Travel the midwest for cheap

[Draptomania]

No-frills line does Midwest on the cheap
Bus firm gets many to Chicago for less than $30, some for $1

The service, at a glance

Megabus offers daily express service from Indianapolis to Chicago, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio.

One-way fares from Indianapolis range from $1 to about $27.50, depending on how far in advance you book.

To reserve tickets, and for more information, visit www.megabus.com/us

Call: (877) GO2-MEGA

By Theodore Kim
theodore.kim@indystar.com
Fellow travelers, they arrived at the Downtown sidewalk in ones and twos: a student, an architect, a social worker, a married couple.

There was nothing to greet them: no majestic terminal, no blue-suited conductors, not even a ticket counter. Yet, these travelers promptly showed up to this designated spot when the schedule said they should -- lured by a new online-based company promising bus fares as low as $1 to cities throughout the Midwest.
"You can't really beat the fares," said 25-year-old Trisha Logan, preparing to return to Chicago after spending a recent weekend with her parents in Indianapolis.
Logan paid all of $2.50 for her roundtrip ticket.
Meet Megabus, a line headquartered in the United Kingdom that began service here last month and hopes to shake up the industry by applying a discount-airline approach to intercity bus travel.
Just as Southwest Airlines and its low-cost rivals helped jump-start a revolution among commercial air carriers, Megabus is seeking to draw a new generation of motorcoach passengers in this era of high gas prices.
Despite a few rocky first moments -- a coach ran out of gas on its maiden trip between Cleveland and Chicago, according to published reports -- Megabus has already begun attracting thousands of riders.
Midwest well-suited

Dale Moser, president and chief operating officer of Coach USA, the domestic subsidiary of Scotland-based Stagecoach Group PLC, said the Midwest suits Megabus' strategy particularly well because the region is dotted with major cities, each spaced several hours apart.
From Chicago, the company runs express daily service to Indianapolis and eight other Midwest cities. Indianapolis passengers can book seats to Chicago, Cincinnati or Columbus, Ohio.
Fares are outlandishly cheap: as high as about $27.50 for a one-way ticket from here to Chicago and as low as $1 if you book enough in advance.
Fares on traditional bus carriers like Greyhound Lines are higher -- usually around $30 to $35 one-way from here to Chicago -- and the routes sometimes include intermediate stops.
As the Megabus departure time to Chicago approached, Logan and other passengers gushed about the cut-rate fares.
"It's cheaper than Greyhound -- anybody," said Erin Polley, a 25-year-old social worker from Chicago who booked at the last minute and paid $22.
Like Logan, she had made a weekend trip to Indianapolis to see her parents. "If the ride is nice, then I'll probably do it again," she said.
Most of the passengers, including Mark and Cindy Porteous, Indianapolis, who were headed to Chicago to attend a conference about urban parks, were trying Megabus for the first time.
The couple booked about a month in advance and paid about $18 each for two round-trip tickets. In addition to low fares, Cindy Porteous, a 56-year-old employee at the Indianapolis Parks Foundation, was attracted to Megabus' promise of convenience.
"Flying would have taken longer," she said. "Here, they drop you off downtown and you can walk to your hotel."
The Chicago stop is directly across from the city's centrally located Union Station.
Cheap fares aside, the operation does have its quirks and drawbacks.
Passengers say buses have, so far, rarely arrived exactly on time. And demand on some routes has been low, according to reports.
And then there are the bus "stations," which are hardly stations at all.
Polley had to circle the block several times to find the Indianapolis pick-up point, located near the intersection of Delaware and Washington streets.
The spot, which doubles as an IndyGo bus stop, is unmarked save for a dinner-tray-sized Megabus sign.
"I hope this all works," another passenger, 27-year-old Jason Matthews, said as he sat on a cement railing with a book in his lap and his backpack nearby. The 12:45 p.m. departure time came and went with no sign of a bus.
Lower fares win out

