I Spent $3 for a 2000-Mile Megabus Ride
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- čas přidán 19. 12. 2023
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Now when you go to sleep, all you'll see is The Guy.
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I have no idea why I watch this channel.
I'm a 45 year old dude from Wisconsin.
I make cabinets in a town of 1000 people.
Yet I think I've watched every video.
Fully entertained.
Thanks, miles in transit.
Thank you so much, and you sound like an incredibly cool person
Ditto, regarding why I watch this channel and yet am always entertained.
Transit calls to us all
Our inner wanderer
Our inner masochist
You would like Traveling Turtle
use to work as an video editor, stuck on a seat for 8 to 12 hours a day,,when taking a cab I would get exited and say the cabbies have the best job, like hey you guys travel all around.
Thanks so much for saying “Hi!” Sorry you couldn’t stop. We need to make a trip together sometime!!
Jeb Brooks!
Thanks so much, Jeb! Honestly it's kind of surprising Megabus doesn't stop in Greensboro given how big of a city it is... but we absolutely need to do a trip, that would be amazing!!
A trip with both Jeb and Miles would be epic.
Jeb, I have to ask! As a European why do American's always smile in photos like it is an advertisement?
2000-mile bus ride? Wow, that's a lot of
Miles in Transit
HEH
And that is a Fun Fact.
Hey he’s gotta keep true his online persona, brand and name
Otherwise he might have to settle for
“Feet in transit”
“Inches in transit”
“Blocks in transit”
“Occasional Transit”
Or something with less wow factor
🤣😂
Take the like and fuck off dont let the door hut you on your way out 😂
If the government can subsidize airlines for Essential Air Service routes, then the same can be done for buses.
They do but it's on a state level. Greyhound and Trailways for sure and assume others have been paid to operate under performing routes but that money is limited and most states contribute nothing. That's why they run the big cities only or not at all.
I agree that federal subsidies for inter city bus service makes sense. But (as with the Essential Air Service) only to cities where (without the subsidies) there would be no service at all.
Greyhound is doomed, did you see those terrible food posters?
There is a subsidy for rural intercity buses. It's the federal 5311(f) program. Every state gets an apportionment and can use it how it wants. Pennsylvania uses it to prop up all the fullington routes and three Greyhound routes.
@@alexwithclipboard
Cool, didn't know that. And looks like the 5311(f) funds are to be 15% of the total 5311 funds given to the state. Looking at the current Greyhound operation in Alabama it seems that they have recently eliminated a route that was restored over the last few years possibly with 5311(f) money as this was one of the first routes that Greyhound cut way back in the early 2000's and is mentioned in an Alabama report as being a good candidate for a feeder route. They ran it for a few years then cut it again. So I wonder whats going on, did Alabama run out of 5311 money? This route ran from Tuscaloosa to Mobile on US43 and return.
The difference in pricing between Jeremy and you is WILD, which shows you just how much money you saved
All fares need to be paid by internet?
Dynamic pricing in a nutshell
I work in revenue management in an airline. You wouldn't believe how much work is put into ensuring companies earn the most profit.
I agree, and the Intercity Bus nationalization video is in the works.
Let me know if you need any help on that! Thanks for spreading the good word, Alan.
Possibly the most important issue that nobody outside our niche is talking about. Whether one agrees with nationalization or some other proposal, something needs to be done sooner rather than later.
Agree, the US bus network has almost entirely disintegrated in the last 5 years with zero attention until last week when there's been a few articles about Greyhound decline.
Electrify the highways?
Having Greyhound as your benchmark is like traveling through Central America and constantly saying "well I know there are mosquitoes everywhere and an oppressive dictatorship, but at least it's not South Sudan."
Brilliant, funny comment!
Why am I, a teacher in rural Ireland so entertained by this guy and his friend taking transit in a country I have never and probably will never visit? Really want to see you on European transit one day…
I have some videos in Denmark on the backburner! Still gotta make it over to the UK and/or Ireland at some point...
I feel like you are shocked to see how bad it really is here 😂
@@damnimloominit's shockingly bad in parts of Ireland - relatively little was bulldozed for cars, compared to North America, but the levels of car dependency across the island is horrible.
Intercity and rural transport is abysmal unless you're connecting Dublin with Belfast, Cork or... erm... maybe some of the other smaller cities, and that's by rail only. Many cities have infrequent rail service, or the rail station is located out of the way.
Intercity buses are not wonderful either.
@@damnimloomin Ireland is far too rural to have good transit - I come from an absolute transit desert, no trains, no buses unless you already live in a town. Yes you can get from Sligo to Galway, but good luck getting to one of those places in the first place! That being said, I feel like we don’t have transit because a lot of the population live rurally, while the US seems to just really love putting people at a disadvantage at every opportunity!
