Public Transit.

So, not to be one of those people who talks about their one semester abroad in Europe and how they are SO European... but can we all agree that IN COMPARISON, we are a nation of complete suckage when it comes to having affordable and smart public transportation options? In Italy, I could figure out the bus line and the train line in a language I do not speak, but in my own country, and with a college degree, I can't figure out the train system & have no idea where to catch a greyhound bus in Baltimore that I could actually get to without someone first driving me somewhere.
Chinatown bus is the cheapest, but also the least reliable (and don't get me started on "Baltimore Travel Plaza" which is not so much a "travel plaza" as it is a strip of grass on the side of a busy road). Greyhound is rather inaccessible unless someone drives you down south of Raven's stadium into no-man's land, and taking Amtrak from Baltimore Penn to NYC Penn is $114 one way. Which is more than I care to pay, when I know I could wait on the side of the road & (maybe) get picked up by the Chinatown bus for $15.

It's possible I'm just incompetent when it comes to reading websites, but I am having a hard time finding the best way to take the bus, which I think is what I want. I just read an article about how the greyhound station used to be downtown (it's not there anymore, right? I'm not crazy.... right?) and super accessible but the city moved it downtown away from most transportation lines. Why?
How do YOU travel to New York from Baltimore?

UPDATE: have been told to take BOLT bus or MVP. Genius!