3 Ways To Get From Here To There

This is final installment in our weekly series comparing three ways to accomplish common tasks by price and quality. Read more features on 3 Ways To Do Something.

It's an old question: What's the cheapest way to get from city to city? It depends on where you are going and how fast you want to get there. But if the goal is spend as little money as possible, it would appear from a survey of four routes in different parts of the country that the choice usually comes down to driving or taking a bus.

For this story, distances and fuel cost estimates for a 2006 Ford Fusion sedan and a 2008 Honda Odyssey minivan were made using AAA calculations based on regional gas prices on May 20. Beware that gas prices typically go up by unpredictable amounts during the busy summer driving months. And the AAA times don't include traffic jams, stops for food or bathroom breaks, or other unforseen delays.

Airline flight research was conducted using Orbitz and individual airline Web sites, searching for schedules and fares for June 1, based on a single adult passenger traveling one way. Round-trip fares are also noted. Note that flight times do not include the time it takes to get to an airport, check in, pass through security and wait at the gate.

Bus schedules and prices were found on Web sites for two popular services, Greyhound and Megabus. All results were based on one person traveling one way.

Travel From New York City To Washington, D.C.

Drive: AAA estimates that the 233-mile drive from New York City to Washington, D.C., should take about 3 hours and 45 minutes, following Interstate 95 south out of New York to Trenton, N.J., skirting Wilmington, Del., and Baltimore before heading into the nation's capital on U.S. Highway 50. In the Ford, AAA figures you would use 8.03 gallons of gas at a cost of $19.23 based on regional average gas prices that day. The same trip in the Honda would use 10.13 gallons of gas at a cost of $24.24.

Bus: Megabus offers dozens of departures from New York to Washington, D.C. Tickets are priced at $5 to $22 depending on the time of day. The 7 a.m. bus on May 20 is priced at $18. The five-hour ride arrives in Washington, D.C., at noon. Greyhound offers more than a dozen departures with tickets priced between 4 hours, 30 minutes and 6 hours. Its 7 a.m. departure takes a scheduled 4 hours 30 minutes and costs $24.

Fly: Delta and American airlines both offer a one-way flight from New York to Washington, D.C., priced at $58 before fees and taxes. Flight time is about 1 hour, 30 minutes. Delta, American, JetBlue, United, US Airways and Continental airlines all offer round-trip, non-stop flights; Delta and American offer the cheapest seats: A $115 ticket that costs about $20 more after taxes and fees are figured in.

Travel From San Francisco To Los Angeles

Drive: AAA estimates that the 381-mile drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles should take about 5 hours, 35 minutes. The route carries you on Interstate 80 over the Bay Bridge to Oakland, where you pick up I-580 headed east. Near Stockton you cut over to I-5 for the roughly 300-mile shot to Los Angeles. Remember that LA traffic is notorious: Expect delays. In the Fusion, AAA figures you will use 13.14 gallons of gas at a cost of $33.48 based on regional average gas prices that day. The same trip in the Odyssey would use 16.57 gallons of gas at a cost of $42.22.

Bus: Greyhound offers a dozen departures daily from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The 8:30 a.m. bus takes a scheduled 8 hours, 30 minutes to get to LA, arriving at 5 p.m., for a Web-only fare of $43. That's more expensive than driving the route using either of the examples used above, and it takes about 3 hours longer. Megabus doesn't operate between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Fly: American and Alaska Air airlines offer one-way flights from San Francisco to Los Angeles that cost $37 before fees and taxes. Alaska Air, American and United, Virgin and US Airways airlines offer non-stop, round-trip flights; the $74 tickets on Alaska and American, before taxes and fees, are the least expensive.

Travel From Minneapolis To Chicago

Drive: AAA estimates that the 403-mile drive from Minneapolis to Chicago should take just under 6 hours. The route follows Interstate 94 from the Twin Cities southeast to I-39 in Madison, Wis., and then I-90 east from Rockford, Ill., into Chicago. Traffic around Chicago can be heavily congested, so one's actual drive time could end up being more than the AAA estimation. In the Ford, AAA figures you will use 13.9 gallons at a cost of $33.50 based on regional average gas prices that day. The same trip in the minivan would use 17.52 gallons of gas at a cost of $42.24.

Bus: Megabus offers eight departures from Minneapolis to Chicago on weekdays. The first leaves Minneapolis at 7 a.m. and arrives in Chicago at 3 p.m. Greyhound has six departures following the same route. The 7:45 a.m. bus takes almost 12 hours to make the trip, arriving in Chicago at 7:15 p.m. for a Web-only fare of $31. Both bus rides take much longer -- the Greyhound trip is about twice as long -- than driving a car. But the Megabus price of $26 is cheaper than making the trip in the car or minivan models used here as examples.

Fly: Northwest, United, US Airways and American airlines all offer round-trip, non-stop flights from Minneapolis-St. Paul to O'Hare in Chicago that take about 1 hour, 17 minutes and cost about $300 before taxes a fees. Northwest's one-way ticket is the least expensive of the four, at $58 before fees and taxes.

Travel From New Orleans To Nashville

Drive: AAA estimates that the 526-mile drive from New Orleans to Nashville ought to take you a shade under 8 hours. The route follows Interstate 10 north to I-59 to I-20 at Meridien, Miss. I-20 carries you up through Tuscaloosa and Birmingham, Ala., and on to Nashville. If you made that trip in the Fusion, AAA figures you will use 18.14 gallons at a cost of $39.93 based on regional average gas prices that day. The same trip in the Odyssey would use 22.87 gallons of gas at a cost of $50.34.

Bus: Greyhound service from New Orleans to Nashville offers three departures daily. The 7 a.m. bus takes a scheduled 14 hours to make the trip to Guitar Town, arriving at 9:30 p.m. Greyhound charges $74 for a ticket. Megabus doesn't offer service between New Orleans and Nashville.

Fly: Delta, American, United, US Airways, Northwest and Continental airlines all offer one-way fares from New Orleans to Nashville and all require passengers to change planes in either Charlotte, N.C., or Houston. The least expensive ticket? US Airways, at $102 before taxes and fees. Continental offers the least expensive round-trip fare at $201 before taxes and fees.

And the winner is:

New York to Washington, D.C.
Cheapest: It's a tie between Megabus and driving your own vehicle.
Fastest: Flying, although flight time does not count time stuck in traffic jams getting to and from the airports, and passing through check-in, security, gate control and baggage claim.

San Francisco to Los Angeles
Cheapest: The Ford may make the trip less expensively than the American or Alaska Air fares, but it's close.
Fastest: Flying. Not even close.

Minneapolis to Chicago
Cheapest: The edge goes to Megabus.
Fastest: Flying, again with the caveat about additional time spent in traffic, and then clearing check-in, security, gate control and baggage claim.

New Orleans to Nashville
Cheapest: Driving either the Ford Fusion or the Honda Odyssey is the least expensive way to go.
Fastest: Hop on the plane.