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By Allison Busacca
For many East Coast travelers, the Chinatown bus is a staple of inexpensive travel. Or, once in a while, the new crop of low-cost buses like Megabus will offer special deals, like its current 50,000 fares for $1 promotion.
But for ongoing low fares, there抯 GotoBus.com and BusJunction.com � bus ticket search engines that function much like Kayak or Expedia by aggregating fares and schedules from many bus companies.
BusJunction, which started last April, offers fewer cities but includes fares from established brands like Greyhound. GotoBus began in 2006 and recently added the ability to see prices over a span of travel dates.
Here are some notable features:
GotoBus.com
* Searches 85 cities across 19 states, plus Vancouver and Tijuana
* Allows one-way and roundtrip searches
* Can filter results based on operator, departure time and price
* Scans nearly 200 companies like DC2NY, MVP, Hola Bus and NewCentury
* Does not search BoltBus or MegaBus
The site also lists vacation packages. Current deals include a two-day, New York City to Niagara Falls tour, starting at $108 a person. A three-day, Los Angeles to Las Vegas, Grand Canyon South Rim tour starts at $99 a person. Both prices are based on double occupancy and a third person travels for free.
BusJunction.com
* Searches 30 cities
* Only one-way searches
* Bus searches include Megabus, BoltBus, Vamoose, DC2NY, Tripper, Greyhound, Trailways, Peter Pan, Lakefront, Fung Wah, Lucky Star, Eastern Travel, New Century
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