@@MilesinTransit If you are ever doing London I have an excellent randomly generated tube based game you’d love. Denmark seems like somewhere that has great transit, I was in the Netherlands recently and everything was so slick!
My mom worked for Greyhound in the early 80s when I was between 3 and 7 years old, which meant we were on every bus outta St Louis for family vacations all the time. Every city with at least 50000 population had a bus STATION. With places to eat and sit down. Small towns had the bus stop near a major attraction, town square, Waffle House. SOMETHING. So that was my childhood memory. Now I see the bus barely even stops at places and when it does, it's at a liquor store in a hard to reach part of town. That ain't right... Gov should step in and bundle Amtrak with AmBus? Make it so some of your trip could've just been on Southern Crescent in the cheap seats and then a bus from NOLA to San Antonio via Houston. Until they get the regional trains right.
The Megabus mascot is called Sid. He used to be on the side of the coaches here in the UK as well; but hasn't appeared since Stagecoach started repainting in the newer colour scheme.
I thought he was called Dara 😂
@@Kanbei11 I can't speak for the US; but in the UK he was called Sid and even used to have his own profile on Twitter
@@CB-OnTheGo ah sorry. I was referencing the mock the week joke that he looked like Dara O'Briain.
I've never been to the USA so can't speak for them either
Whenever I see a bus video, especially Greyhound, I get a bit nostalgic. This video hit a little harder with the ending though. As someone who took a bus because train and flights were expensive to and from college, I do remember it being fun and being treated with respect. I'm glad I have memories of pretty decent experiences and feeling somewhat liberated by just being on the road for a long time. It sucks that politicians and government don't care much because it may be the only way some people can get around, and they deserve the decency and respect other travelers have in rail and flights.
The Megabus mascot is so cursed....it should be turned into the mascot of a horror movie franchise. I had my first true Megabus experience this year on December 1st. I say true because I technically did it back in 2012 from NYC to Atlantic City, but it was an Academy bus and only the ticketing was through Megabus. It was honestly a great experience! We took Megabus to Philly for a day trip and then took Amtrak NER back. We arrived an hour early for our 10:15 bus and the lady that was there at the stop was like "Oh we still have seats for the 9:15, if they don't show up, you can just get on" and while we initially took the offer, we noticed the windows looked very bad and it smelled quite bad too, so we got off.
We also considered the fact we reserved upper deck front row seats in advance, and we didn't want those seats to go to waste. Glad we waited because it would've changed the experience if we didn't. The views were wonderful, the bus wasn't crowded at all, got a landing shot at EWR, and we even arrived earlier than expected! NO traffic! That said, I agree with your summary, the government should step in. We are a huge country, we have united in our name, and yet it doesn't have the true connectivity that it deserves. Yes, there are politicians that care about trains, but having buses are just as important! Especially for the places the trains can't go, and it's especially great to have options that are cheap!
Your comments at the end hit a nerve in just how intercity bus travel continues to get exiled. In recent months, when I've had to take intercity bus from Philly, I use Megabus specifically because they still have a stop near 30th st station as opposed to the other major bus companies having been shoved out to a no man's land in Spring Garden. And the idea that the better option is still a sidewalk spot next to a highway ramp is such a low bar.
I didn't think it could get worse than 6th and Market but somehow they managed it...
Cincinnati's Greyhound station recently packed up and moved from a spot right next to downtown (admittedly, the WRONG side of downtown from a tourist and traveler perspective), to some random sketchy spot like 8 miles north of downtown where your only hope of getting anywhere anyone would actually want to go to is a rideshare or a probably very indirect city bus route.
Come for the wild Megabus journey, stay for *PIZZA, PIZZA* at 6:53. The actual name of The Guy™ is Sid! Motorcoach One is not an official bus of the US government. Right behind the dual wheels it states "Not Associated With Any Agency of the United States Government" along with the vehicle business name of American Tour Club in Gladwin, MI. The Richmond Main Street station at 6:11 is a pretty cool building! The ornate station was designed by the Philadelphia firm of Wilson, Harris, and Richards in the Second Renaissance Revival style. It was built in 1901 by the Seaboard Air Line and the Chesapeake & Ohio. Seaboard ended up moving to the former Broad Street station while C&O remained until Amtrak took over.
The Norfolk Southern-Gregson Street Overpass or the Can-Opener Bridge in Durham was built in 1940 but was originally designed in the 1920s. When it opened with a clearance of 11 foot 8 inches, that was standard at the time. Since 1973, the standard clearance for bridges was increased to a minimum height of 14 feet (4.27 m). It took until 2019 for the North Carolina Railroad Company, which owns the bridge and tracks, to raise the bridge by 8 inches (20 cm) to 12 feet 4 inches (3.76 m).
