A few less white people will be populating the streets of midtown Manhattan with the recent shutdown of the P2P Circulator, aka Chinatown Bus for Suburbanites. For an extra $5, the P2P picked you up at 30th Street Station and dropped you off at The Garden — the Madison Square kind — keeping folks closer to their comfort zone. It stank a little less, broke down 2 fewer times per week, and even took credit cards on the bus. Yep, this shit was BUILT to take Penn kids shopping in boroughs 1 thru 5, and let them think they were stickin’ it to Amtrak’s bend-me-over-and-give-it-raw price point.
For our money, though, the New Century is still the truth. The bus is real fucked up, they don’t pretend to speak English, and you KNOW you’re sitting above 300 pounds of opium on every trip. They pick you up on their terms, when and where they feel like it. Don’t ask about the can. Bolt Bus? Please, Philebrity took this shit once, and the Main Line Bohemia Mom factor was: Through. The. Roof. They also sell out on EVERY TRIP, so you’re guaranteed to sit next to someone. And not in the interesting “bus traveler” sort of sitch where it’s often the Myriad Of Mental Health On Wheels. No, this is just full of assholes.
 Our biggest beef with the P2P being laid to rest was how it went down. A simple posting on the website stated that service would no longer be provided. This is the Chinatown Bus, kids. An institution. We always envisioned an out-of-control motorcoach engulfed in flames careening off the bridge and into the Schuylkill, where it laid to rest like a sunken battleship. What a gyp.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 at 10:32 am.