If you're sick of air travel and the many major flight interruptions in recent years, you might be reluctant to fly again, especially for shorter distances. Gas prices, tolls, and the frustration of driving make long-distance car travel just as unappealing. If you have to get somewhere during the busy holiday travel season, going by bus or train might be your best option. The travel apps listed below help you compare cost, route, total travel time, and other factors when searching for tickets on a bus or train.
One of the biggest hurdles to traveling by bus and train, however, is knowing which apps search across bus and train companies to help you compare your options. These are the ones you need for traveling in the US and Canada in particular, listed in the order of how strongly I recommend them.
Best Overall: Wanderu
Wanderu App
Wanderu is by far the best app I've tested and used for searching and comparing bus and rail tickets. It looks at prices, departure and arrival times, and other factors across Amtrak and multiple bus companies, including FlixBus, Greyhound, Megabus, Peter Pan Lines, Tripper, Vamoose, and others. You can purchase tickets from within the app—though my pro tip is to purchase your ticket directly with the operator when possible because you may get better options if you need to change or refund your ticket (for example, OurBus allows free cancellation with a refund up to 30 minutes before your bus departs). Wanderu has routes in the US and Canada, as well as select parts of Europe.
Compares Bus, Train, Air, and Car Travel: Rome2Rio
Rome2Rio
Rome2Rio is best when you need to compare not only the prices but also the total time for getting from point A to B via different modes of travel. Enter your starting point and destination, and Rome2Rio lists the estimated travel time and cost for going by air, bus, train, car, or sometimes a combination. A good example is the route between Buffalo, NY, and Washington, DC. Going entirely by train can take 12 hours or more, and the bus route is more than 16 hours. But by combining train travel and one flight, you can get there in four hours or less for a reasonable starting price of about $134. Rome2Rio isn't restricted to the US and Canada and works particularly well in Europe; a representative told me it works worldwide. When I tested the app for a route in Canada, the app pushed me to a web page for my ticket purchase.
Ferry Options Included: Omio
Omio
Omio, which is owned by the same company as Rome2Rio, looks for train, bus, ferry, and flight routes between two given points. During testing, the app occasionally didn't show available bus options; sometimes, I had to click an additional button to reveal them. But it does give a quick breakdown of the difference in price between taking the train, bus, or plane. You can book and pay for tickets right in the app. Omio works for routes in the US, Canada, and select countries in Europe.
A Big Travel Aggregator App With Bus and Train: Kiwi
Kiwi
Kiwi is a comparative travel search and booking site that defaults to air travel, but it includes options to add bus and train routes to your search. The trick is to enable these options only after you've made an initial search for your starting point, destination, and dates of travel (look for the checkboxes for Bus and Train on the left side of the screen). Kiwi supports train and bus routes between locations in the US, some select cities in Canada, and some parts of Europe.