For what it's worth, I believe the American variant of The Guy is named Chuck!
Thank you for using paragraph spacing
I need to find friends like you two. I don't have anyone in my life at the moment to go on adventures with.
Discord is great for that!
The problem with intercity bus service is that there's not much money to be made in it, especially outside the northeast. Greyhound is starting to close a bunch of terminals and leave people out in the street like the low cost carriers used to. Used to because they're all gone
Yeah only the northeast is profitable, and its fierce competition. Kinda wished fung wah would come back and lower prices its probably 25 each way on a double decker. lucky star charges 40.
@@wl6020 I'm sure that there are a couple of companies running underground. There are buses available at all price points.
It's true about the Fort McHenry Tunnel, it's 1.5 miles in length and at its lowest elevation, it's 107 feet or 33 m below the harbor water surface. The tunnel was constructed from May 1980 to November 1985, at a cost of about $750 million. It was the most expensive underwater tunnel project in the US until the Big Dig. Fort McHenry is best known for its role in the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812 when it successfully defended the harbor against the British. When Francis Scott Key noticed the oversized US flag was still flying, it inspired him to write the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry" which was later set to music in the song "To Anacreon in Heaven"....the Star-Spangled Banner!
It was built in 1798, and was used continuously by the armed forces through World War I and by the Coast Guard in World War II. It was designated a national park in 1925 and was redesignated as a National Monument in 1939. I got to visit Fort McHenry back in 2010 on the way back to the NYC metro from a boy scout jamboree in Virginia. It was right in time for a flag ceremony, and I had the opportunity to hold the folded flag and walk to give it to a ranger. Doing that at the location where the national anthem honoring the flag was written...it was an experience. Something neat about Fort McHenry besides the anthem is that it has become national tradition that when a new flag is designed it first flies over Fort McHenry.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel has its tunnel section deeper at 134 US feet.
from Wikipedia:
Maximum tunnel depth
Crown-at its deepest location (mid-channel): 105 feet (32 m) below the water surface
Invert-from the top of the roadway at its deepest location: 134 feet (41 m) below the surface
However, Mr 1.6 Kilometres in Transit is still pedantically correct because the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel is on highway 13, not an Interstate.
@@jfmezei Hopefully someday the idea of I-101 replacing the US 13 corridor to I-95 becomes a reality and we have a good bypass for the Baltimore-Washington-Richmond section of I-95.
@kevindavis900 probably a spur route off i95 down to dover
Every time you mention Jeb I get shivers down my spine. I’m still waiting for the colab
Tragic to hear about the cutting of intercity bus routes. We’ve been experiencing similar for our rural routes - my route was axed with 2 months notice last year, leaving my village with no outside connections. Remarkably, the communities of the villages it served have started their own co-op bus company to replace it, but the vast majority of rural Britain is not as lucky.
Our intercity bus routes are still going strong, though, and Megabus still has WiFi and proper city centre stations! The guy is called Sid, but he’s been taken off British Megabuses (they’re trying to make themselves appear more sophisticated after they cut the Megabus Gold brand).
Government support might really make sense, it’s not preachy at all - the Scottish Government pays Megabus to run “lifeline” Citylink services and it works well (some routes even go via ferries to remote islands). The costs of this are marginal, it’s a no-brainier. A Government would be extremely foolish to let its intercity bus network collapse, especially in a country with so few alternatives.
I ran into you guys on the nyc subway (uptown A train?) the first evening of taping this around 1am. I think I said "wtf is that miles?" and quickly noticed Jeremy's Conrail shirt. Glad to see you guys completed the journey. Running into MIT on public transit was one of my greatest gifts of whole year. Keep up the great work.
Can't remember if it was the A or the 1 that night, but thank you so much!
@@MilesinTransit It was the A!
The government can't possibly run an intercity bus service any worse than Greyhound does.
Don't give them ideas
If TXDot put as much money into transit as they do roads, Texas would have the best transit in the country.
As someone not from Texas, I'm actually confused. I drove through south Texas. That's the result of putting money into the roads???
@@mynameissang Texas wastes and insane amount of money on car only infrastructure
If only there was some sort of rail driven vehicle that could move mass amounts of people without dealing with highway traffic…
Horrible highway infrastructure, Bass Pro Shops, Buc-ee's, yup that's the South alright! Birmingham became known as the Pittsburgh of the South because of its iron and steel production. The reason Buc-ee's got that name and has a beaver as their mascot is because its founder, Arch Aplin, opted to combine his childhood nickname Beaver with his Labrador Retriever Buck. The Bass Pro Shops pyramid is indeed beautiful. Every pharaoh in Egypt has been real quiet since Bass Pro Shops took over a pyramid. The pyramid concept originated in 1954 and there was originally supposed to be three! It began construction in 1989 and was completed in 1991.
