Concord Coach Lines will expand its Portland-to-New York City bus service beginning April 3, just five months after launching the service.

In addition to the daily trip that departs Portland at 6:30 a.m., Concord will add a second bus, departing at noon daily.

Return trips will depart from New York City at 8:30 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Harry Blunt, president of Concord Coach, said the expansion is spurred by high demand.

“The response from our customers over these past months has been overwhelming,” Blunt said in a written statement. “But the one thing that we have consistently heard since we announced the new service was the need for more schedule options. We think that by adding a second trip and leaving Portland a little later in the day, and an earlier departure from NYC in the morning, we have done just that.”

Concord said more than 4,000 passengers have traveled to New York from Portland since service began last November – some for business, others for pleasure.

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“Almost immediately, we were selling out trips,” Blunt said. “And while we were thrilled with the immediate success, we knew that the clock was ticking for us to add more schedules so folks wouldn’t get turned away.”

A one-way ticket from Portland to New York costs $69. The trip takes about six hours.

The buses used by Concord for the Portland-to-New York route are “executive class,” which are fancier than the buses that run between Portland and Boston. Concord began offering that service in 1992 and now offers 26 daily round trips from Maine to the Massachusetts’ capital.

The New York buses, which hold 30 passengers, have leather seats, wireless Internet and power outlets at each seat.

Other than flying, there’s no other transportation option that can take someone directly from Portland to New York City, or vice versa. Amtrak’s Downeaster requires passengers to transfer to another train in Boston. Greyhound and other bus companies offer service between Portland and New York, but they include multiple stops along the way and require passengers to transfer to another bus in Boston for the last leg of the trip.


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