Megabus expanding Pittsburgh service (Harrisburg, State College: college, cost, dangerous)

[BrianTH]

Article:

Megabus to add service to D.C.

As part of turning DC into a new hub, they have added three trips daily each way between DC and Pittsburgh. They are also doubling, from two to four, the number of daily trips between Pittsburgh and NYC via State College. Their third route, to Philly via Harrisburg, isn't changing.

The DC schedule will take no more than 5:45. That is quite usable. Driving can take well under 5, as can flying (if everything goes according to plan), but given the cost savings and the greater comfort and leisure/work options available on the bus, that is still a pretty nice proposition. And it crushes Greyhound and Amtrak to DC by any measure.

Generally, I am very glad to see things have been going well for Megabus in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh really is pretty close to a lot of cities, and there is no fundamental reason we shouldn't have convenient, efficient, and inexpensive surface transportation options to a number of cities. And that kind of connectivity is increasingly important in modern economies.

So, hopefully there is more to come from Megabus (or perhaps a competitor in the future). I wonder, for example, if they could do less frequent service to places like Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, and so forth.

[AaronPGH]

This is awesome news. Keep it coming Megabus!

[Blackbeauty212]

I told you guys this was happening back in Sept....There will be a Chicago Cleveland run added back in to connect the Midwest whether it stop in Toledo is anyone's guess.....

Pittsburgh could also be very successful with a Buffalo Toronto Run as well, also I hope Bolt starts a NYC to Pittsburgh run soon too...

This is what Pittsburgh needs to be better connected with other cities...The reason the East Coast and Cities around Chicago feed off each other so easily is because they're well connected by Transportation, we were just talking about Pittsburgh problem with in-ward migration, I believe its limited connectivity to other cities also hinders it from better inward migration numbers....with the age groups Pittsburgh is trying to attact its all about being connected without the need of a car....

[DarkWolf]

There not exactly safe , them and boltbus have been getting into accidents all across the Northeast. Mostly due to bad driving , and dangerous equipment...Greyhound is still the best.

[Blackbeauty212]

But Greyhound has limited its service so much, its no longer convenient, the only way to get to/from NYC to Pittsburgh is by making a gazillion stops along the way...people going from Big City2Big City HATE THAT...They want Express

[pman]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

There not exactly safe , them and boltbus have been getting into accidents all across the Northeast. Mostly due to bad driving , and dangerous equipment...Greyhound is still the best.

I haven't heard that about Bolt but megabus certainly has garnered more than it's fair share of bad publicity with drivers getting lost and, most notoriously, killing a few people in a horrific accident on a philly-toronto run when the driver ploughed into a bridge (annihilating the upper deck)because he missed his turn and was using his own personal GPS device. they've since introduced a few regular buses as far as I can tell. I'd guess they use them on the toronto run (which stops in syracuse where the accident occurred). I've been wondering whether it's affected their ridership in the east, philly in particular since the people who were killed were from there. that said, hopefully there's been some growing pains and they will get a bit more serious about driver training, etc. I support the concept of inexpensive intercity travel. I've used the philly-pittsburgh run a few times and it was pretty well patronized, though the harrisburg dropoff site seems geared at people going other places, I wouldn't want to be dropped off there without a car (in contrast to amtrak/greyhound which is downtown) but that's a minor gripe. their main dropoffs (Philly and Pittsburgh) are fine.

[johnnytang24]

Originally Posted by BrianTH

Article:

Megabus to add service to D.C.

As part of turning DC into a new hub, they have added three trips daily each way between DC and Pittsburgh. They are also doubling, from two to four, the number of daily trips between Pittsburgh and NYC via State College. Their third route, to Philly via Harrisburg, isn't changing.

The DC schedule will take no more than 5:45. That is quite usable. Driving can take well under 5, as can flying (if everything goes according to plan), but given the cost savings and the greater comfort and leisure/work options available on the bus, that is still a pretty nice proposition. And it crushes Greyhound and Amtrak to DC by any measure.

5:45 is too long. It takes under 4 driving. Heck, the Chinatown bus to NYC takes 6:20. At night as well so an entire day isn't wasted. I'd like to see a 6AM non-stop to DC. Would make a day trip to the Capital a viable option.

The train would be ideal if Amtrak didn't suck so much. Flying is too expensive and takes just as long for short distances.

[johnnytang24]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

There not exactly safe , them and boltbus have been getting into accidents all across the Northeast. Mostly due to bad driving , and dangerous equipment...Greyhound is still the best.

I'm pretty sure Bolt is owned by Greyhound.

[Little Mizz Pittsburgh]

All I know is that my significant other loves that Pittsburgh to Philly Megabus roundtrip routes. Its leaves on time and arrives on time, unlike when he used to take the Greyhound. Although he hasn't been seeing those $12 one way trips, on the Megabus, like he USED to, when they first started earlier this year, its still cheaper than Greyhound.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by johnnytang24

5:45 is too long. It takes under 4 driving. Heck, the Chinatown bus to NYC takes 6:20. At night as well so an entire day isn't wasted. I'd like to see a 6AM non-stop to DC. Would make a day trip to the Capital a viable option.

The train would be ideal if Amtrak didn't suck so much. Flying is too expensive and takes just as long for short distances.

From where to where does it take under 4 hours? LOL Can get it under 4 1/2 with reasonable speeding, under 4 takes some serious speeding that most people aren't going to do. Using 4:30 as the reference, I didn't think 5:45 was too horrible, given that I wouldn't have to actually drive it.

It's not really Amtrak's fault that the train takes 7 hours; it's the freight rail companies that own the tracks. Only place Amtrak can have consistent times is the NE Corridor where they own the tracks.

And yeah, DC to me is within the "too close to fly" range. Because of the lead time needed when you fly, and the distances the airports are from downtowns, it doesn't save enough time to be worth it for most of us (nor is it that cheap generally).