NEW YORK CITY - Four months after it began offering luxury motorcoach service between Boston and New York City, LimoLiner has yet to attract significant ridership by business travelers, The New York Times reports.
LimoLiner operates between Boston's Back Bay and Midtown Manhattan three times each weekday and once on Sunday for $69 each way. It began service Oct. 1.
"Since then, most business travelers have resisted LimoLiner's advances, but Fergus McCann, the Scottish entrepreneur who started the Boston-based service, has a plan to promote it by persuading potential customers to tour the inside of the vehicle," the Times reported.
The 200-mile, Boston-to-New York trip is one of the busiest corporate travel markets in the U.S. A tourism marketing organization told the Times that 316,000 Bostonians travel to New York for business each year.
At the same time, the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau estimates that almost a million New Yorkers head to Boston annually.
With LimoLiner creating a new option for New York-Boston travelers, Times reporter Ken Gordon was assigned the task of comparing the four modes of public transportation now available to commuters between the two cities.
What follows is Gordon's description of two round trips, starting in Boston on LimoLiner, returning on Amtrak's Acela Express, going back to Manhattan on a Greyhound, and making the final leg home to Boston on a US Airways Shuttle.

Room to stretch out
The silver LimoLiner pulled in front of the Hilton Boston Back Bay Hotel 15 minutes late on a cold Thursday afternoon, and Lara Setrakian, a Harvard senior with 70,000 frequent-flier miles, and three other passengers climbed aboard. Inside were tinted windows and 28 reclining leather chairs that gave off a pleasant musky aroma. "It doesn't have that bus smell, which is a killer," Ms. Setrakian said.
Compared with the Acela, the LimoLiner provided each person an enormous amount of legroom. And not just that: the bus is rarely crowded, meaning travelers can wait until the last minute to buy a ticket.
Hillary Johnson, a student at Harvard's Graduate School of Education who travels between Boston and New York four times a year, decided to take the LimoLiner three hours before its departure. "You can't do that with an airplane, unless you want to pay an incredible amount of money," she said.
Soon, an attendant brought sandwiches and nonalcoholic drinks to passengers, "much like a flight attendant would on an airline," said Kevin S. Kennefick, chief executive of Data Intensity, a database business in Waltham, Mass., and a recent LimoLiner customer.
Also available at each seat: free Ethernet or wireless connections, an amenity that neither the plane nor the train offers. "Having access to e-mail for the length of the trip, that's a home run," said Scott Signore, a principal at Matter Communications in North Andover, Mass.
The coach also offers movies on the big-screen television (earphones: $2) and free magazines.
On this day, the bus reached its destination, the New York Hilton, 45 minutes late. Mr. McCann, the owner, said he was not certain how long the $69 fare would last, but added, "I would rather have it fail at $69 than be empty at $99."

Office on a track
Amtrak's Train 2164 was so crowded that Brian Foye and Chris Harrington, managers for the Capital Grille steakhouse in Westborough, Mass., had to sit in the quiet car, which did not suit them.
Acela passengers, unlike LimoLiner guests, are not permitted to choose their seats before boarding.
It was a Friday afternoon, an hour after the train had left Penn Station in Manhattan 10 minutes late, and the pair had moved to the cafe car for $4.50 beers.
Though the Acela serves alcohol and has a larger menu than the LimoLiner, it charges for the food and drink and sometimes runs out of items, including, on this trip, hot dogs, pizza and roast turkey sandwiches. On the other hand, the opportunities for social interaction are greater and it is easier for passengers to spread out papers and write memorandums.
Alison Merifield, an account director at the Boston office of Lewis PR who often rides the Acela, describes the train less as a mode of transportation than as a mobile satellite office. "Our clients expect to be able to reach us any time, and traveling on the Acela means they can," she said. "While cellphone coverage can be spotty - particularly when trying to conduct a conference call with India - it's still better than on a plane."
Although the train has a top speed of 150 miles an hour, it is notorious for running late. David Jacobson, a public relations freelancer in the Boston area, complained that after Providence, R.I., it "creeps along the coast while you watch the old men driving Cadillacs go faster than you."
Still, on this trip, the train got to Boston in three hours and 13 minutes, just two minutes late. The one-way fare was $99.

Low-price option
The most arduous leg of this road test was a Monday morning Greyhound journey from Riverside Station in Boston to the Port Authority terminal in New York.
At $30 for a one-way ticket, the price is right (though triple the $10 fare for the Fung Wah bus that runs between the Chinatowns of New York and Boston), but the ambience is stark.
While the LimoLiner's bathroom was clean and bright, featuring a black vase with yellow flowers and plenty of mirror space, Greyhound's had a flimsy accordion door, a small stack of moist towelettes, no sink and a chemical smell.
The ride was cramped and bumpy and no food was available.
All of which may help explain why there was a distinct absence of laptop computers and suits on this three-hour-and-55-minute journey, which began 10 minutes late.
So where were the corporate travelers?
Julia Searles, a Greyhound ticket agent in Boston, said business travelers usually caught the 7:20 a.m. bus, which she said was "always on time."

Crowded yet speedy
On a Tuesday, the check-in line for a 2 p.m. US Airways Shuttle to Boston was short and the security measures seemed routine, if tight.
Tom Kane, a vice president of Harborside, a New York stock trading company, sa