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Old 03-29-2011, 07:53 PM
 
2 posts, read 3,375 times
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Having been in the bus industry for years, this is pretty disappointing to say the least. My assessment of these new schedules/routes is that Megabus is still pretty much geared towards short-haul city-pair model rather than connecting thru travelers. Which certainly makes sense from a profitability standpoint. If Megabus is serious about connecting thru travelers, they need to add additional eastbound departures to depart within an hour of the westbound arrivals and add additional eastbound arrivals to arrive within an hour the westbound departures. Obviously, from the schedules they posted, these travelers are not the priority. It puzzles me why Megabus is still operating the 2315 departure from NYC X23 and the 1220 departure X234 considering this expansion.

To the previous reader about Fredericksburg, that will be part of the Richmond service. Richmond is the next priority area for Megabus. Right now, the schedules into/out of Richmond are not in sync since Richmond was originally meant to be a feeder market on the DC-Charlotte and DC-Hampton Roads runs, but they are still picking up good loads there.
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Old 03-29-2011, 08:23 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,538,456 times
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That might make more sense, Fredericksburg (VA), which my colleague may have confused with Frederick (MD) which is right on the Pittsburgh-DC route.

Connecting is a much tougher thing scheduling-wise, I'm sure, made tougher perhaps because we can assume at least for some potential customers that there's an upper limit after which the time lost on the bus would be worth more than the money spent on the airplane.

It's kind of the Southwest Airlines model. For much of its history, Southwest was far more about city pairs with connections being more of a secondary consideration (not one they discouraged, but service was not necessarily started with connections in mind).
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Old 03-29-2011, 08:23 PM
 
2 posts, read 3,375 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212 View Post
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.
Those Pitt-Cleveland runs look to me like they are only supporting the turns in Cleveland. They don't look at all like they are optimally scheduled for anything in the future in Chicago. Considering the failed Cleveland-Pittsburgh run the first time around, it seems strange they are doing 6 daily departures.

Something is amiss and it looks like are laying the groundwork for a NYC-Cleveland-Chicago run with no stop in Pittsburgh. Without the stop in Pittsburgh, that is almost 1.5-2 hours shaved off the run time. I expect there will be a driver change and equipment servicing/swap point in Cleveland. Greyhound does 1 of these runs overnight daily westbound and 1 in the afternoon eastbound and it seems to carry quite good loads.

I like the idea of Cleveland being a point to transfer for western Megabus East services and the eastern Megabus Midwest services. But, they would need to start adding additional destinations out of Cleveland.
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Old 03-29-2011, 08:30 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,538,456 times
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For NYC-Chicago, Pittsburgh doesn't make sense location-wise. For Philly or DC it would go right through here though. Dunno the market for such a thing. For me I know once I was at that kind of travel time I'd probably be getting a plane. That's longer than here to Boston, and I usually get a plane for that. Was able to book JetBlue for early may at around $100 RT.

I do hate the plane security rigamarole, though. Ugh. But we don't really have time to drive up and back on this quick trip.
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Old 03-29-2011, 08:51 PM
 
Location: Philly
10,220 posts, read 16,729,984 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by greg42 View Post
It's true that in some ways Megabus is akin to the Chinatown bus companies, but it's not like they came out of nowhere copying it. Megabus has been operating this kind of service under that name in the UK since 2003. That's where the $1 idea comes from, for example.

I would venture that the Chinatown buses exist because of existing populations more than they helped spread the populations. The main need there was to be cheap; it's not like there wasn't decent express transport options between NY and Boston or NY and Philly or whatever, but they weren't 10 bucks each way or such.

