Mobile
Thursday, December 16, 2010
News All aboard the Megabus!
Posted By Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman on Thu, Dec 16, 2010 at 9:55 AM
It's cheap, it's got WiFi and it'll take you from the Q.C. to Washington, D.C. It's not a bird, and it's definitely no plane or train ... it's the Megabus. And, it won't cost you mega bucks.
Out of curiosity, I checked their prices for a round-trip ticket from here to D.C., leaving Friday and returning Sunday. Including the 50-cent reservation fee, the grand total came to $40.50. As much as I love the train, the same trip on the same timeline would cost over $260 through Amtrak. While you can plug in your computer on the train, there's no free WiFi. Megabus is probably even cheaper than driving yourself, your car's fuel efficiency depending, of course.
Here's more on the Megabus from The Charlotte Observer:
With a portly bus-driver mascot waving farewell, a new, low-cost bus linking Charlotte to the Triangle, Richmond and Washington, D.C., rolled out from next to the city's bus transportation center uptown Wednesday.On the first day of Megabus - which offers free wireless Internet access, power outlets for each seat and fares as low as $1 each way - service from Charlotte, riders said they were happy to have a new, often cheaper and less stressful way to travel.
"Cost, and a bathroom," said Josh Sesoms, 29, describing why he likes Megabus over his own car. One of about a dozen passengers traveling Wednesday morning, he was on his way from his home in Charlotte to the bar where he works several days a week in Durham.
It's a trip he usually takes on Amtrak, at a one-way cost of $24.
"Round trip was $8.50," Sesoms said of his first ride on Megabus. "That's also still cheaper than you can drive."
Charlotte and Durham are two of the latest additions to the 7-year-old company's lineup of about 50 cities.
The company, which has aggressively courted travelers in the Northeast who are looking for an alternative to flying and driving, keeps its costs low by not operating any terminals and only selling tickets online.
Read the rest of this article, by Ely Portillo, here.
Megabus also offers trips on double-decker buses, though those aren't yet available in our state. Here's a peak at one of them:
Speaking of...
Comments
Showing 1-1 of 1
Latest in The CLog
More by Rhiannon Fionn-Bowman
-
Cancer's better with a side of 'shrooms
Aug 7, 2020 -
The Last Mountain will move viewers
Aug 4, 2011 -
Government's mixed message for women
Aug 2, 2011 - More »
-
Planned Parenthood & allies sue N.C. over demeaning, invasive abortion law 6
-
Kendra James: From ‘Bad Girl’ to baptism 3
The reality star gets back to reality, discovers a new path for herself.
-
Question the Queen City: The unsolved death of Delette Nycum 2
The trial that followed was nothing short of a Charlotte version of the O.J. Simpson spectacle.