It used to be an arena for the Memphis Grizzlies, but it wasn't the ideal venue because it's...a pyramid. So the team moved to the FedExForum in 2004. As for how it became a Bass Pro Shop? When the Bass Pro Shops founder Johnny Morris fished with him friends by the pyramid, he said if he or his friends caught a 30-pound catfish, he'd build a store there! Thus, they signed an agreement with Memphis in 2010, and it became a Bass Pro Shop in 2015!
"Hungry for our bacon cheeseburger" with no punctuation truly got me
I love when Miles is checking the Wi-Fi in Birmingham. He’s looking at transit docs lol another great trip Miles. I totally agree with you that there should be an Amtrak version of intercity buses. if you ask me, it should merge with Amtrak and create this mega integrated network. While Amtrak has their own buses, They can use other routes to stop at actual Amtrak stations repurpose some of the old train stations that Amtrak has served in 50 years. Just an idea.
Agreed. And transitdocs is far and away the best Amtrak tracker!
@@MilesinTransitI LOVE transitdocs. Almost in an unhealthy way lol
"It was helpful as we're making our transfer from New Ork" EEP OPP, ORK, AH-AH! DC indeed has good sightlines! You can thank Pierre Charles L'Enfant! People back then thought L'Enfant was crazy, but not Washington! His design was based on European models translated to American ideals. The entire city was built around the idea that every citizen was equally important! And the building in front of the Washington Monument (err I mean Bunker Hill Monument) at 6:05 is the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Its design was inspired by the three-tiered crowns used in Yoruban art from West Africa.
Our Juche Tower rivals the Washington Monument. Our Juche Tower measures 558 feet/170 m while the Washington Monument measures 555 feet/169 m. It opened in 1982 to commemorate my grandpa's seventieth birthday. It contains 25,550 blocks, one block for each day of my grandpa's life up until that point. And it serves as the backdrop for our holiday firework shows.
Fun fact! Before they raised the 11 foot 8 bridge it was not at all uncommon for Amtrak’s Piedmont trains to get delayed 1+ hours due to having to wait for the bridge to be inspected after someone rammed their truck into it. Source: it happened to me a few times.
You rammed your trick into the bridge …a few times? 🤡
@@RoyalFlushFan Read the comment again
“Last Wawa before Florida”
Only the important content on this channel.
You must buy food every time you stop because you just never know...
Miles Select Reserve Pretzels by Snyders of Hanover when
Hell yeah! They missed their opportunity TWICE -- Little Caesars Pizza 🍕 on the "11am lunch" stop and Fried Chicken 🍗 on the stop before that dangerous road experience just to get Domino's.
The MegaBus stop in Austin used to be a coffee house. Then the state reclaimed it. Then it was turned over/leased to MegaBus. Lots of college kids take the bus in and out of town during the school year. You two were about a 10-minute walk from the historic beer garden in town. Also, they have cows on that land in Dallas to get a property tax break.
Really! How does the cow tax thing work? I thought it was just for show!
@@MilesinTransit Texas Agriculture exemption Cows are just the easiest thing to use if you plan to not use the land for anything soon. It just gets you a lower property tax but a much lower tax enough to put cows on the land and feed them.
When I worked across the street it was a breakfast taco place (and quite good at that). The station definitely beats the empty lot next to Dobie where they used to stop.
We know the Megabus mans name. His name is Dara O'Briain. Lol
Far as nationalizing intercity bus routes, in the current climate you may be able to drum up some support much like Essential Air, but theres still a ton of regional reach private bus operators out there that may have something to say about that. Trailways, Coach USA, Megabus being a relatively new player. Theres the ongoing issue of CDL driver pay, driver turnover, and the fact that some of these bus operators are pricing way too low (NY to Texas on 8 bucks, really?)
If you tell an average American to take the intercity bus, we're all thinking about that Greyhound experience you had or something similar. Greyhounds legacy real estate is being parted out to the highest bidder. I have belief that operators will come in, but they wont stop centrally and they wont stop at every 500 population town on the highway. Its a death spiral. And you wont convince legislators to run a bus line so Granma Gertie can go to town and have specialist appointments. Plus from the government's perspective its another double-spend. Spend money on the road and spend money putting a bus and driver out there.
