As Megabus folds, a salute to the East Coast bus riders
What's your favorite Megabus memory?
Megabus is no more. After filing for bankruptcy in June, Peter Pan Bus Lines will oversee its operations.
Of note, Peter Pan will take over Megabus’ routes between Boston and Washington, D.C., according to MassLive.com.
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What will happen to Megabus’ routes outside the Northeast is unclear, as it has a pretty extensive network on the West Coast and South. Already, routes served by Megabus are now shown as “Operated by Peter Pan Bus Lines” on its website.
When Megabus debuted in the U.S. in 2008, it offered service to many cities already served by Greyhound, such as Atlanta and New York.
When I started riding in the early 2010s, I was hooked. It had Wi-Fi, assigned seating, and it was double-decker. The double-decker feature has always been the coolest to me: I’d only seen them in movies set in London.
I rode the Megabus far more times than I could count in college, from D.C. to my hometown in Hampton, Virginia. A round-trip ticket back then was $8, including taxes and fees. This was back in the days of Megabus’ $1 fares, which enabled a bunch of broke-ass college kids and recent grads to go home to see their folks far more often than they would usually have.
Amtrak was unaffordable, and flying between the two cities was unheard of unless you really, really had it like that (or had a buddy pass).
From D.C., I would take Metro’s Red Line to Union Square, nab a Dasani water and some sour cream and onion chips from the Hudson News and take the escalator to where the buses tried to avoid fines for illegally idling, dodging bird poop and heaven-knows-what-else on the ground.
Twice a semester — four times during the fall, including Thanksgiving and Christmas — my aunt and my Favorite would meet me at Hampton Transit Center downtown, across the street from the courthouse and by the old cemetery.
The Megabus would roll up — late — with a slew of passengers coming from the big cities up North. To say you rode the Megabus down to Virginia was almost like a badge of pride. It meant that you were coming from somewhere you would soon return. Something more significant than a small-town coastal city.
On my returns, Fee and Favorite would wait until the bus was fully loaded — saying a prayer in their deep Tidewater accents for traveling mercies and the highways and byways — and wave me on down I-64.
I was a top deck, back-row rider because it had three seats and was secluded from the rest of the bus and that awful, horrid bathroom on the first floor.
I’ve cried on the Megabus, seen several breakups, learned more about East Coast towns and cities (what even is in White Marsh, Maryland?), practiced job interview responses, submitted class assignments and, later, stories, and made fast friends.
That big-ass blue bus with a rotund white man on the wrapping was a godsend for folks trying to get to point A to point B.
See, Megabus was special. It was everything right and wrong with mass transit in the U.S.: cheap, slow, accessible, and inefficient. And if you lived on one of the Coasts, it seemed like everyone took the Megabus. You weren’t too good to take the Megabus, and you sure weren’t too good to snatch up those $1 tickets to D.C. or New York or Boston or, or, or.
But Megabus wasn’t spared the grim realities the travel industry faced during and after COVID-19. Megabus’ parent company, Coach USA, said it saw a 90% decline in ridership during the pandemic, according to Crain’s. While ridership somewhat stabilized, Megabus saw just 45% of the riders last year compared to pre-pandemic riders.
Travel sentiments have also changed.
And as we got older, we shifted our loyalties. We made a bit more money, opened travel credit cards, earned points and miles, and even took the first-class Acela train. We traded our McDonald’s Sprite cups and four-piece nuggets for mimosas and Biscoff cookies at 27,000 feet. We exchanged familiarity with convenience. Plus, we work from home more now.
We got a little too good for Megabus. I know I did — it’s been years since I last rode a Megabus.
But still, nostalgia has me remembering that rough carpet seating, that weird ammonia bathroom smell, and those long nights traversing the East Coast.
Farewell, Megabus. We ain’t love you, but we needed you.