Megabus

I don't know anyone that has, but work near the pick-up spot on Southwyck Blvd. I wouldn't recommend leaving your car parked anywhere near. I see most people get dropped off and rarely see cars left behind.

I used to park at Southwyck and can't do that anymore and then I used to park across the street when the stop moved next door to the (now closed) chiropractor's office. I don't have anyone to pick me up and drop me off so may go from Ann Arbor instead. They have a large commuter lot that's easy to get to.

As a former Taxi driver and owner, if you live close by southwyck area, you can hop a taxi for $5-$15 bucks, Black and White is pretty reliable (biased opinion on taxi brand disclosure notice :-)

I checked with the wife(dispatcher) and the bus stop is still active, it's in front of the chiropractic place by the shell station. There is a metal bucket with concrete in the bottom of it and the red megabus sign is stuck in there. Happy trails!

I'm surprised the Megabus remains in that fairly deserted location. Most of their stops in other cities are near major shopping centers. It's a safety thing and a business thing.

Maybe McDonalds gets a big surge of business when the MegaBus comes in? Otherwise I would think that the parking lot at Meijer would be a better choice for them...

Megabbus is located there because it's easy on and off for the turnpike. The stop here only serves a direct line between Cleveland and Chicago. I took it to Chi last summer and the stop there is right near Union Station, a logical choice. They have to think of the manuverability (sp?) and headroom of the busses, they're HUGE! Loved it, will use it again if I ever get the chance, WAY better than the train or car to Chi and way cheaper!!

Bumping to see if anyone else has tried Megabus.

I learned that they are adding service between Toledo and Pittsburgh. My husband has been talking for awhile now about road-tripping to Pittsburgh so he can see a baseball game at PNC Park.

I'm thinking that with a good deal on the bus fare, we might finally make the trip this summer. I certainly wouldn't drive to Pittsburgh at $4+ a gallon just so he can say he saw a game there. (He's not a Pirates fan - just has heard good things about the ballpark and would like to check it out.)

I tested some sample dates, and based on current availability it appears that we could have transportation AND tickets to the game for less than $20 a person. Not a bad deal! For those prices, I might even let him buy a beer or two at the game. ;)

mom2 - Beer? There goes your budget. :)

mom2 - I've been to 21 of the active ballparks and PNC Park is BY FAR my favorite. Well worth the trip.

I'm jealous. PNC Park looks beautiful...and is on my wish list of ballparks to visit.

Might be a good year to go too...the Pirates are actually not horrible for the first time in a long, long time. 18-18 as of today.

ESPN--Pittsburgh Actually Showing Progress

PNC park is beautiful!

This is crazy. I just priced a trip to Pittsburgh. Leaving on a Friday morning from Toledo, and then leaving Pittsburgh Sunday night was only $12 roundtrip for two people. How the hell do they make any money?!?!?

Googled "how does megabus make money" and came up with this http://www.businessrecord.com/main.asp?SectionID=5&SubSectionID=9&ArticleID=10011

I think there are only a limited number of cheap seats on any given bus. Must be some sort of marketing hook. With Pittsburgh being a new destination, perhaps the cheap seats haven't started to fill yet?

It appears that you'd have to book farther out to get a cheap seat on an existing route like Cleveland.

I see that Megabus services Cincinnati too, but there isn't currently a route between Toledo and Cincy. I'd love to see that happen - we travel there frequently to see family members. I'd rather spend $20 or less on bus tickets than $100+ in gas!

P.S. Thanks for the reviews of PNC Park. I think it would be a fun road trip, and you really can't beat the price.

We probably won't be taking any big vacations this year, so scheduling a few inexpensive road trips would be a nice substitute.

Just bought a ticket to Kansas City. $30 from Toledo to Chicago. $20 for the (much longer) Chicago to Kansas City leg of the trip.

Long trip, but for roughly double the travel time, it's 1/6th of the fare. Hard to beat that.

