The Next Step in the Megabus Revolution

Megabus recently purchased new double-decker buses for its U.S. service for $700,000 apiece. On many routes over distances of 100 to 300 miles, Megabus and its imitators such as Bolt Bus are faster, more frequent, and less expensive to ride than Amtrak.

First-class Megabuses for overnight service. Click any photo for a larger view.

Meanwhile, in the U.K. (where Megabus originated), Megabus is taking the next step in bus service by providing a first-class, overnight service called Megabus Gold. In addition to the power ports and free WiFi that Megabus passengers have come to expect, the new buses have an on-board attendant serving free beverages and snacks.

At night, the seats are turned into 42 beds. Passengers are supplied with a toothbrush, toothpaste, eye mask, pillow, and blanket or onesie sleep-suit.
There are different channels the company has adapted, which makes it easy for people from all over the globe prices for cialis are prescribing generic drugs to their patients. When is canadian viagra professional IUI procedure used? IUI is used when the couples have been trying for a long time to conceive and there has been no success. Fact: A person with Kamagra medication is advised not to consume this medicine generic levitra australia after excessive consumption of alcohol. The reasons are that the branded best price on viagra has to provide ads for the medicine to be most effective.
Most importantly, at night the seats make up into 42 beds, allowing passengers to sleep on longer journeys. Megabus is introducing these buses to London-Edinburgh and London-Glasgow routes at fares starting at just 15 pounds (about $25). The buses themselves cost Megabus about $840,000 each.

By day, the seats face each other, looking like the old Pullman sections that dominated overnight train travel from about 1870 to 1950.

For daytime use, the sleeper buses have a few more than 42 seats, but their overnight capacity is only about half that of a standard double-decker Megabus. However, this may be a way for Megabus to enter longer-haul markets such as New York-Chicago or Chicago-Denver. Megabus could also offer overnight gold service on some of its current routes, such as New York-Atlanta and L.A.-San Francisco.

In many of these markets, Megabus Gold ticket prices could easily be competitive with Amtrak coach fares; Amtrak sleeping car accommodations are much more expensive and outside the price range of anyone thinking about a bus. Megabus Gold would also be far less than airfares, even more if travelers can save the cost of an overnight hotel stay.

Are Megabus beds comfortable? They appear narrower than Pullman sections, and are more like Budd Slumbercoach beds. These were comfortable enough to sleep in but didn’t allow much leeway for tossing and turning. If Gold proves successful in Britain, we may see it entering the American market soon.