Budget Bus Service Planned in California, Southwest

Backpackers and independent adventurers will find new hop-on, hop-off budget bus services operating this year in the U.S. and New Zealand.

Starting in mid-May, Backpacker Bus, www.backpackerbus.com, will provide guided transportation in 14-passenger vans in California and the Southwest, stopping at hostels twice a week.

The service will be operated by Grayson McNeill, owner of the Adventure Hostel, a ski and snowboard lodge in Big Bear Lake that offers private rooms and dormitory beds from $20 (including separate female-only rooms).

Routes will start from Big Bear Lake. The three-leg desert and Grand Canyon loop will take at least two days and costs $35 for each leg or $95 for all three. The bus will travel from Big Bear Lake to Las Vegas; Las Vegas to Flagstaff, Ariz., and the Grand Canyon; and Flagstaff back to Big Bear Lake.

The three-leg southern loop costs $20 for each leg, or $55 for the whole route. The route will be from Big Bear Lake to Los Angeles, Los Angeles to San Diego, and San Diego back to Big Bear Lake.

The four-leg San Francisco, Yosemite and California Coast Highway loop costs $39 per leg or $139 for four. The route will be Big Bear Lake to Yosemite Bug Lodge, Yosemite to Monterey, Monterey to Santa Barbara, and Santa Barbara to Los Angeles and Big Bear Lake.

For more information, contact Adventure Hostel, P.O. Box 1951, 527 Knickerbocker, Big Bear Lake, CA 92315-1951; (888) 464-6460 or (909) 866-8900, www.adventure hostel.com.

The concept of the hop-on, hop-off bus became popular 14 years ago with a New Zealand company called KIWI Experience. This winter one of the original owners of KIWI Experience, Neil Geddes, returned to New Zealand to introduce the Stray Travel Network, a service he developed for backpackers in Britain and Europe.

Stray New Zealand offers two types of travel passes for its 31-seat passenger buses. Adventure passes include food, accommodation and transportation over a set route, with the option of getting off only at “break points.” Rooms are shared by up to four travelers, but you can upgrade to a twin or double room for $4 to $5 more per night. If you’re not tied to a schedule, the flexi-pass, which does not include meals or accommodations, enables you to hop on and off wherever you like over the route. Passes are valid for 12 months.

Stray will operate year-round. For more information, contact Stray New Zealand, P.O. Box 14114, Enderley, Hamilton, New Zealand; 011-647-824-3627, www.straytravel.co.nz.

Orbitz (www.orbitz.com), which offers online access to fares from 450 airlines, has established a partnership with StudentUniverse (www.studentuniverse.com) for Internet sales of national and international discounted student airline tickets. The StudentUniverse site also has helpful links to services for study abroad and volunteer positions around the world.

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Lucy Izon is a Toronto-based freelance travel writer and author of “Izon’s Backpacker Journal.” You can reach her at www.izon.com. Youth Beat appears twice a month.