Stagecoach Group -- which has 28,000 employees worldwide and runs some 2,800 commuter, charter and school buses in the United States -- pioneered its low-cost Megabus strategy throughout the United Kingdom.
To achieve its low fares, Megabus cuts expenses by employing online booking and using sidewalk stops. And because tickets are sold on the Web, passengers board with nothing more than a reservation number checked by the driver.
In addition, it only offers direct service between major cities versus time-consuming routes that make many stops. Also, Megabus dispatches much of its service from Chicago, using a "hub-and-spoke" system much like the airlines do.
The goal of Megabus is to use its ultra-low costs and fares to attract as many passengers as possible.
"You fill 55-passenger buses at lower fares," Moser of Megabus said. "Compared with higher fares, higher volume always wins out."
A marketing campaign that emphasizes its rock-bottom fares and targets likely bus riders -- ads appear in places such as Chicago transit lines and on college campuses -- has helped fill those seats.
Since it launched service on April 10, Megabus has carried some 25,000 to 30,000 U.S. passengers, with most of its buses running about half-full, Moser said.
Even before the launch of Megabus here, traditional bus lines had already begun taking similar steps to retool their operations.
Dallas-based Greyhound, the nation's largest intercity bus line, just completed a large-scale revamping that shed many small towns from its route system, including 21 destinations from Indiana.
The overhaul allowed the line to focus attention on its most-traveled direct routes, such as those between Boston and New York. It has also sought to bolster online ticketing and improve customer service.
Industry officials hope Megabus, as well as Greyhound's changes, will inject vigor into an aging transportation mode synonymous with cross-country trips, dusty towns and decades past.
"Anything innovative will grow the market," said Peter J. Pantuso, president and chief executive officer of the American Bus Association, a Washington, D.C.-based trade group. "As gas prices soar over $3 a gallon, people are looking for alternatives."
As those waiting at the corner of Delaware and Washington in Indianapolis began to wonder where the bus was, a blue Megabus motorcoach appeared around the corner. It rolled to a stop about 15 minutes behind schedule.
One of the first to disembark was 48-year-old Becky Bechtel, an Indianapolis textbook consultant who had ridden in from Columbus.
She reckons she's traveled to Ohio's capital city about 16 times since January to spend time with her mother, who is battling cancer.
While she usually drives the three-hour trip herself, gasoline prices have started to eat into her budget. So she thought she'd try Megabus, and is now sold on the service.
"It's a huge cost-savings for me," she said. "It's comfortable and it's important for me to be there."

[Mahmoud Siddiqi]

Thank you for this information queen warrior. Cheaper bus fares is something I'm ALWAYS looking for!

[Draptomania]

I'm frugal Bro. King MS
With today's rising gas prices, ya gotta look for shortcuts I'm trying to see if I can get to Chicago, never been before. I did a search and the trip would only cost 9.50round trip!! I've traveled Greyhound before, and it was cramped and tardy...I'm willing to give this a try

[Mahmoud Siddiqi]

Originally Posted by Draptomania

I'm frugal Bro. King MS
With today's rising gas prices, ya gotta look for shortcuts I'm trying to see if I can get to Chicago, never been before. I did a search and the trip would only cost 9.50round trip!! I've traveled Greyhound before, and it was cramped and tardy...I'm willing to give this a try

I feel you. If and after you use this company, let me know how it went!

[rebelAfrika]

Originally Posted by Draptomania

I've traveled Greyhound before, and it was cramped and tardy

Tardy??? LOL!!! Like what I used to get in trouble for in High School???

[Draptomania]

Originally Posted by rebelAfrika*AAPRP

Tardy??? LOL!!! Like what I used to get in trouble for in High School???

LMAO, yup! Too bad I couldnt give them a detention

[Raha]

This is nice!

I dig this.

P.E.A.C.E.

[IfasehunReincarnated]

looks safer, cleaner and more modern than Greyhound