Ultimately the routes that are being maintained have a profit motive and demonstrated use to support that motive. Any future covered essential route should have a stated purpose, not just "Oh well it was here already, we have to keep it going because tradition" That nearly sank Amtrak in its early days.
It's not really nationalizing it as much as just buying the remnants for cheap from bus operators willing to sell routes and equipment to get out of an increasingly unprofitable business. This is similar to the transit authorities buying up what remains of the private transit companies in the 50s-70s, every year they wait there is less service to acquire and retain.
Vanhool buses are my favorite; I've taken Greyhound all over with old and new retrofitted buses, and the Megabus trips I've taken were superior in almost every way.
Greyhound had a serious competitor 😂
Well it's Greyhound, so every competitor is a serious competitor.
You'd think the Megabus man would want bigger seats. I mean, just look at the guy.
So, while megabus doesn’t use stations the way greyhound used to do in the past it seems like they pick better places than greyhound does. this past year greyhound has closed bus stations all over the country, including major cities with major connection points. They now use highway overpasses and terrible gas stations to drop hundreds of passengers off waiting for their next bus with no facilities. Greyhound has hit rock bottom ever since a company called Flix bought them. I feel like mega bus can step in and capture some of those routes and treat the passengers much better. At least they stop in places that seem pretty well equipped to handle a bus full of passengers.
It cost alot of money to run a station, including workers, electricity, rent, janitors, etc. A sidewalk or gas station is close to free. This forces greyhound to close stations to adapt or else they lose customers on the same route
@@wl6020 It has always cost money to run a station and I’m not saying they were great places.But At least they provided reasonable shelter.Now Greyhound will loose customers because they are endanger of getting robbed and killed waiting under an overpass at because of no bus station.Flix/Greyhound spent all this money on newer buses but left customers out in the elements.Makes no sense financially or otherwise.
@@cdubois13 greyhound probably wont lose customers if they close those stations, people will now be forced to choose between greyhound, flix, megabus, where all of them are on sidewalks or gas stations, and get robbed. Before customers had a option of paying more for stations with greyhound. Its a race to the bottom.
Just for clarification Flix is the company that bought greyhound.
@@cdubois13 i didnt know that, but still, greyhound has to survive, they cant just provide a better, more expensive product and cant break even because some customers want to he safe, and warm at a station. I took megabus many times and its aleays cheaper than greyhound, i only took greyhound only if there is no other cheaper option.
19:30 "welcome to Amtrak WiFi"
"What?"
That really got me for some reason lol
I’ve taken Megabus many times between NY and DC. It’s hit or miss- they can’t control the traffic on the I-95. Megabus outlets work half the time. The seats are slightly more comfortable than the seats on Greyhound. Megabus passengers act better than the passengers on Greyhound.
The unfortunate reality is that public transportation isn’t a priority in the Deep South. “Fiscally conservative” politicians go out of their way to cut funding for public transportation. Also, there’s a stigma about bus riders.
I feel there's stigma about bus riders everywhere. Part and parcel of the aggressively car-centric society we're subjected to.
@@IstasPumaNevadaYep, a form of hyperindividualized insurance for nearly a century now; sabotage your competition (The Red Car and other streetcars) and then act like it was a matter of customer preference…
As a Memphis resident, I thoroughly enjoyed the seeing your layover. The intercity bus station used to be in a more pleasant location next to AutoZone Park until 2011. It's a shame that MegaBus no longer operates to here.
I know a Jet Lag reference when I hear it!
"Bucc-ees!"
Yup, you got it!
If you are not already, I hope you get involved in government advocacy. You are so knowledgeable and passionate, it is much needed!
Jeremy was on SNL and that is truly amazing.
Legendary Jeremy moment
Well, you should look up Cincinnati, Ohio Greyhound bus terminal and the story behind it. They moved it from downtown out to a gravel lot 15 miles north where it takes $25 Uber ride to get downtown or from downtown out to the station and it’s about a mile walk to either major Road where there might be an inner city bus, but they’re talking about putting a bus stop there now.
It's sad that some of these Greyhound terminals are starting to be abandoned, due to someone owning the land and wanting to quickly flip it for real estate profit. There are already rumors that the main Chicago Greyhound Station site might get redeveloped, but for now Greyhound keeps a terminal there.
Thanks for the narration! It really helped things flow better.
I do it only for "special" videos like this one, but I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Great message from Miles at the end. Also, Jeremy's hair in this video looked great, as did Miles' in the ending speech. Those are my votes for haircuts going forward.
