Helicopter charter company Blade was founded 10 years ago as a way for commuters traveling between New York and the Hamptons to avoid traffic jams.
This May, the company will introduce a new service, the Hamptons Streamliner. It starts at $195 per ticket and takes passengers aboard a bus to destinations on eastern Long Island.
Like Blade’s helicopters (prices start at $1,025 for a seat), the company’s buses are also marketed as a luxury option for those visiting the Hamptons. Seats can recline up to 45 degrees, and passengers traveling from Manhattan via the Long Island Expressway to stops in Southampton, Bridgehampton and Easthampton will receive complimentary snacks such as espresso martinis, pop-up bagels and sweet green salads. will be done.
Other amenities include a call button at each seat to get the attention of the flight attendants who can deliver snacks, drinks, hot towels, cashmere blankets and more to passengers. Those who want her one of the seven premium seats priced at $275 can also bring their pets along for the ride (for an additional fee).
Of course, the 19-seater motorcoach is subject to the same traffic and hours-long traffic jams that other vehicles may encounter on the highway, but the on-board perks are its biggest draw. said Roisin Branch, Blade’s chief marketing officer. “This level of service is comparable to what you would find on a commercial airline,” she said.
Branch said Blade leaders are offering more affordable Hamptons bus services like the 54-seat Jitney and 30-seat Ambassador (tickets start at $41 and $64), as well as more affordable options like the helicopter. He said he believes there is room for the market among more expensive modes of transportation. Complaints from residents of New York City and the Hamptons increased about noise and other disturbances.
The Hamptons Streamliner is a partnership between Blade and Jet, a luxury bus service between New York and Washington, D.C., that supplied the two buses that will be used for the new transit service. (Jet founder Chad Scarborough said each bus costs about $1 million to purchase and equip.) Service is scheduled to begin just before Memorial Day weekend and run through the fall. .
Buses to the Hamptons pick up passengers at only one location in Manhattan. Hudson Yards is a neighborhood of luxury apartments, retail, and office towers that house technology companies like Meta and financial firms like BlackRock. point 72. Buses returning to Manhattan stop at locations on the East Side before ending the route at Hudson Yards.
“We wanted it to be express,” Branch said. “The fewer stops we make, the more valuable we are to the communities we serve.”
She said Hudson Yards was chosen as the starting point for the streamliner because some of the Hampton-bound people who work there choose to take the bus instead of driving or booking a chauffeur-driven car. He added that he was looking forward to it.
Bianca D’Alessio, 31, a real estate broker from New York, took both a Blade helicopter and a Jitney bus to the Hamptons. Mr. D’Alessio appears in “Selling the Hamptons.” Reality show focused on real estate Streaming service Max described Jitney as “no-frills” and said its “smaller bus experience” offering more luxury may appeal to certain passengers.
But other commuters, like Chloe Hector, 23, who lives in New York and whose parents own a home in the Hamptons, see little value in splurging on something more luxurious than sitting in traffic. I didn’t find it.
Hector, a recent Syracuse University graduate, said he sometimes takes the Ambassador bus, which offers free wine and coffee to passengers, but prefers the Jitney bus because it’s cheaper.
“If you want to spend a summer weekend outside, you want to do it in the cheapest and easiest way possible,” she said.
