Now it looks like our cheap-travel jones just got its ultimate fix.
It's Megabus.
Full, almost-too-good-to-be-true details are on the web site, but here's an executive summary:
- The company is Scottish (!) and has been offering a similar service in the UK for awhile.
- It operates with one hub in the US, but the one that SWNID would want to be first: Chicago.
- From Chicago, it serves major cities in the Midwest.
- From Cincinnati, the bus generally leaves from downtown around 7:30 a.m. and arrives in Chicago at Union Station around 12:45, making only one stop in Indianapolis, so it's essentially as fast as driving yourself.
- The return trip from Chicago to Cincinnati starts at midafternoon and arrives home in time for a late dinner and a very reasonable bedtime, i.e. before 9 p.m.
- Reservations are required and are available up to 45 days in advance.
- All reservations are made via the internet.
- All payment is made via credit or debit cards.
- Fares vary, as with airlines, depending on demand. They go as low as $1 (!) plus a 50-cent (!!) reservation charge.
We ran an experimental check of the reservation system and were offered a $1 fare each way for travel over a weekend in October for one passenger. When we added a theoretical spouse and child, the total cost went to $17 each way (that's $17 for three passengers, or $5.67 per person each way), plus the 50-cent reservation charge.
Midwesterners may wait a generation or more for intercity high-speed rail service. When it comes, it won't be much faster than this, but it will be a lot more expensive.
So plan that excursion to Chicago now. Book Megabus, order a Chicago Transit Authority pass, reserve a room at the Lincoln Park North Days Inn, and enjoy one of the world's greatest cities for a little more than the cost of a movie with large popcorn and Goobers.
4 comments:
Does this mean that you're coming to Chicago for my birthday party next week? If so the steaks are waiting, and I'll put your name down for the cornhole tourney. Oh, and bring me a Zips Burger please.
*How to get your rail fix in Chicago:
Get that CTA Pass and ride the Red Line up and down all day long. Probably the best Spring Break of my life was my Junior year when I went to Chicago myself, rode the red line up and down, and ate Chicago Pizza all week...
By the way, I'm watching the Bengal's game right now, and John Madden just said the following over some footage of what I think was the good people at the Skyline on the corner of Sycamore and 4th St.:
"The other thing, where they put the chili on the spaghetti is one of the great eats of the world..."
I love Skyline.
I saw that also, farris. It's the first time Madden has said something useful in a broadcast for five years!
Anyway, I've found that megabus is already preferable to high speed rail. While planning a scouting trip to Great Britain, I found that a rail ticket for one from Edinburgh to London cost well over $100 while a megabus ticket for the same route is only £15! I'll take a slower trip by bus and make up for it with the money I will save by staying another four nights in a hostel.
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