As someone who (kind of) regularly rides megabus (kerrville coaches) between Houston and Austin, it's really interesting to see what the service at other cities looks like (especially Dallas, since I used to live there; that station location looks atrocious). Since Houston to Austin isn't too long of a drive (~3-4 hours) there aren't any rest stops, and the bus stops in Houston are transit centers for the city of Houston's bus system, which makes going places really easy, and Austin's bus station is close enough to UT and the Capitol building to walk. I truly have no complaints about my experiences with Megabus, other than the fact that the outlets don't work a lot of the time. I didn't even know that they had discontinued service on a lot of their routes because intercity travel in Texas is just so high in demand that I think any transit company could make money providing service within the Texas Triangle. Anyway, that's just my experience. Every bus has been within 30 minutes of the scheduled departure/arrival, and nothing terrible has happened to me while going from Houston to Austin
I love how much joy your goofy voices bring Jeremy
It’s almost impressive that we have freeways slammed directly through the downtown core of most of our cities yet somehow still have bus stations deep in exurban voids. This is the transit mode that should be able to make the greatest use of our existing infrastructure.
this is why we love you MILES
thank you CHROMEBOMB
Greyhound used to be pretty on time back in the day. I traveled from Upstate NY to Albuquerque, and back on one in the 90's and the longest delay was about an hour. Even the stations were halfway decent. The entire system has pretty much collapsed since then. Cities are no longer maintaining their bus stations, and Greyhound, with competing from cheaper coachlines has stopped caring. I would not be surprised to see Greyhound, and bus stations completely disappear in the next decade.
When I saw the tweet I was very excited for this video. I remember going on a decade ago now I took a megabus from Iowa city IA to Minneapolis. It required a transfer in Chicago, still have no idea why either the greyhound or megabus from Iowa city to Chicago took the longest route needing a transfer instead of offering a direct service that would only take 4 hours!! Great video!!
Thanks so much!
@@MilesinTransit no problem lmao
The uniqueness of this content and the quality of the editing punch far above your sub count's weight class. Keep up the good work!
Thank you so much, that means a ton!
Watching this all the way from down here in Australia thankful for your videos showing me parts of the world I may never see in person. Thank you Miles, safe travels and hope to see lots more in the new year.
Thank you so much! Happy holidays!
another banger vid .. super entertaining
love how passionate y'all are about the intercity bus system , so sad at the state of affairs !
our fast past paced lifestyle has almost killed this transportation model
and the fact that no one politicians really care about takes a bus for 60hrs
Bus drivers work under the same Hours of Service laws as truck drivers. They can only drive for 11 hours in a day and must take a mandatory 30 minute break before they drive for 8 hours. They must go OFF DUTY or SLEEPER BERTH for 10 hours before they can drive again. They have a maximum of 70 hours driving timing before they must take 34 hours in a row off.
Not sure if this has been pointed out already but “The Guy”s name is actually ‘Chuck’ on US Megabus. In the UK, he’s called Sid.
Isn't he called Dara ? 🤔
@@TravelSignal Dara must be the Irish version haha
@@MaidaValeTom there was a whole thing about Dara O'Briain's resemblance on Mock The Week a few years ago - look it up, it's hilarious
I used to book those $1-5 fares all the time. DC to Boston. DC to NY to Boston. DC to Atlanta. Once did DC to Atlanta to New Orleans (holy hell that was stuffy). Good times, love the channel
Thank you!
I love the "Defend the Atlanta Forest" sign in front of the hostel you stayed in at 11:33. #stopcopcity
Also LOL 25:20 "San Antonnio, TX."
OH NO! I'm so upset that I didn't notice that! Ugh, thank you for pointing that out even if it's too late to fix it 😭
Megabus used to operate routes in my area but pulled service a few years back. Been angry at them ever since and this video solidifies that.
Those signs at the Greyhound restaurant were designed and worded like some sort of Meow Wolf installation.
At one time the intercity bus network (consisting mostly of Greyhound and Continental Trailways) is what connected Small Town America to the rest of the country. You could literally go anywhere on an intercity coach. (Check out a Russell's Guide from the 1970s.) I took a Greyhound once from New London CT to NYC, that was a "Local". After loading at NL, we took I-95 to Old Saybrook. From OS to Branford, it was Rte. 1 making local stops at Westbrook, Guilford, etc. After New Haven, it was back on 95 then Rte 1 again, once we hit the NY line. I knew someone who regularly took Greyhound from Danielson CT to White Plains NY. That all changed when the Carter Administration deregulated the intercity bus industry in the late 1970s. Rural and small town America lost its link to the rest of America.
I used to drive for Megabus and it's sad they took away the Atlanta to New Orleans route that might have cut your trip by a couple of hours. It was fun seeing some of the changes.
