Megabus used to serve much of the United States with cheap bus fares that were as low as one dollar plus fees — but are $1 bus fares a thing of the past, as Megabus struggles to survive and relinquishes the operations of many of its routes to other bus lines?
Are $1 Bus Fares a Thing of the Past?
Megabus has made several changes to some of the routes we operate within the United States. Details of those changes are below.
- Routes operating between New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. will be operated by Peter Pan Bus Lines through an expansion of our partnership starting on August 16th, 2024. Passengers who booked on or before August 15th will be contacted by email with instructions on how to reschedule themselves onto one of the trips operated by Peter Pan Bus Lines. All passengers must complete this process to receive a ticket valid for travel.
- Routes operating between New York, State College, Harrisburg, King of Prussia, and Pittsburgh will be operated by Fullington Trailways through an expansion of our partnership starting on August 16th, 2024. Passengers who booked on or before August 15th will be contacted by email with instructions on how to reschedule themselves onto one of the trips operated by Fullington Trailways. All passengers must complete this process to receive a ticket valid for travel.
- Routes operating between Atlanta, Charlotte, Durham, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. will be discontinued as of August 16th, 2024. Customers with tickets booked on these services have been notified and refunds have been processed.
- Routes operating between Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and Houston will be discontinued as of August 16th, 2024. Customers with tickets booked on these services have been notified and refunds have been processed.
All other routes in the United States and Canada will operate as normal.
Megabus is not going out of business, and you can still book tickets to over 500 cities on our website.
We apologize for any inconvenience that these changes may cause.
Megabus service has transported greater than 50 million people through at least 280 cities in the United States since it was started in 2006.
Many routes have either become convoluted or cease to exist altogether.
As one of numerous examples, what was once a simple trip from Atlanta to Charlotte now takes nine hours and 30 minutes to complete because the stops along the way include Macon, Dublin, and Savannah in Georgia; and Orangeburg and Columbia in South Carolina before arriving in Charlotte in North Carolina.
In other words, the bus — which is operated by Southeastern Stages — heads southeast and then east before heading north and northwest. You get to pay $115.00 plus fees to travel 9.5 hours on a bus that leaves at 3:45 in the afternoon on Tuesday, January 7, 2025 and goes on a circuitous route — only to arrive at 1:15 in the morning on Wednesday, January 8, 2025.
A one-way trip from Atlanta to Charlotte can be as inexpensive as $140.00 with Delta Air Lines on that same day — and the flight time is as little as one hour and six minutes for a nonstop flight. If you are willing to travel ten hours and 24 minutes with Frontier Airlines, the flights between Atlanta and Charlotte — with a stopover of six hours and 32 minutes in Philadelphia — can be as cheap as $68.00.
Actual Costs to Passengers
If you purchased a return fare — that is, one dollar each way round-trip for a total of two dollars — it could have cost you a minimum of $5.99. The booking fee was $3.99 — whether the itinerary was one way or round trip — and a facilities fee of $1.50 was added on certain routes whose origination or destination used an actual building instead of an outdoor bus stop, which brought the cost of the return fare to $7.49. At $5.49, the fees could have easily cost more than the entire trip — and those fees did not include the cost of reserving a seat or checking any bags beyond the included allowance of one small carry-on bag and one checked bag.
Some trips only had a booking fee of $3.99 for the entire trip — meaning that the round-trip could have cost you a minimum of $5.99 in total.
Final Boarding Call
I was wondering recently why I have not received any notice of fare updates from Megabus. Unless I missed them, the last one I received was almost exactly one year ago today on Monday, November 27, 2023.
Even with the added fees, the costs could have been worth the price of the fare. It was not what I would consider ideal transportation, as it was fraught with problems — but the purpose of using Megabus was usually fulfilled. A return trip on Megabus could have cost less than three gallons of gasoline these days if you scored the one dollar fare. If you did not mind the conditions of traveling by bus, this was potentially quite a cost-effective way to travel — especially as passengers do not have to pay tolls along the way.
As I originally wrote in this article, I am not sure I would use Megabus again, as it does not have the best customer service; and the ride can be long and draining depending on where you go — especially when there is a significant delay. The report of my first trip as a passenger on Megabus was posted as well…
…but I certainly would not pay the fares that Megabus is currently charging for the routes it still serves — especially as many of them are now convoluted.
If you still want to use a bus for long distance transportation, it can still be cost effective — but it will likely not be convenient unless you pay more for your fare. My advice is to take an overnight trip — especially if you are able to sleep on the bus. This way, you do not lose time in which you could be doing something else; and you could save money on a night in a hotel room.
Day trips are not a bad idea if you enjoy watching the scenery go by without having to worry about driving…
All photographs ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
