Megabus is back in the Burgh (Philadelphia, Pittsburgh: construction, vs, buses)

[ferraris]

If you don't mind sharing, how did you find out about this? Do you know someone in the company, or did you just lobby them until they agreed that it was a good prospect, too?

[Blackbeauty212]

It was a group of 10 of us from East Coast Division specifically NY that travel to PGH and one goes to Chicago quite ofter....

We unanimously agreed that Greyhounds monopoly to Pittsburgh and Mid-West as far as bus travel goes has to come to and end...We also wanted to point out to Megabus how this just makes smart business with the Networks they have in place already and have then come together by way of a Pittsburgh HUB...the manager of NYC agreed that they need to fill in that hole in their network...a month later we met with the Director for the East Coast and the NYC manager again as the Director was in NYC to survey service reliability..

FF 3 months earlier to this week and I'm learning that our idea was given the Green light....I'm so excited for what this means for the Burgh to have a Transportation Hub for Megabus in the middle of the city will bring all kinds of exposure and Pittsburgh's dead center location between Midwest and East Coast just makes all kinds of sense. Pittsburgh will be one of 3 Megabus hubs the other 2 being Chicago and NYC.

Think about the number of people that will be not only coming to PGH as a desination, but people coming thru by way of transferring to go somewhere else...NYC to Chicago is now possible and will see tons of patrons

With Pittsburgh playing hub this go round with Megabus will make the Pittsburgh terminal a success...as opposed to the Chicago and Cleveland only routes before...

I still cannot get confirmation on where the Terminal will be but that'll be announced next week and it will be in the city. Also Buffalo and Toronto will be another huge boon and when that service starts you will know for sure Pittsburgh as a Hub was a success.

[Geeo]

Could MegaBus share the same space as the new bus station downtown? It's a pretty nice facility and I think there is room. Seems a shame to have to pick up people and let them off on some corner or in a parking lot when the new bus station is there. Can Greyhound say no? Wasn't tax money used for part of the station?

[Herodotus]

Originally Posted by Geeo

Could MegaBus share the same space as the new bus station downtown? It's a pretty nice facility and I think there is room. Seems a shame to have to pick up people and let them off on some corner or in a parking lot when the new bus station is there. Can Greyhound say no? Wasn't tax money used for part of the station?

Part of Megabus' low cost is that they don't pay to use stations. I'm very glad to hear this if it comes to pass. Pittsburghers love to go to NYC. The problem before was threefold. They could have gotten people going to Cleveland, but the schedule was horrible, with the bus arriving in Cleveland in the middle of the night. Second, Chicago is not nearly the attraction for Pittsburghers that NYC is. Third, from Downtown to the Loop is 500 miles. That's a long ride, especially when you consider that a plane to Chicago is just a little over $100 for those inclined to go. Serving as a hub means that Pittsburgh itself doesn't need to generate a lot of Midwest bound traffic to make the routes a success. Looks like I might be making some trips to The City this summer!!!!!

[pman]

it's really been fascinating to watch the changes in the bus market since fung wah originally launched service driving greyhound into bankruptcy (now owned by stagecoach).certainly good news, more options the better. right now the best ground transportation option is probably the hound to harrisburg and amtrak from there but they don't run enough expresses from harrisburg and it's more expensive that way since there is no cross honoring with amtrak

[ferraris]

Well there is the Chinatown bus from Oakland, I think it's run by "Great Wall Bus"

[greg42]

Originally Posted by ferrarisnowday

Well there is the Chinatown bus from Oakland, I think it's run by "Great Wall Bus"

Huh. Never knew that. $45 each way, not a super steal really. The bus could be a more convenient location in NY, but you can still get plane fares below that occasionally. Even figuring in arriving in advance, getting out to the airport, etc (and in the case of JetBlue getting into Manhattan from JFK), would still take only about half the time, at least 3 hours less I would think.

JetBlue fare right now can be $39 (if available) if you fly on Tues/Wed through mid-June. Recommend airfarewatchdog.com if you want to keep an eye on these; it will email you alerts for any city pairs you specify. Seems to work very well.

Megabus-type fares where the first few seats are only a few dollars (do they still do that?) would really enhance the appeal of the bus.

PS Greyhound is owned by FirstGroup. It's Megabus that's owned by Stagecoach. All our bus service is now run by the Brits. ;-) (May not be a bad thing really; they seem to know how to work it.)

[AaronPGH]

Well, looks like you're right about Megabus coming back! No mention of a hub though, only routes to state college and NYC:

Low-fare buses to NYC, State College starting May 4

[ferraris]

Woohoo! Just got my $2.50 round trip tickets! No clue where I'll stay or what I'll do, but that kind of fare is too good to pass up!

[Blackbeauty212]

Wow - I need to follow up with someone...I really mis-understood the reason for returning to Pittsburgh...Our original idea was Pittsburgh becoming a hub...maybe they want to bring the markets in slowly or something...I dont know

Also I dont really like having to stop at State College...I guess if Pittsburgh gets more people using it directly to/from NYC then they will make it express or something...State College's so off the beaten Path...take out State College and they could easily cover NYC to PGH in 6 1/2 hrs.

Oh well this better than nothing i guess