Hey man, good video as usual! Inviting Elena in your next travel bus, you're so funny both.😂😂 Thanks for sharing!!😊
Love every single upload omg, perfection
Thank you so much!
The NY logo next to Sid is an old NY Trailways logo - I'd love to see a retro looking Megabus livery to match the retro Trailways livery, but I think that the continued operation of intercity transit is a bigger deal than cool liveries.
9:50 Tait set is awesome ... lovin' the little shout-out to Australia there!
Ended up giving a ride to my aunt who's a retired MBTA inspector this morning and as we drove past Savin Hill she just starts talking about how old the 1500s are and different rolling stock on the Red and Orange Lines and I realized she got paid to be a subway foamer for 25 years.
That's so cool!
Here's an idea for a challenge: rock, paper scissors and whomever loses has to listen to "Hail To The Bus Driver" for the entire trip.
Really enjoying watching your experiences using public transport across America.
You have an amazingly relaxed approach.....considering the insanity of connections hit and misses through no fault of your own on any given journey.
'Sid' operates in the UK and i've often found Megabus more reliable and certainly cheaper than the national alternative National Express.
Thank you!
Kerrville, TX is the home of the Kerrviĺle Folk Festival. Highly recommend it. I moved out of Texas this year and will definitely be back for the festival. Not sure if Im going to bus or train at this point 😊
And yes on 35, frontage roads are key.
Very cool!
That gas station in Dallas is supposed to have some of the better tacos in town; I remember it being a late-night after-party spot some years ago
We probably should've gotten breakfast tacos there! If only it had been lunchtime. It is kinda funny that basically the only way to access it by transit is via a Megabus layover...
Megabus in the UK is run out of Perth in Scotland. Still got the same guy in the logo.
Great video, Miles!
Thank you!
They moved the Dallas one from the time my wife was using it to visit me in Dallas. It used to be at the DART Transfer terminal just inside the downtown grid (the area inside US-75/I-345, I-30, I-35W, and Texas Spur 366. It was close to US-75/I-345 and I-30.
Shocking that a state capital, LIttle Rock, AR, does not have ANY intercity bus service. I thought it was bad that the Greyhound stop for Madison, WI is a gas station out by the interstate, but at least they have one. If you want to see a truly horrific bus trip, check out Noel Phillips NY to LA Greyhound trip from a couple of months ago. The prisoners on ConAir probably get treated better.
I saw it! It looks like things on Greyhound have gotten even worse since I did my cross-country trip on them (Boston to Seattle): czcams.com/video/fTpt4tMnDT0/video.html
Here's my thoughts on DC-Atlanta on Megabus based on the 2 times I've done that trip:
I LOVE the upper deck front seats, $10 to reserve them is not a bad price for a daytime trip.
It is very annoying that the bus runs nonstop from Durham to Charlotte. Especially living in Greensboro only 1/2 mile from the bus route on I-85.
On my trip in August 2022, our bus stopped at the loves truck stop off exit 106 in SC. So some rest stop locations may just depend on the driver.
Your point about "do you trust Greyhound to be around in 20 years" really hit home for me. I live in Reno and frequently travel to Salt Lake. Greyhound used to have two buses a day between the two cities, and while I can't speak to the evening departure, because I never used it, the morning departure bus was almost always full whenever I used it. Today if you book travel on Greyhound that involves travel between Reno and Salt Lake, they dump you off at the Reno Amtrak station and give you an Amtrak ticket that they purchased in bulk. To my knowledge, they don't even allow you to purchase a ticket from Reno to Salt Lake, instead referring you to Amtrak for booking (probably a contractual thing with Amtrak) only offering the Amtrak option if you are connecting to a bus at either end. This left four towns that previously had twice a day bus service to absolutely no intercity transportation options and two towns that Amtrak and Greyhound used to compete in, only once a day (well, once a middle in the night) Amtrak service.
I like Amtrak, so I'm not complaining too much (other than the schedule isn't as convenient as what Greyhound operated), but it was a devastating loss for the people in those communities with no alternative.
Rest in piece megabus
I've done NYC to Atlanta on Megabus. I gave myself a five hour layover in DC. The trip from DC to ATL was plagued with a tractor trailer accident. I got in to ATL five hours late.
Oof! Sounds like it's not really Megabus's fault in that case, though.
MegaBus in Milesit™
Jeremy is back!!!!
What you say about a nationalised intercity bus service is so very accurate. The country should work like a **good** urban system: a backbone of national trains with feeder/connector bus service. We literally don't have good ways to cross even regions (!) much less the country. That trip took you 3 days and 5 different buses, but was far cheaper than a plane ticket. It's insane.
