SleepBus – nightly non-stop trips between LA and SF | Hacker News Reader

SleepBus – nightly non-stop trips between LA and SF

sleepbus.co

42 pointssmaili11 comments

Given how many accidents we see with drowsy Megabus, Greyhound, and semi-trailer drivers swerving around in traffic and plowing into other vehicles we really should ask: is this a good idea?

Do we have a guarantee that SleepBus drivers are fully rested for an overnight shift?

The obvious status quo is purchasing a redeye flight. The Bay Area is remarkably well served by 3 international airports and LAX is enormous. Seems to me that there will be lots of overnight flights at competitive rates to compete against.

The other issue is cost. Each bus you purchase is a huge investment and presumably unusable during the day for other operations.

The economics seem slim at a high startup cost. I'd be interested in seeing how VCs react to this idea.

The UK has a few sleeper trains, where you get a proper (if small) cabin with a proper bed etc. They run from London to some of the major cities; I'm particularly fond of the London-to-Inverness sleeper (the buffet car does a killer haggis).

Cost wise, it's considerably more expensive than an Easyjet cattle-car class flight.

But the big benefit is that it takes no working-day wall clock time. I can leave the office in London after work, comfortably reach Euston where I board the train and settle down in the buffer car with a drink and wifi; then I arrive at Inverness at about 0700 the next morning, refreshed having slept well. All the travel happens while I'm asleep.

Conversely, flying Easyjet takes waking time. I have to leave the office in the middle of the day, get to the airport, wait, check in, wait, board, fly, and arrive at my destination still during waking hours --- it eats most of an entire day.

I can't tell how this bus would compare against an overnight red-eye flight, because we don't have those (the UK's not big enough!). But I imagine that having a bunk would mean that I could actually sleep on one of these buses, unlike the fake sleep you get on planes. I'd definitely consider this, even if it was more expensive than the plane.

very well said--"no wall clock time" as you put it. I've done the Euston/Kings Cross -> Inverness and E/KC -> Ft William many times and i loved it. Inverness has an airport and it's only an up-and-down flight, but what an ass ache to travel to gatwick to catch this flight rather than a 15-minute tube ride to the train station.

I think a redeye is an overnight flight. An SF<>LA flight takes about 45 minutes, so I doubt anyone is planning to get any considerable amount of sleep on one.

Then I guess you have to factor in housing costs, say a hotel fee.

Great idea... but its success depends on the cost. The homepage points to Wix's Facebook, Twitter, Google+.

My wife has tried many times to book, is there any transparency around when trips are actually made/one's ability to book?

This is a great idea, isn't this fairly common in Mexico?

It's common in a lot of countries. I took one in Vietnam and it looks like this (a bit denser than these buses, I believe)

http://www.sapavietnam-tours.com/image/sleeper-bus-sapa-viet...

http://www.mercurynews.com/bay-area-news/ci_24429126/homeles...

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