Gas cost for my car would have been easily $100+.

mom2, that's correct about the seat price but it's determined by how full the bus is when you book. people who wait till there are fewer seats available pay the highest fare. I booked 3 months in advance to go to Lolla but by that time the bus I wanted was pretty full as it was coming from Cleveland, full of rockers, lol. As I said, it was still only $30 for each round-trip seat, so who can complain? My only gripe was that I didn't get to sit in the front upstairs. :)

Mega buss adding Detroit and Pittsburg. Wife has taken it to Chicago twice and loves it.

TAHL

noice, do we know the drop-off in Detroit? nm, I'll go look!

Rosa Parks Transit Center (Joe Louis) and Cass and Warren (Wayne State). if you book now for 5/21, it's $1.00 each way.

http://us.megabus.com/JourneyResults.aspx

oooo, Lake Ontario cirle jer...uh, circle tour!

http://ca.megabus.com/routemap.aspx

wonder how much it would cost for every stop?

http://uk.megabus.com/routemap.aspx

US routes:

http://uk.megabus.com/routemap.aspx

just booked my first Megabus trip to Detroit on Memorial Day weekend. $8.50 round trip for girlfriend and myself... can't beat that. Parking alone would cost about $75 for the weekend and not to mention the cost of gas. And I don't have to worry about car theft (mine was stolen up there last year).

With the addition of Pittsburg I'm thinking about doing a connector type deal and picking the bus up to DC from there. With the cost of parking in DC and the ease of use of the metro system, it'd be a money saver for sure. For those who've used Megabus, how close to scheduled arrival times do they stick?

I've done both Toledo to St. Louis & Toledo to KC, both involving transfers in Chicago. They are pretty close to their schedules, at least on my trips. I usually have about an hour in Chicago (Union Station area).

Of course, they're at the mercy of any traffic mishaps and jams along the way. Maybe I've just been exceptionally lucky.

we left Chi after Lolla a little late because it was pouring rain and the bus got in late. we were told departure times have leeway due to not knowing how many people are needing to stow luggage. our bus was jammed coming back, took about 20-25 minutes to get everything in. From personal experience, I can say that the Megabus keeps a hellava lot closer to their schedules than Amtrak does! 9 hours to get back from Chi on Amtrak was suckin!

I've only had a minor delay leaving Chicago ... we were all advised to go inside a donut shop since it was winter. No hardship there! On the bus, if you talk to frequent riders, some of them have horror stories about 3-hour delays, and going back to a rest stop to pick up someone who was left behind. But the same people also acknowledge that they've taken dozens of trips and they book multiple tickets way in advance because they like the price/service so much.

Best use of Megabus that I heard: Ohio women who went Xmas shopping together on State Street in Chicago, a day trip, for something like $15 each.

yup, we were in that donut shop for coffee and pee breaks while we were waiting in the rain.

lol, I was on the train with a bunch of women doing that in November. they were drinking up a storm at 10am on a Saturday, while the porter in the diner was feeding me croutons and 7Up for free to salve my motion sickness.

I love the Megabus and have taken it several times. Am interested in knowing where you folks leave your car when you catch it.

The Hub drove us over and picked us up when it was still on the Southwyck backside, but I saw a few people leave their cars right there.

how strict are they about luggage? it says one 50# bag and one carry-on bag per passenger. will they weigh each bag or just be able to tell by lifting it. I have to bring a few cases of beer with and that can weigh a lot.

I just rode the Megabus this past weekend (Chicago) and they are making announcements after boarding that beginning June 1, their luggage policy (stated on the website) will be "strictly enforced". 1 bag 50 pounds or less and one carry on item (backpack sized). There are also luggage dimension limits they will enforce, apparently.

I don't know if they're going to have their own scales with them or what, but I'd weigh a case of beer on a bathroom scale to see ow much you could get away with.

one look at their luggage compartment and you will see why they have to enforce the rules, it was probably getting recockulous with people trying to bring all their shit, especially back from shopping. there were 2 smallish guys trying to help the portly driver get everything in there by climbing right in the thing repacking it a few times, and everyone on my bus was mostly youngish and backpacking it with a small bag on wheels. then one lady showed up out of a cab with 3 large suitcases and her daughter had 2! The driver gave them the evil eye, lol. downpack and buy your beer there, babe, you dont want someone breaking your bottles trying to get a huge suitcase wedged in.
:)