the Lux Bus, which serves Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Diego as well as Las Vegas in Nevada.

Redcoach serves much of Florida and Georgia with service in Bradenton, Daytona Beach, Fort Myers, Fort Pierce, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Miami, Naples, Ocala, Orlando, St. Pete, Tallahassee, Tampa and West Palm in Florida and Atlanta and Tifton in Georgia. You should note the large number of college towns and spring break destinations served that can make for a greener spring break.

Tripper serves New York City with service to Washington, DC in both Arlington, Virginia and Bethesda, Maryland. Both of those are convenient for the Metro so you can access both cities fairly easily. Vamoose does the same but addss an extra location in Lorton, Virginia as well.

Boltbus hits most of the Northeast including Baltimore, Boston, Cherry Hill and Philadelphia, Greenbelt (MD), Newark, NYC, and Washington, DC at relatively inexpensive rates.

MegaBus covers a much broader area with a lot of locations. I guess that's what makes them Mega. Just a few are Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Memphis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Washington, DC.

If you have a larger event, you should contact local companies to find charters. Remember, the more local the bus, the less it had to travel to get to you. It's not just how far you travel, but how far it travels.

Feel free to browse this website to find additional information about your green vacation travel choices. Not only ways of reducing the impact of your trip, but also alternatives for the purpose. From Ecotravel to Volunteer Vacations, there are choices that you can make that can expose you to a new world or even benefit the environment.