Passenger Trains > Megabus Retries California

I know this has been discussed ad nauseum; however I wonder if the reintroduction of Megabus into the California market will be a "threat" to intrastate Amtrak travel.

The above shows a comparison between the same cities, on the same date.

As they say, faster, cheaper...

I personally will still take the train, but the fares, and travel times sure make things tempting...

Can Amtrak or Caltrans (Amtrak California) really compete with this...

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This is a little misleading. How many tickets are there at $1?

1) what is the Real megabus fare? The fare they have to charge to make money.

2) I rather spend 9 hours on a train where I can walk around, and get food, and sit in s nice chair in the lounge car,
rather than 8 hours in a seat on a bus. The bus is noisy, to much jerky motion and uncomfortable.

3) $30 or $57 or whatever is not going to break my budget.

The $1 fare is amazing, of course, but we know it is a tease because they are just starting in the market again. Try and find that fare in places where they have been running buses for awhile. That said, you still can find pretty cheap tickets.

Another thing, though: a friend recently traveled from Detroit to Minneapolis; Amtrak to Chicago and Megabus from Chicago to Minneapolis. He sat in the back of the upper level, where eventually fellow passengers were snorting coke and began yelling at and hassling the bus driver, which got another passenger up front to verbally fight them back. All of this is on an 8 hour bus trip with cramped seating and a tiny bathroom.

You can read my post below regarding my Megabus trip in the NEC. I got the $1 ticket and the bus ride was fine although about 15 minutes late arriving. Even the typical fare blew away Amtrak. But this is for a 2-1/2 bus ride not 8-9 hours. Small market it will work.

i>
> Another thing, though: a friend recently traveled
> from Detroit to Minneapolis; Amtrak to Chicago and
> Megabus from Chicago to Minneapolis. He sat in the
> back of the upper level, where eventually fellow
> passengers were snorting coke and began yelling at
> and hassling the bus driver, which got another
> passenger up front to verbally fight them back.
> All of this is on an 8 hour bus trip with cramped
> seating and a tiny bathroom.

As much as one may not want to admit it, many will pay money to try and avoid people like these.

Maybe Megabus will build up the number of public transportation users between LA and San Francisco that someday California HSR will be able to capture with its $81 average fare. How long will we have to wait for that? fifteen years?

Ptolemy Wrote:
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> This is a little misleading. How many tickets
> are there at $1?

I believe it's a promotional fare until tomorrow, so every seat is $1 (until the seats are gone, of course). Non-promotional fare between San Jose and Los Angeles is $34, and they have 3 buses scheduled during the day, no red-eyes.

Looks like it's priced to compete with Greyhound, who should be the one sweating first.

Amtrak California from San Jose to Los Angeles using Thruway Bus to SLO or Santa Barbara and Surfliner the rest of the way is usually $47-$54 currently. Since MegaBus doesn't go to SLO, Santa Barbara, or stop at any of the Surfliner stops, not many passengers are going to switch to MegaBus yet.

On the other hand, MegaBus has at least 6 buses for San Francisco to Los Angeles and back, with a red-eye, priced $26-$35 non-promotional. Greyhound's LAX terminal is inconvenient unless someone is picking you up there, while Union Station has become a transportation center. I think MegaBus might do pretty well here, where people can connect to several regional transit options there.

Ptolemy Wrote:
>
> As much as one may not want to admit it, many will
> pay money to try and avoid people like these.

Thinking about it, what I'll say is: I like a form of transportation where the person operating the vehicle and the person with other responsibilities, including dealing with unruly passengers, are actually two seperate people. I'm not sure what is worse: someone insulting a bus driver, or something distracting a bus driver by insulting them.

inRVA Wrote:
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> The $1 fare is amazing, of course, but we know it
> is a tease because they are just starting in the
> market again. Try and find that fare in places
> where they have been running buses for awhile.
> That said, you still can find pretty cheap
> tickets.
>
> Another thing, though: a friend recently traveled
> from Detroit to Minneapolis; Amtrak to Chicago and
> Megabus from Chicago to Minneapolis. He sat in the
> back of the upper level, where eventually fellow
> passengers were snorting coke and began yelling at
> and hassling the bus driver, which got another
> passenger up front to verbally fight them back.
> All of this is on an 8 hour bus trip with cramped
> seating and a tiny bathroom.