Megabus exploits a similar model to be sure, but one that can work outside the east coast north/south routes. It is helped by the fact that air travel is such a pain in the a$$ now; this plus new buses with wifi draws in clientele that otherwise wouldn't consider a bus. The fact that it's express as opposed to serving some smaller places in between means the scheduled time can compete fairly well with driving yourself, something Amtrak can't do outside the NE Corridor. There are efficiencies gained by already owning a large charter operation (Coach USA). And then there's the price of gas. 10 years ago this bus service wouldn't be such a hit, but the time is ripe.
the chinatown services date to the late 90's. while its true they connecter existing populations its also true they provided newfound mobility. one doesnt preclude the other. while its also true gas is driving popularity it isnt true that there was no demand for express service as many college student with long greyhound hub and spoke stories will attest. once upon a time greyhound overcharged the northeast to provide service to small towns. express buses killed that model on the strength of large populations.

as a side note, the fares seem to support BB's claim that pittsburgh mostly travels east
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Old 03-29-2011, 10:10 PM
 
5,802 posts, read 9,851,043 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by greg42 View Post
For NYC-Chicago, Pittsburgh doesn't make sense location-wise. For Philly or DC it would go right through here though. Dunno the market for such a thing. For me I know once I was at that kind of travel time I'd probably be getting a plane. That's longer than here to Boston, and I usually get a plane for that. Was able to book JetBlue for early may at around $100 RT.

I do hate the plane security rigamarole, though. Ugh. But we don't really have time to drive up and back on this quick trip.
The original plan for Pittsburgh was to provide a central link/hub for the east coast and midwest networks, Pittsburgh more than Cleveland is the dead center to many destinations...

If it wasn't to provide a hub between networks, then Pittsburgh really didn't need to become a hub. Places like Toledo, Akron, Detroit even Cincinnati are not big destinations for the Burgh, alls Pittsburgh was really looking for additional was Erie Buffalo Toronto and megabus would've had Pittsburgh's desinations pretty well covered.

They will never make a straight NYC - Chicago run that's too much time on the buses and drivers....there needs to be a common place you can have all routes join somewhere and folks going longer distances can transfer. Now that Pittsburgh is officially a "Hub" I believe if they brought back Chicago it will probably be by extending the Cleveland Buses to Chicago without stopping in Toledo...

Even though the schedules aren't optimized for Transferring, trust me Pittsburgh is going to see alot of Transfer activity...
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Old 03-29-2011, 10:24 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
6,327 posts, read 9,099,328 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212 View Post
The original plan for Pittsburgh was to provide a central link/hub for the east coast and midwest networks, Pittsburgh more than Cleveland is the dead center to many destinations...

If it wasn't to provide a hub between networks, then Pittsburgh really didn't need to become a hub. Places like Toledo, Akron, Detroit even Cincinnati are not big destinations for the Burgh, alls Pittsburgh was really looking for additional was Erie Buffalo Toronto and megabus would've had Pittsburgh's desinations pretty well covered.

They will never make a straight NYC - Chicago run that's too much time on the buses and drivers....there needs to be a common place you can have all routes join somewhere and folks going longer distances can transfer. Now that Pittsburgh is officially a "Hub" I believe if they brought back Chicago it will probably be by extending the Cleveland Buses to Chicago without stopping in Toledo...

Even though the schedules aren't optimized for Transferring, trust me Pittsburgh is going to see alot of Transfer activity...
I did find it odd too that they added service to Cincinnati, Toledo, and Detroit three places that I thought people around here wouldn't go to enough to demand bus service.
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Old 03-29-2011, 10:36 PM
 
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Exactly but Cincinati Toledo and Detroit probably do travel a good bit to NYC and DC....instead of putting all that drive time on a single bus and driver, you have them transfer at the half way point in the Burgh.
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Old 03-29-2011, 10:39 PM
 
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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Couldn't they just keep the same bus and switch drivers?
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Old 03-29-2011, 10:43 PM
 
5,802 posts, read 9,851,043 times
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Originally Posted by ctoocheck View Post
Couldn't they just keep the same bus and switch drivers?
Maybe but you still need a central city where the majority of the driver will be located....what better than Pittsburgh drivers can work within either Network and switch them up as need be...

I think this is only the beginning for Megabus's hub in Pittsburgh...if they play this right....Pittsburgh could be more than a hub it could be like the NOC of the Megabus network...Pittsburgh is just the perfect location for a hub it reaches so many cities in all directions, you dont get any more centralized of a location.
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