Megabus to start new service in Harrisburg to Philadelphia, State College, and Pittsburgh on 7/21/10 (Allentown: colleges)

[CHIP72]

Megabus recently announced they are greatly expanding their services to and from Philadelphia, making Philadelphia its second Northeast hub. As part of their expanded Philadelphia service, Megabus will start serving Harrisburg as part of its new Philadelphia-Harrisburg-State College-Pittsburgh route. The new service will start on July 21st.

Link to press release:
MegaBus US - Megabus.com Expands Philadelphia Service to and from Nine Northeast Cities

This announcement is obviously good news for Harrisburg area residents. I'd expect the Harrisburg-Philadelphia and Harrisburg-State College segments to be well-patronized and Harrisburg-Pittsburgh (via State College) to get a decent number of riders too.

[toobusytoday]

That is good news for Harrisburg. I sure wish Megabus would come to the Lehigh Valley. We have no rail service and very limited bus service.

[CHIP72]

Originally Posted by toobusytoday

That is good news for Harrisburg. I sure wish Megabus would come to the Lehigh Valley. We have no rail service and very limited bus service.

I don't know about the Lehigh Valley having limited bus service - Trans-Bridge does have a lot of service to New York. I do agree that Lehigh Valley-Philadelphia bus service is less than what you'd think it would be. On a related note, the Philadelphia-Syracuse-Buffalo-Toronto route doesn't make much sense to me, but it would make more sense if it stopped in Allentown and/or Scranton.

With Megabus' announcement of expanded service to Philadelphia and new service in the Harrisburg area (at the Harrisburg East Mall), I wouldn't be surprised if Megabus initiates new service on a Harrisburg-Allentown-New York route (or possibly a Pittsburgh-Harrisburg-Allentown-New York route) before the end of the year. Mind you, Bieber Tourways (under the guise of its subsidiary Capitol Trailways) tried running service on that exact route in late 2007/early 2008 on that very route and discontinued it due to low ridership (though the bus was full the one time I used it in late December 2007). On the other hand, I think the possibility of getting $1 tickets, even if they are limited in number, from Harrisburg or even Allentown to New York will be enticing to many people.

[toobusytoday]

Yes, you can get to NYC via Transbridge or Bieber, but it's not inexpensive and getting to Philly is not commuter friendly at all. The biggest downfall of Bieber, IMHO, is that they don't allow you to reserve a seat like Megabus or Bolt bus does. We missed one bus because we just couldn't find a parking space in time and have also seen people turned away because the bus was too full. Philadelphia has a multitude of buses and it seems that more of them should stop in the Lehigh Valley on their way to NYC.

Sorry for de-railing your thread. Back to Harrisburg Megabus.

[pman]

Originally Posted by CHIP72

I don't know about the Lehigh Valley having limited bus service - Trans-Bridge does have a lot of service to New York. I do agree that Lehigh Valley-Philadelphia bus service is less than what you'd think it would be. On a related note, the Philadelphia-Syracuse-Buffalo-Toronto route doesn't make much sense to me, but it would make more sense if it stopped in Allentown and/or Scranton.

Megabus already has a NYC-Syracuse-Buffalo-toronto route so perhaps it's a way to mix in Philly-toronto (high airfares) with a route that needs more service (syracuse-buffalo airport-toronto). Personally, I would like a Allentown and/or Scranton stop but I also think there's a Philly-Syracuse market, there are a lot of upstaters in Philly.

Originally Posted by CHIP72

With Megabus' announcement of expanded service to Philadelphia and new service in the Harrisburg area (at the Harrisburg East Mall), I wouldn't be surprised if Megabus initiates new service on a Harrisburg-Allentown-New York route (or possibly a Pittsburgh-Harrisburg-Allentown-New York route) before the end of the year. Mind you, Bieber Tourways (under the guise of its subsidiary Capitol Trailways) tried running service on that exact route in late 2007/early 2008 on that very route and discontinued it due to low ridership (though the bus was full the one time I used it in late December 2007). On the other hand, I think the possibility of getting $1 tickets, even if they are limited in number, from Harrisburg or even Allentown to New York will be enticing to many people.

They already launched a Pitt-NY route, I wouldn't bank on it though..as you noted, there was low ridership and it would have to compete with a Harrrisburg-Philly-NY route plus Amtrak to NY. I'd bet that you'll see Pitt to Balt/DC first, maybe even to cincy. It will be interesting to see if this cannibalizes Amtrak ridership or grows the market (or some of both). I'm planning a trip using Amtrak between Harrisburg and Philly and megabus between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh (using a layover to get a Troeg's brewery tour).

[ki0eh]

When I was at Syracuse U I was surprised at the proportion of students who came from the Philadelphia region. Most of the other upstate NY colleges (I attended a few others too ) seem dominated by NYC metro.