2 New Chinatown Buses Vying for Stop at 18 Allen Street

The crowded marketplace of budget buses on lower Allen Street is to gain a pair. Options, that is. Two separate operators – Eastern Coach and No. 1 Bus Tour – are applying to share an inter-city stop at 18 Allen (aka 61 Canal). The location is just around the corner from the always-bustling 59 Canal curbside pickup.

Here are nuts and bolts of the applications [PDF] from both companies, lifted directly from the paperwork. As you’ll see, Eastern Coach is higher volume, ferrying passengers to Washington, DC; No. 1 Bus Tour route is an unspecified location in Virginia.

No. 1 Bus Tour

• The proposed location is currently regulated with 1-hour parking, 9 am to 7 pm except Sunday, and a night regulation: no parking midnight to 3 am Tues, Thurs, and Sat.

• There will be 4 pickups from 3:30 pm to 5 pm, and 4 drop-offs from 6:15 am to 7:30 am, 7 days a week.

• The bus will travel from New York City to Virginia.

• The stop would be approved for only one bus at a time.

Easter Coach Inc.

• The bus will be in operation 4 am to 11:45 pm, 7 days a week. There will be 11 drop-offs/11 pickups Monday – Friday; 15 drop-offs/16 pickups Saturday and Sunday.

• The bus will travel from New York City to Washington, DC.

• The stop would be approved for only one bus at a time.

Mere speculation, but we can’t see any nearby Chinatown buses surviving after the Jarmulowsky hotel opens in a few years. Can’t have that in the view of guests, right?

The new bus stop will be discussed at the upcoming CB3 Transportation subcommittee meeting on March 12.

Bus stop rat bag, ha ha charade you are…