asap contributor Deborah Akel, who wrote this first-person piece on riding the Chinatown bus to New York from Washington, D.C. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)

The Chinese call their Chinatown buses "yejiche," which translates as "wild chicken truck." I can assure you that if you board one, you will be in for a wild ride.

As a Washington resident for 13 years, I've been on many a wild ride myself between the major Chinatown bus hubs of D.C., Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. With each journey, it's pretty much the same scenario: panic and uncertainty at the beginning, a bit of anxiety along the way. And at the end: a sigh of relief, some extra spending money in my pocket and a tale to tell.

The Chinatown bus is not for the fussy, the fastidious, or the faint of heart. It is for the frugal and the flexible. With some fares as low as $10, it's cheaper than driving there yourself. And you'll probably get to where you're going.

Eventually.

IN THE BEGINNING WAS FUNG WAH

The Chinatown bus service was born in the mid 1990s with the Fung Wah Bus company, created to shuttle restaurant workers between the Chinatowns of New York City and Boston. Ten years later, more than a dozen bus companies are in operation and the Chinatown bus business has become a lucrative and competitive industry.

It has expanded its routes to include Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and other cities in the Northeast Corridor, as well as the West Coast cities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Reno, and Las Vegas.

And it's not just for Chinese workers anymore. The Chinatown bus has a cult following which includes budget-conscious college students, tourists, hipsters, working-class fools and grandparents.

New York-bound: Buying discount commuter bus tickets in Boston's Chinatown in 2003. (AP Photo/Angela Rowlings)

CUTTHROAT COMPETITION

Racketeering, gang wars, extortion, stabbings, beatings, murder, armed robbery, bus torchings, shootouts with assault rifles, and headless torsos. It's the dark side of the Chinatown bus business.

In May 2002, a Dragon Coach bus company driver named De Jian Chen allegedly threw his bus in reverse, stepped on the gas, and smashed into a New Century bus, pinning New Century owner Lun Dong Chen between the buses.

Chen No. 1 reportedly backed up three times, leaving Chen No. 2 with a fractured pelvis, internal bleeding and other injuries. A year later, Chen No. 1 was chased down and riddled with bullets in the wee hours of the morning under the Manhattan Bridge in New York.

Since then, there have been other killings that authorities have linked to cutthroat competition and organized crime inside the Chinatown bus industry.

And speaking of cutthroat, try getting a seat on one of their buses on a holiday weekend.

SAFETY

The Chinatown bus is an industry that, in many ways, makes its own rules. At least it did until last year, when a Travel Pack company bus burst into flames on the Massachusetts Turnpike. According to a passenger, one of the tires blew out and white smoke began to fill the bus. Instead of stopping, the driver sped up. No one was injured, but the city and state of New York put the hammer down on the companies and began to impose strict regulations and surprise inspections.

THE PLUSES

Cheap, cheap, cheap. The typical one-way walkup fare between Boston and New York City, for example, is $15. Hard to beat, even if you drive it yourself. Recently, companies like Greyhound have been offering special e-fares to compete, but the Chinatown bus is still the cheapest way to go.

The average bus is relatively new and large (capacity of 50 to 60), and the seats are as comfortable as any other bus line's. Most are express buses that don't make intermediate stops - unless, of course, you run into problems (see THE MINUSES).

You might get to watch a kung fu flick in Chinese on the TV monitors. If the driver smokes, you can look forward to a smoke break. There are no smelly bus terminals to contend with -- it's curbside service all the way. You'll be riding with an eclectic cross-section of people. The schedules are frequent, and you can usually walk up and buy a ticket, which doesn't expire.

THE MINUSES:

If mayhem and vehicle fires haven't discouraged you, there's more. Let's begin with the bus company office.

Most are located in unexpected places, like the back of a bakery or inside someone else's store. In many cases, the buses don't board in the same location as the offices. The staff (and drivers) speak limited English, and signage is poor or nonexistent. That can cause confusion when it comes to buying your ticket and knowing which bus to board.

On a recent trip from Philadelphia to Washington, I sat behind an elderly gentleman from Eastern Europe who was traveling alone. About an hour into the trip, he began peering nervously out the windows, as if trying to figure out where we were. He asked a fellow passenger if our bus was going to New York.

When he was told it was headed for D.C., he freaked out. "Why you didn't tell me?" he screamed at the driver. Between his broken English, the limited English of the bus staff, and the lack of signage, this poor guy had boarded the wrong bus. He was headed 150 miles in the opposite direction on the last bus of the day.

The next big challenge: boarding. You may find, depending on when you travel, that there are more people who want to get on your bus than there are seats. Wannabe passengers begin congregating at the curb, and the moment the bus pulls up, they can easily turn into an angry mob. Remember: You're never guaranteed a seat until your ass is sitting in one.

With luck, your bus will leave on time. I boarded a bus in New York that was scheduled to leave at 5 p.m., but they wouldn't let it go until every seat was sold more than an hour later. Another time, I arrived in Washington's Chinatown at 11:45 a.m. to board a bus with a noon departure, only to find that the bus had left early.

On your journey, a good rule of thumb is to be ready for anything. Once, my driver got lost and left us sitting for 30 minutes while he got instructions from HQ on his cell phone. When a couple of passengers dared to ask what was going on, he yelled at them to sit down and shut up. Speaking of cell phones, don't be surprised if your driver is talking on one for the entire trip.

Breakdowns are not unusual, and God knows how long you'll have to wait for a replacement bus to come along. On one of my recent trips home from Philadelphia, my bus made an unscheduled stop on the shoulder of the road to pick up passengers whose bus had broken down three hours earlier.

READY TO GO?

If, after all this, you decide to take your chances and experience the thrill of a Chinatown bus ride, here are some essentials to keep in mind:

As companies like Greyhound continue to lower their fares to compete with the Chinatown buses, a rational person might decide that the reputation and reliability of an established company is more important than saving a few bucks.

But then, what is life if not an adventure?

Find it online here:

Chinatown-Bus.org Comprehensive list of Chinatown bus lines: http://www.chinatown-bus.org/

--GotoBus Search portal for bus travel: http://www.gotobus.com/

--Chinatown-Bus.com Schedules, tickets, and reviews for NY, Boston, Washington, DC and Philadelphia buses: http://www.chinatown-bus.com/

asap contributor Deborah Akel is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C.

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