Tornado bus lines has many useful routes for the region but it's so much more expensive than other companies for some reason, even when booked well in advance. The operating costs of a bus are certainly lower than for planes, so why is flying cheaper usually? It's frustrating because for many of these routes the competition isn't flying, it's just driving your personal vehicle. With such an expansive interstate system it's embarrassing how limited the intercity bus service we have is.
That's interesting it's more expensive given that it primarily serves Mexico, which I would imagine is a country that usually has lower costs than the US? Maybe they're cheaper if you're traveling to/within Mexico.
Flying is cheaper than buses only because there's more passengers to split the cost between, at the cost of less frequency. For routes like NYC to DC where airlines use smaller planes in order to boost frequency, buses are in fact cheaper.
As a tall person, My legs and back hurt just watching this. Megabus has the smallest seats and I will never take them again.
I wish greyhound was 3 hours late that sounds great. I had a trip where I passed my destination to go on a bus to get back to that destination, and that bus was 9 hours late
Would love to ride the MegaBus one day. The double Decker is cool. I live in the Richmond VA and always ride the direct route to NYC. Always ride the Chinese bus companies and now Flixbus has taken over.
Love the shoutout to my hometown RVA for the gorgeous train station with barely any service... But hey, we got "Phill vibes" hehe.
So, in the country where I was born, all the stops for the long-distance buses are actually buildings with food courts and rest areas. It's all part of a private business! I mean, it's pretty cool and all travel like that in Megabus, but these companies need to offer fancier stuff. But who knows, if they do that, the ticket price might be more expensive, idk.
10:22
Because an awful lot of rest stops in the US South have no restaurants or gas stations and have only parking, restrooms, water fountains, picnic tables and maybe a vending machine if you're lucky. I have done a fair amount of driving in that part of the country, and the lack of restaurants at many rest stops is very much real.
Wait y’all get restaurants at your rest stops?
Miles i came here after watching you ride with Geoff in NYC on his channel. This video is great. You should have ten times as many subscribers.
I really appreciate it, thank you!
With FlixBus buying Greyhound I don't think it's going to disappear entirely, but I really don't see all these nice stations they've inherited sticking around. It'll probably end up like here in Europe where FlixBus primarily stops at transit centres and parking lots.
This was a cool video! It made me want to try Megabus one day!
Thanks!
In Virginia, the state government is sponsoring four intercity bus routes from north to south across the state known as the Virginia breeze. This scheme brought bus services back to many cities that hadn't had any bus service for more than thirty years. While the system isn't perfect by any means, it's been a game changer for transit in Virginia. I hope other states and the federal government take notice of what Virginia has done. This could be the future of the intercity bus industry in the US.
Bustang in Colorado is another good one!
Watching this after marathoning the Race to NYC.
Well that looks a lot nicer than Greyhound. If only there was competition like this across the country, maybe things might actually improve?
It's tough, because there IS a good amount of competition, but a lot of it is very local, and there are tons of different ticketing systems and arbitrary boundaries. For example, Colorado runs a very well-respected statewide bus system called Bustang that serves a truly impressive amount of rural towns in the state...but it will NOT cross into other states! Greyhound used to run a service between Denver and Salt Lake City via a number of small towns along US-40, but they killed that route, and now Bustang runs the Colorado portion and Salt Lake Express runs the Utah portion, with a 120-mile gap between the two carriers that can't be traversed. Even Megabus is rapidly cutting routes to the point that I don't even know how much longer they'll be around in the US. This is why I still think we need a nationalized bus carrier: more connections can be made on a unified ticketing system, and if they use an airline-style rolling hub system, they can do it without long, sprawling routes.
(Also thanks for watching and commenting! Huge respect for everything you do!)
The manta ad is back!
I'm from Greensboro NC like Jeb. I watch his videos sometimes. And they killed our Greyhound station yrs ago. The last time I tried to take Greyhound it NEVER showed up and I was only going from Greensboro, NC to Raleigh, NC (2 hours) It was a few days before Christmas 2022. I ended up taking amtrak. Luckily amtrak is right downstairs from the old Greyhound station in Greensboro. And since the bus never showed up at 8am I took the 12pm train. I'm glad you kept showing the little man for the megabus Lol!! I would have never have known about it. Btw: Now instead of Greyhound showing up in Greensboro we have this Flixbus, but it doesn't stop at the Greyhound terminal it stops in front of the amtrak terminal 🤨🙄. So weird, I have never taken though
Great video, loved it.
Thanks so much!
you guys remind me of a good 2000s movies. loved the vid!
Love that comparison - thank you!
Merry Christmas Miles!
Merry Christmas!
"Megabus seems like it'll be gone even before that"
Sooner than you could have guessed.......