Coaches to and from New York City
The cheapest way out of New York, and the mode where the address on your ticket matters more than the brand on it.
Intercity coach out of New York splits into two worlds: a 24-hour terminal with staff and a waiting room, and a stretch of pavement. Both are legitimate and the fare difference is often small. The difference shows up at 23:00 in February, which is exactly when nobody checks.
The other New York peculiarity is that the brand selling the ticket is frequently not the company driving the bus. That matters for one specific reason, covered at the bottom.
The Port Authority Bus Terminal, and who actually uses it
PABT is at 625 Eighth Avenue at West 42nd Street, running along Eighth between West 40th and 42nd, and it is open 24 hours. Greyhound and FlixBus board on the lower level at gates 60–68 and 79–85, with their ticket counter in the North Wing on the subway level.
Megabus in New York is now a Port Authority operation too, run by Peter Pan from gates 69–75 since 16 August 2024. That is a genuine change and the internet has not caught up: megabus.com’s own stops page still lists a 34th Street kerbside stop alongside the Port Authority gates, while New York’s permit register records Megabus Northeast’s two city kerb permits as voided after issue. Go by the address printed on your ticket, not by a stop list.
The kerbside stops, and what you give up at one
FlixBus and Greyhound also use pavement stops around Midtown — Hudson Yards, West 31st Street, West 36th Street — and there are two quite separate Chinatown kerbs that are easy to confuse because the booking platforms sell them under similar names. One boards on Allen Street between Hester and Canal; the other on Canal Street between Bowery and Chrystie, in front of the Lucky Star shop.
A kerb is not a terminal: no waiting room, no restroom, no counter, no staff, and often an intersection rather than a street address. FlixBus’s own instructions tell you to wait in a staff-directed line and not block the pavement. For a daytime departure that is fine. For an overnight, a long layover or a winter arrival it is a meaningful difference from PABT being open around the clock.
Two useful ones further out. Trailways opened a Hudson Yards stop at West 33rd and 11th Avenue on 8 August 2025 for Hudson Valley services — New Paltz, Kingston, Woodstock, Phoenicia — which the company calls an added option alongside PABT rather than a replacement. And the George Washington Bridge Bus Station at 4211 Broadway, between West 178th and 179th, is a Port Authority-run indoor station sold by both Greyhound and OurBus; for anyone heading to upper Manhattan or the Bronx it beats riding into Midtown and back out.
The brand on the ticket is often not the carrier on the road
Three examples, all from the companies’ own words. Flix has owned Greyhound since October 2021, and in New York the two share gates and kerbs — they are not alternatives to each other. Megabus in the Northeast is operated by Peter Pan. And OurBus owns no buses at all: “The coaches themselves are run by licensed partner operators, which is why onboard rules vary slightly from route to route.”
This matters for one practical reason. If you want to check a carrier’s safety record — and on an unfamiliar operator you should — searching the booking brand in the federal SAFER database finds nothing useful. Look up the operating carrier. New York makes that unusually easy: the city’s open data includes the intercity bus stop permit register, which names the permit holder for any given kerb.
Those permits are short, too. Several of the Chinatown and Midtown kerbs run on permits expiring between late 2026 and 2029, so a stop that existed when a blog post was written may not exist when you travel. The buses page has the general version of this and how to run the check.
Coach against train on the three corridors that matter
Boston, Washington and Philadelphia are where most New York coach traffic goes, and they are also the Northeast Corridor, so the comparison is unusually direct. The coach is materially cheaper. The train leaves from the middle of town and arrives in the middle of town at both ends, with no security and no gate closing early.
Two things tilt it further than the fares suggest. A coach on I-95 is exposed to traffic in a way a train is not, and the delay is unbounded. And if you are boarding at a kerb rather than PABT, the waiting experience is part of the product. Weigh those against the saving rather than the timetable — the rail page has the other side.
One myth to retire: congestion pricing did not raise scheduled coach fares. Under the MTA’s Commuter Bus Exemption Plan, commuter, transit and intercity buses on fixed public routes are exempt. Tour and charter coaches do pay — $14.40 peak for a small charter bus, $21.60 for a large tour bus with E-ZPass — but a scheduled service is not tolled.
Where to book
We take no bookings and hold no reservations. The provider you choose handles payment, confirmation, changes and refunds. How that works.
Common questions
Where do buses leave from in New York City?
Either the Port Authority Bus Terminal at 625 Eighth Avenue, which is open 24 hours, or one of several kerbside stops around Midtown and Chinatown. Greyhound and FlixBus use PABT gates 60–68 and 79–85; Megabus has been at PABT gates 69–75, operated by Peter Pan, since August 2024. Check the address on your own ticket rather than a stop list.
Is Megabus still a curbside service in New York?
No, and this is the most out-of-date thing on the internet about New York coaches. Megabus moved into the Port Authority Bus Terminal on 16 August 2024, operated there by Peter Pan, and the city’s permit register shows Megabus Northeast’s two kerbside permits as voided. Megabus’s own stops page still lists a 34th Street kerb, so trust your ticket.
What is the difference between a kerbside stop and the bus terminal?
Staff, shelter, a restroom, a ticket counter and 24-hour opening. A kerb has none of those and may be an intersection rather than an address. The fare gap is usually small, so for an overnight departure, a long layover or bad weather the terminal is worth the difference.
How do I check whether a bus company is safe?
Look up the operating carrier, not the brand that sold you the ticket, in the federal SAFER database — by USDOT number rather than name, because trading names overlap. In New York you can find the operator behind a particular kerb in the city’s public intercity bus stop permit register. OurBus, for instance, owns no buses and uses licensed partner operators.
Did congestion pricing make coach tickets more expensive?
No. Scheduled commuter, transit and intercity buses on fixed public routes are exempt under the MTA’s Commuter Bus Exemption Plan. Tour and charter coaches do pay — $14.40 peak for a small charter and $21.60 for a large tour bus with E-ZPass — but that does not touch a scheduled intercity service.
Are there alternatives to Port Authority for leaving the city?
Yes, and two are genuinely useful. The George Washington Bridge Bus Station at 4211 Broadway is a Port Authority-run indoor station sold by Greyhound and OurBus, better for upper Manhattan and the Bronx. Trailways opened a Hudson Yards stop at West 33rd and 11th Avenue in August 2025 for Hudson Valley routes.
Sources
Fares, journey times and operating rules on this page were checked against these sources on 11 September 2026. Authorities change fares and timetables without notice — confirm anything time-critical on the operator’s own site.