I still don't understand their business model though. On the UK website, I've never seen prices over £5. Multiply that by often not completely filled up buses, say 50 people, and you've got 250 pounds for a 100-mile trip.
The Megabus Effect
11–20 of 37 posts
Re: The Megabus Effect
#12What does "curbside pickup" mean in this context? And I've often wished for an LA->LV option that wasn't either shady or as expensive as the cost of a Southwest ticket.
There are some Mexican bus lines that do this route, and while their terminals aren't in great locations, they aren't shady. No on-board Wifi or anything, but the experience is usually more pleasant than Greyhound. Check out http://www.eplalimo.com/
Re: The Megabus Effect
#13Megabus also have a presence in the UK, although their coaches (buses) usually leave from the same places as any other company's, often a coach station, and picking up at normal bus/coach stops.
What they also do, though, is partner with other non-discount companies, so if you get a ticket from Megabus (and their biggest selling point is that you can get fares from as low as £1), there's a reasonable chance that you won't actually be on a Megabus vehicle, they will have just sold off another company's seat that would otherwise have gone un-sold.
(Megabus is actually owned by Stagecoach, a UK company with some presence in the States, and the fact that Stagecoach is one of the biggest travel operators in the UK obviously helps them, as Stagecoach will often by the company Megabus customers travel with when there weren't enough tickets sold to justify a Megabus vehicle.)
Re: The Megabus Effect
#14It's a shame that here in Germany, the railway has a state-guaranteed monopoly on long-distance ground travel (this is a law that goes back to the Nazi era!)
So, there are hardly any long-distance bus routes within Germany, only to Berlin (which was an exception from the person transport law that was made in the Cold War era), and to neighboring countries.
Re: The Megabus Effect
#15It's a shame that here in Germany, the railway has a state-guaranteed monopoly on long-distance ground travel (this is a law that goes back to the Nazi era!) So, there are hardly any long-distance bus routes within Germany, only to Berlin (which was an exception from the person transport law that was made in the Cold War era), and to neighboring countries.
There is still hope - the government is about to abolish the state-guaranteed monopoly.
http://www.welt.de/wirtschaft/article12492654/Bahn-verliert-... [German]
Of course, public transport is a complex issue - the government as the current owner of the railway system is still trying to protect some routes, so we have to wait and see how the licensing for long-distance routes is working out.
And the Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) is also the biggest provider of bus travel, so it will be quite hard for new companies to get into the market.
Re: The Megabus Effect
#16It's a shame that here in Germany, the railway has a state-guaranteed monopoly on long-distance ground travel (this is a law that goes back to the Nazi era!) So, there are hardly any long-distance bus routes within Germany, only to Berlin (which was an exception from the person transport law that was made in the Cold War era), and to neighboring countries.
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Re: The Megabus Effect
#17Funny to see this as I was just researching Bolt and Megabus for a quick trip to Pittsburgh this weekend. I was really wishing there was a way to do comparison shopping with bus, train, and airline travel. Its something I would like to work on, but it seems as though the data is locked off for the time being. Would anyone else get anything out of a site like this?
Re: The Megabus Effect
#18I took a round trip on the Chicago to Des Moines route last summer, it wasn't a good experience. The wifi was spotty, apparently provided by the same 3G cell service that wasn't working on my phone. Not that it mattered, I didn't have enough room to have a laptop open in front of me. A shorter person may have had a better time. I now feel lucky every time I'm on an airplane in the spacious standard economy seats. I would have gladly payed a bit extra for "Economy Plus" on the megabus.
Re: The Megabus Effect
#19Short summary: Megabus are one of a few companies operating low-overhead, curbside pickup intercity bus service. "On most city-to-city trips under 300 miles, the curbside bus offers tickets that cost a tenth of those of Amtrak and far less even than the price of the gas to get there by car." Passengers book online, tickets are delivered to cell phones, busses are equipped with WiFi and power outlets at each seat. Art…
Even lengthening existing Amtrak trains can take years of time and bureaucratic approval. The design of the Acela trainsets is such that Amtrak could add four more business class cars, which would double the number of business class seats per trainset, while keeping the current power cars. Transportation improvements over time tend to make some trips possible in much less time than was previously possible; this is tr…
Boston, NYC, Philly, and Washington DC could all be commutable with existing technology. It'll probably take 25 years before we decide to build it. This went live in 2004:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Maglev_Train
Re: The Megabus Effect
#20Megabus also have a presence in the UK, although their coaches (buses) usually leave from the same places as any other company's, often a coach station, and picking up at normal bus/coach stops. What they also do, though, is partner with other non-discount companies, so if you get a ticket from Megabus (and their biggest selling point is that you can get fares from as low as £1), there's a reasonable chance that you…
Private bus operators in India use the same model. It's very interesting.
Even furniture stores in India will sell you a competitors piece of furniture if he doesn't have anything you like in return for a commission.