You know the airport check-in routine by heart now. Get there two hours early, then go through security lines, show your driver’s license and boarding pass. Check bags, then take off shoes, lift and put everything into a plastic box and watch it disappear into the x-ray tunnel.

Then, when the guard lets you through the electronic gate after magic wand poking, you hustle over to get your stuff again and hop around trying to put on shoes. After all that, you wait to see if your flight is on time or caught in a thunderstorm over Rhode Island. For all of this, you pay more than twice the price you paid just a decade ago to fly cramped into sardine can-like seats. And to make it complete, all of the goodies you had before, such as free meals, have been discontinued.

For a cheap, no-class flight from New York to Boston, the out-of-pocket cost will be about $200 round trip. If all goes well, the 200-mile journey takes about five hours. That includes the traffic-jammed drive time to get from home to the way-way-out airport, bag check, security and other needs.

If you booked the same New York to Boston round trip by bus, it would take about five hours. You ride in a big, roomy interior, with constant changes in interesting scenery, at a total cost of about $50. There are some security requirements in bus stations, but nothing like the ordeal at airports.

And more important to most travelers, buses go from downtown to downtown, with no extra costs for taxis from far-away airport to city center. In Boston, it’s the South Station, and NYC it’s 34th Street and 8th Avenue in Manhattan.   

For current prices, schedules and additional info on bus lines, check them out online or with your hometown travel agent.