Berths are now Sleep Pods.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/sleepbus-runs-overnight-between-sf-and-la-for-dollar48/ar-BBsOGmV?li=BBnbfcL
Except that it does not use the railroad station in Los Angeles, it is better than what Amtrak offers for overnight travelers between Oakland and Los Angeles: Leave Oakland on a thruway bus at 10:00 pm, stop at the Transbay Terminal in San Francisco, and 11 more places before arriving in Santa Barbara at 6:30 in the morning, transfer to #768, which leaves at 6:49 and arrives in Los Angeles at 9:35 and in San Diego at 12:40 in the afternoon.
Northbound, you leave San Diego on #785 at 4:45 pm and Los Angeles at 7:15, arrive in Santa Barbara at 9:50, transfer to the bus which leaves at 9:55, makes the same stops as the southbound, and arrives in Oakland at 6:05 in the morning--making it possible to take a train for Sacramento.
Still, I would prefer spending a night in the Bay Area or San Jose and taking the Coast Starlight down to Los Angeles .
Johnny
Shades of the Pickwick Nite Coach.
Some of the variants at least proposed by Pickwick look like an early version of Greyhound's Super Scenicruisers.
Return of the sections sleeper! Pity it can't be on the rails.
Gramp Berths are now Sleep Pods. http://www.msn.com/en-us/autos/news/sleepbus-runs-overnight-between-sf-and-la-for-dollar48/ar-BBsOGmV?li=BBnbfcL
Just to point out what is apparently a small tech error in the posted article by the OP:
FTA-"...A new type of bus service is starting up to offer travelers a new way to get between two of California's largest cities. It's called the SleepBus, but the company doesn't actually use a bus; it's a Volvo truck hitched to a long trailer with individual sleep pods on board..."
It would appear that the Volvo truck is actually an extended frame, non- articulated vehicle, [unless there is a trailer that has not been shown with the original articles posting?] .
The use of extended Truck Chassis by Recreational Vehicle Manufacturers has been around fr some time. They can be very luxuriously equipped to the owner's desires.
It might be worth noting here that back in the late 1950's and 60's divisions of Continental Trailways Bus Co had several iterations of articulated, and non-articulated highway buses in it's Golden Eagle Bus Services. Premium service with on-board hostesses and limited food services.
Thanks for bringing this service to my attention. Too bad the website http://www.sleepbus.co/ FAQ is completely silent on many issues:
- the fare
- the exact end points. Very important if you need connecting transportation. Very skeptical about sleeping 6 - 9 am at either endpoint in a noisy city downtown.
- how long are those bunks? We tall folks got to know.
- bedbug / flea control measures? They allow pets, no more details right now.
- contact phone number
- reservation / billing / refund process. Probably similar to Megabus / Boltbus.
They are sold out and won't be offering more service until at least August 15 due to equipment shortage (missed one opportunity).
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I would like to see how one of those is evacuated in an emergency with that concentration of people in a small area. I don't see any pop-out windows on those sleeper compartments for example. Also are those curtains going to hold you into position during a sudden road manuever.........I doubt it.
So this whole thing is redlining my DOUBT IT meter.
6 to 6.5 hours transit time...interesting, sounds like they're taking I5, and not going to be close to either downtown. You can't do LA - SF without doing 80 - 85 mph, even going on I5...yeah, no thanks.
For some reason I am reminded of a discussion I had with an Aunt in the 1970s.
She had been a journalist with womens magazines and somehow was invited to ride the inaugural Douglas Sleeper Transport flight from New York to Los Angeles (in 1936, I think..).
The aircraft was forced down by bad weather in Oklahoma.
All the passengers were taken to a hotel and the flight resumed the next day.
But, of course, a large aircraft (for the time, a DC-3) landing at night in a small town in rural Oklahoma atracted many onlookers as the passengers deplaned in their night wear. My Aunt was still upset forty years later at being stared at (by yokels, as she described them) in her sleepwear.
Of course, nothing would stop a bus on an interstate and cause a similar problem...
M636C
M636COf course, nothing would stop a bus on an interstate and cause a similar problem...
At least the straight-truck chassis design as pictured would not catch fire like the Megabus and force sleeper customers off without perhaps either full clothing or access to luggage...
Maybe they could bring back "The Big Bus"
rdamonMaybe they could bring back "The Big Bus"
The more I look at this, the more it looks like a cross between the roadie part of an entertainer coach and the pipe-bunk setup on a J-boat -- a kind of kapuseru basu. With 1990s mobile-home style kitchen accommodations to share with the other passengers...
ndbprrEuropeans have been touring the US for twenty years this way with about 20-25 people per bus. I guess no one ever got injured in a train wreck ot had to evacuate. Oh yeah how about that bridge wreck east of New Orleans or derailing at speed. Every method of travel has the potential for mayhem. Caviat empetor
Really? What sleeper buses do they use with bunks stacked three high and only 2 feet between that rack and another rack of bunks stacked 3 high with no immediate method of escape. I honestly do not think Europeans would go for a concept like that but maybe you could convince me otherwise?
Even in their 2nd Class Sleepers with 6 bunks (two racks of three) they have a lot of room between them and they are seperated by a large picture window for evacuation. Plus the vertical clearance between bunks is several feet so that you can situp in the bunk without leaving it.........show us how you do that on this bus.
I can't see that bus passing muster as a common carrier conveyance. It might be OK for families and private use but for paying passengers I think the Feds would be all over it with safety violations.
BTW, Mercedes-Benz can't sell their buses in the United States yet even though I think they are better riding and more comfortable then the SETRA models. Look forwards to the day when they are marketed here.
rdamon Maybe they could bring back "The Big Bus"
Or this
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