Thoughts on Megabus

I should start with a disclosure: I hate long distance travel by bus. It is easily, far and away, my least favorite way to travel. I'm just too damn tall for it to be comfortable. Hell, even as much as I love good inter-city public transit systems, I'll go way out of my way, and do far more walking, to take light rail/subway rather than the bus.

But for Cleveland to Detroit, it was 1/5 of the price of Amtrak, so i decided to give it a try.

1) it was late. Not terribly so, but since they tell you to show up 15 min early, i stood around for a half hour.

2) they need the 15 digit reservation number they email you, not the (seemingly more logical) seven digit confirmation number.

3) it's an interesting sign when the first thing from the driver* after boarding is "when you use the bathroom, you have to shut the door. I'll repeat that: when you use the bathroom, you have to shut the door."

*as my friend on the Immigrant Worker Freedom Ride in 2003 explained, when it's a big fancy bus like this,.it's not a bus,it's a motorcoach, and he's not a bus driver, he's a motorcoach operator.

4) double decker motorcoaches are cool.

5) the seats are better than old school Greyhound, but not as nice or as roomy as Bolt Bus, and a far cry from Amtrak. I have to turn diagonally to comfortably use my phone, much less my netbook.

6) fortunately the bus isn't crowded, so everyone has their own row, with a number still open.

7) the wifi doesn't work. boo.

8) what's up with only one electrical outlet per row (i.e., one per two seats) Amtrak sure did that better. I can't remember about Bolt Bus, and haven't been on the new generation of Greyhound.

9) we're sitting in stop and go traffic outside of Cleveland on I-90: point, Amtrak.

10) $10.50 Cleveland to Detroit. Point, Megabus.

11) it smells like all long distance buses motorcoaches do: of recirculated air, chemical disinfectant, and diesel, with a hint of despair and uncertainty.