Megabus to announce expansions (Pittsburgh, Washington: bankruptcy, live in, price)

[pman]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Please bringing 9 new cities to Pittsburgh at one time...It's meant to be a Hub....Even Boston and Baltimore dont have as many desinations....only other time Mega has made such an annoucement was for the Philly Hub and DC hubs....
Plus Mega's been working on making Pittsburgh a hub forever just to bring the Midwest and East Coast networks together.
My thought is Chicago is still in the works but they need more drivers and more time.....I can't see Chicago being left out for long just doesnt make sense, it leaves a huge hole in the network.

not disagreeing it's meant to be a hub, just that the whole point of being a hub is ny-chicago. perhaps megabus believes people will also be going to/from pittsburgh and transferring to places like cleveland, buffalo, toronto.

does anyone else have experience bringing an infant on one of these?

[greg42]

A colleague here rode it to DC and back last week. She's not particularly adept at travel stuff in general but won't drive herself that distance. She said it was fine. Cost $8.50 round trip. I'm possibly going to use Megabus soon for a ride to Philly, so I may have a firsthand experience in a few weeks.

Not sure what the negatives could be, except late, breakdowns, etc, which could happen to any bus. Some may not like the lack of dedicated stations, but that is how they get it so cheap.

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

It could be that they are just still updating their website; but I wonder if there will maybe be two routes through Cleveland.

That certainly seems possible--streamlining service to Detroit would save some time, particularly if they are expecting some transfers.

[ferraris]

Originally Posted by scottrpriester

Regarding this, anyone with any good, bad, or other experiences to share please? We were set on taking this to NYC for our cruise, but my wife emailed me today and said she read some reviews and they were all bad experiences.

I rode it to NYC once. The trip was fine and the buses are pretty comfortable, especially since they have WiFi and AC outlets. They stop somewhere between State College and NYC to give people a chance to eat and stretch.

The only problem was our return trip to Pittsburgh was delayed by 3 hours due to a broken down bus. It was a little rough watching all the other buses leave from NYC on time, while they kept making us wait. I guess they'd rather delay one bus load of people for 3 hours, than shift the entire schedule for all NYC buses by 30 minutes. Our bus driver was waiting with us, so they should have just let us use any of the buses that had been intended for somewhere else.

They offered a full refund, but that isn't much consolation on a $1 fare

[BrianTH]

I suspect Chicago will get added eventually. Meanwhile--we are getting direct service to Toronto! That's awesome.

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

I rode it to NYC once. The trip was fine and the buses are pretty comfortable, especially since they have WiFi and AC outlets. They stop somewhere between State College and NYC to give people a chance to eat and stretch.

The only problem was our return trip to Pittsburgh was delayed by 3 hours due to a broken down bus. It was a little rough watching all the other buses leave from NYC on time, while they kept making us wait. I guess they'd rather delay one bus load of people for 3 hours, than shift the entire schedule for all NYC buses by 30 minutes. Our bus driver was waiting with us, so they should have just let us use any of the buses that had been intended for somewhere else.

They offered a full refund, but that isn't much consolation on a $1 fare

Atleast it broke down at the Yard or wherever and you were still in NYC...not on some dark deserted PA road.....There are parts of the Turnpike and I-80 I would hate to breakdown on....

[that412]

This is fantastic news. For one thing, it means MegaBus is clearly doing very healthy business, for them to expand like this so quickly after adding the Pittsburgh-DC line. I've been holding out hope for a Pittsburgh-Chicago line for some time, and I guess I'll continue to do so...having the PIT-Akron-Cleveland line is a great step, though (although it would have been useful when I was still at school in NE Ohio!).

As for the ride itself, someone was asking for reviews...honestly, I've used MegaBus a half-dozen times round-trip for work in the DC area, and I've never really had a bad experience with it. Only once was the bus significantly late in departing, and even then you'll find that there is actually some extra time built into the schedule and nearly every time, I've been actually an hour or so early. Unless you completely can't stand buses, don't hesitate to use MegaBus. The total trip time might be a little longer than if you drove, but for the price and the convenience of not having to worry about driving yourself, it's well worth it.

[Blackbeauty212]

I still cant understand why Bolt hasnt expanded....at this point Megabus has left them in the dust!!

[theintercity]

Schedules are posted! Very interesting - shows they aren't really trying very hard for the East Coast-Midwest market:

This is the only reasonable New York to Chicago scheduling, as far as I reckon:
NYC-Pitts
16:20 0:00
Pitts-Detroit
0:15 5:10
Detroit-Chicago
8:00 12:40
And that's a reallly tight 15 minute stopover in pittsburgh; mayhaps it will be the same bus that continues on?


And from Toronto to Chicago:

TO - Pitts
17:00 23:40
Pitts - Detroit
0:15 5:10
Detroit - Chicago
8:00 12:40


TO - Pitts
23:30 6:00
Pitts - Columbus
6:30 10:20
Columbus - Chicago
10:40 16:30

[Blackbeauty212]

No ones going to make that many transfers to get from NYC to Chicago.....as stated obiviously Chicago is still a work in progress that's huge hole, the only way a NYC to Chicago would be successful is NYC to Pittsburgh...Pittsburgh to Chicago that's the most people will put up with.

Maybe megabus is getting these secondary cities off the ground first and will focus on Chicago later, plus look at all the Cleveland Trips those could easily be extended to Chicago.