I took a ride on the Rolls-Royce of buses - and Amtrak should be worried

Hollis Johnson

The airport is not the most enjoyable place to find yourself, especially in the midst of the Thanksgiving holiday rush.

Security lines, forever-rising ticket prices, and seemingly arbitrary fees all create a stressful and pricey experience.

Some are looking to other forms of transportation for an alternative. Amtrak's Northeast Corridor alone counted some 11.7 million passengers in 2015, its highest ridership yet.

And a study from the Chaddick Institute shows that inter-city bus ridership has also risen by 3.3 million since 2013, reaching a new high of 61.6 million passengers.

But buses are cramped and slow, earning their spot at the bottom rung of the transportation ladder. Trains aren't getting any faster, either, as the nation's rickety rail infrastructure ages and high-speed proposals are stymied.

I travel from New York City to Boston frequently, usually by bus, but after countless trips with my legs folded up like origami in uncomfortable seats, I'd just about had enough.

I had heard about LimoLiner, a luxury bus service that makes three round-trips between New York and Boston Monday through Thursday every week. It makes more trips between the two cities over the weekend. With perks like free meals and individual leather seats, LimoLiner made Megabus sound like a stagecoach by comparison.

On a recent trip to Boston, I decided to compare LimoLiner with an Amtrak regional train to see which one offered a more comfortable experience for the price - and I was surprised by what I found.