Details on bus service from Washington to New York, Philadelphia, Boston

Greyhound (800-231-2222, http://www.greyhound.com) offers passenger bus service around North America, serving more than 2,300 destinations with 13,000 daily departures. For Washington area terminals, travelers can hop on the Dog in Northeast Washington (1005 First St. NE), Springfield (6770 Frontier Dr.), Woodbridge (1040 Express Dr.), Silver Spring (8100 Fenton St.), New Carrollton (4700 Garden City Dr., Lanham), Annapolis (308 Chinquapin Round Rd.) and Frederick (MARC train station, 100 S. East St.). Peter Pan (800-343-9999, http://www.peterpanbus.com), which departs from the Greyhound terminal in the District, travels along the Northeast Corridor to New Hampshire.

Fleets of low-fare buses offer daily express service between Washington and New York, as well as to Baltimore and Philadelphia. For the Manhattan route, some companies tout one-way fares of $1, but unless you book way in advance, most single trips average about $20, plus a nominal booking fee. Popular bus lines include BoltBus, owned by Greyhound/Peter Pan (877-265-8287, http://https://www.boltbus.com), DC2NY (202-332-2691, http://www.dc2ny.com), Washington Deluxe (866-287-6932, http://www.washny.com) and Megabus (877-462-6342, http://www.megabus.com), a subsidiary of Coach USA. Most of the vehicles feature free WiFi and power outlets.

The buses pick up from several locations in the District (Union Station, McPherson Square, Dupont Circle, etc.) and typically drop passengers off near Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. Outside the Beltway, Vamoose (877-393-2828, http://www.vamoosebus.com; $30 one way) and TripperBus (877-826-3874, http://www.tripperbus.com; $25 one way) serve Bethesda and Arlington/Rosslyn. For deals and discounts, be sure to sign up for the bus line's frequent-rider program. And to perform a quick and easy search of buses and their departure times and locations, go to Busjunction.com (http://www.busjunction.com).