The Triangle

Issue date: 5/16/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Alysson Cwyk An Apex bus rests below the Manhattan Bridge in NYC. In less than two hours, a Chinatown bus can get you from Philadelphia to 88 East Broadway for only $20 roundtrip.

Philadelphia is filled with cultural hotspots, ranging from concert venues and sports stadiums to numerous galleries, independent movie theatres and everything in between. One could probably find an event to fit their entertainment and leisure likings all seven days of the week. But sometimes, it's nice to get away from what you know and experience another metropolitan entertainment mecca: our close neighbor 100 miles to the north, New York City.

I was given the opportunity to attend a sold-out Tegan & Sara concert May 12 at Terminal 5 in Midtown Manhattan. Ever since the sisterly Canadian duo released their latest album "The Con" last summer, their concerts have been selling out at every venue. And Terminal 5 was no exception. Within two hours after the tickets were released to the public, there were none available and the show was completely sold out. Great, I had highly coveted tickets, no car, and very little spending money. How was I going to make it to New York City?

I had a few options: Amtrak, New Jersey Transit, biking and the most thrilling/dangerous-hitchhiking. An Amtrak ticket would cost me well over $70 round-trip at the cheapest, a price that I cannot afford as a college student living on a budget. New Jersey Transit would require me to transfer trains, waiting at train stations for long periods, and basically spending my whole day traveling. My body would probably not even make it halfway to the Big Apple via my bicycle. And, the last option is a little too extreme for me. I don't think I could ever hitchhike, even for Tegan and Sara Quin. After reviewing my options, I realized that I had forgotten the most sensible, least time-consuming, affordable form of transportation: a Chinatown bus!

Starting in the late 1990s, buses based out of Chinatown districts of East Coast cities began appearing. Most bus lines carried a customer base of made up of predominantly Asian immigrants to and from cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. all for inexpensive prices.

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