The Megabus.
We don't think we've mentioned the Megabus before, but we would be remiss if we allowed 2007 to fall away into the record books without first shining our light on what surely is one of the Top Three Modes of Transportation in the United States.
The setup:
Megabus is a "low cost, daily, express bus service in the US." The system was first described to us was thusly: It could take a rider from St. Louis, MO to Kansas City, MO for $1. This is roughly 300 miles. Even assuming you have a 10-gallon gas tank and get 30 miles a gallon, such a trip would cost $30.
We studied Economics in college and even went on to work professionally in the field. Yet, we have no idea how this Megabus system possibly works. How and why it works escapes us. But works, we know, it does.
Here's how we know: after hearing fanciful tales of such civilized travel from family members in (the Middle of) America, we tried the thing out on the West Coast.
San Jose. To Los Angeles. For $10.
No kidding.
As far as we can tell there are no catches to this system (other than, you know, it might go bankrupt at any second). The buses are new and big and comfortable. The drivers are reasonable. There is one stop, approximately 30 minutes in length (at least this is so for the SJ-->LA leg). The company, if it advertises at all, only advertises online and tickets can only be purchased online, so rather than getting sketchballs like on Greyhound, you get a bunch of people who look like they're being shipped off to Hipster Bandcamp. And we can be down with that.
This seems like a system too good to stay this pure for very long. So, if you live in or near a
city served by Megabus, make 2K8 the year you try it.
Note: More background info found
here.