This is nothing new about the back seats in an intercity bus!

Cliff

So you've all convinced me once again, I'm not taking the bus. I don't care if it's free.

I realized some people here will ride on a rickshaw for 9 hours if it only costs a dollar, but not me.

For aesthetic and comfort reasons, I will always prefer a train over bus. That I said, I've used Badger, Greyhound, Megabus and Trailways buses enough over my life to say that nearly all bus riders I've encountered are decent people.

Of course there are some who don't behave, but I've encountered uncivil people on Amtrak, the airlines and many times while driving.

Additionally, and unfortunately, there are times when buses are more convenient than trains. A Pittsburgh - Washington Megabus takes 4 1/2 hours and the same trip on the Capitol Limited takes 7+ hours and requires me to be at the Pittsburgh station by 4:30 am. I wish the Capitol Limited would be time competitive with Megabus, but that would require a level of public investment in the CSX line that would make many politicians and several TO members to go ballistic.

Oh yes, the one dollar fares may be difficult to get, but that Pittsburgh - Washington Megabus trip only cost $5.00.

It's hard to compete with a taxpayer-funded service. Megabus is likely to disappear long before they impact the state trains. Look at Greyhound, between the Bay Area and Sacramento...virtually invisible these days.

Hourly service between Sacto and SF back in the 'hound's better days. Likewise to San Jose from SF.
Now, few -- if any -- people think about riding the bus with good rail service available.


reindeerflame Wrote:
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> It's hard to compete with a taxpayer-funded
> service. Megabus is likely to disappear long
> before they impact the state trains. Look at
> Greyhound, between the Bay Area and
> Sacramento...virtually invisible these days.

Regarding that "upper level" on the MEGABUS: watch out for approaching low-level bridge structures, overpasses, tunnels. Top deck can get deadly real fast.

reindeerflame Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's hard to compete with a taxpayer-funded
> service. Megabus is likely to disappear long
> before they impact the state trains. Look at
> Greyhound, between the Bay Area and
> Sacramento...virtually invisible these days.

I prefer you're refering to the taxpayer funding of Megabus, in its use of free parking and highways.

coach Wrote:
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> Regarding that "upper level" on the MEGABUS:
> watch out for approaching low-level bridge
> structures, overpasses, tunnels. Top deck can get
> deadly real fast.

In terms of number of such incidents per million passenger-miles, how many times has this happened with Megabus?

Ptolemy Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> reindeerflame Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > It's hard to compete with a taxpayer-funded
> > service. Megabus is likely to disappear long
> > before they impact the state trains. Look at
> > Greyhound, between the Bay Area and
> > Sacramento...virtually invisible these days.
>
> I prefer you're refering to the taxpayer funding
> of Megabus, in its use of free parking and
> highways.


Well, no. I'm talking about when you purchase a $25 ticket on the Capitol Corridor, the general taxpayer also writes a check for $25.

reindeerflame Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ptolemy Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > reindeerflame Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > It's hard to compete with a taxpayer-funded
> > > service. Megabus is likely to disappear long
> > > before they impact the state trains. Look at
> > > Greyhound, between the Bay Area and
> > > Sacramento...virtually invisible these days.
> >
> > I prefer you're refering to the taxpayer
> funding
> > of Megabus, in its use of free parking and
> > highways.
>
>
> Well, no. I'm talking about when you purchase a
> $25 ticket on the Capitol Corridor, the general
> taxpayer also writes a check for $25.

Sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you meant how the general taxpayer pays for the roads that Megabus uses at less than cost.

What the hell is a megabus?