#megabus.com

[clueless-clumsy-awkward]

2 questions:

1. Does anyone have any experience with the website megabus.com? I found some really cheap bus tickets from providence to NY so I want to know if I can trust them 2. On the same note: does anyone have experience with an AirBnB?

[milanopost-blog]

Nuovo Post pubblicato su Milano Post Quotidiano ONLINE di Informazione e Cultura #72Posti, #CostoBassissimo, #Megabuscom, #PrezziConcorrenziali, #ViaggiareInEuropa, #WifiGratis

Nuovo Post pubblicato su http://www.milanopost.info/2014/07/18/con-megabus-com-si-puo-attraversare-leuropa-ad-un-costo-bassissimo/

Con Megabus.com si può attraversare l’Europa ad un costo bassissimo

Milano 18 Luglio – Grazie a Megabus.com sempre più gente può soddisfare la sua passione per i viaggi. Secondo quanto riportato dal quotidiano Il Sole 24 Ore questo brand si pone l’obiettivo di diventare leader nel settore del trasporto low cost. E non si può dire che non sia sulla buona strada. Il 7 luglio Megabus.com ha inaugurato la tratta Barcellona-Parigi al prezzo promozionale di 1 euro. Adesso ed assicurano dall’azienda ancora a lungo, un biglietto A/R costerà 30 euro.  Con i mezzi Megabus è già possibile viaggiare in cento destinazioni in Europa: da Londra ad Amsterdam, da Bruxelles a Colonia a prezzi sempre fortemente concorrenziali rispetto alle altre compagnie. Il segreto è quello di avere dei bus con 72 posti 22 in più rispetto alla norma. Questo consente di sviluppare un’economia di scala (abbassamento del costo medio unitario all’aumentare delle unità prodotte). Cioè, in parole povere, essendo la maggior parte dei costi sostenuti da un’azienda di autobus dei costi fissi (autista, carburante, bollo, assicurazione e quant’altro), cioè costi indipendenti dal numero di passeggeri che si trasportano, dividere questi costi per un numero di passeggeri più alto abbatte il costo per l’azienda di un passeggero e di conseguenza quest’ultima sarà in grado di applicare al cliente un prezzo più competitivo. La convenienza non andrà, quindi, a discapito della qualità ed i megabus saranno comunque dotati di ogni tipo di comfort, tra cui wi-fi gratis e toilettes.

Gli ottimi risultati economici del brand dimostrano che l’azienda si muove nella direzione giusta. Quindici milioni di passeggeri l’anno scelgono Megabus per spostarsi tra le città, garantendo un utile di 195 milioni di sterline alla Holding Stragecoach Group (gruppo affermato nel trasporto mondiale di ogni tipo, possedendo anche alcuni brand di treni e traghetti, e che impiega ben 36.000 persone).

Anacleto Camarda

[newstfionline]

Cheap Buses Lure Travelers From Rails, Sky With New Frills

Reuters, May 11, 2014

WASHINGTON--Forget the grimy terminals and uncomfortable buses of the past. Discount U.S. carriers are luring a new generation of riders from young tourists to business travelers with amenities such as free Internet and leather seats.

By offering low prices and picking up passengers curbside in hip neighborhoods, discount bus companies have reversed a long decline in ridership and are gaining ground on trains and planes.

The low-cost niche started with companies offering cut-rate fares between the Chinatown sections of New York and Boston. It took off eight years ago when major carriers such as megabus.com, a unit of Britain’s Stagecoach Group Plc, arrived, offering online bookings and tickets as a low as $1.

“It’s really a whole new mode of transportation. There’s been nothing quite like it, and it has been made possible by the Internet,” said Joseph Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at Chicago’s Depaul University.

The number of daily curbside departures in the United States has doubled since 2010 to more than 1,000, a Chaddick Institute study found. Intercity bus ridership overall has been on the rise since 2006, after having declined since 1960, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Portsmouth, New Hampshire’s C&J bus company launched a once-a-day service to New York three years ago for business travelers. It now runs twice daily, with more than 2,000 passengers a month, owner Jim Jalbert said.

Megabus.com and its rival BoltBus “have created huge new markets and they’ve also created a competing mode to passenger rail,” he said. “You can move a lot of people in a big manner.”

Switching to discount bus travel from planes, trains or private cars saved U.S. consumers an estimated $1.1 billion last year, the Chaddick study found.

The appeal was clear among a group of passengers who boarded a New York-bound discount BestBus on a Washington street last week. A last-minute ticket cost from $30 to $40, well below the price of train and air travel.

“It’s considerably less expensive than Amtrak and since I’m not in a rush ... I can take the risk of there being traffic,” Jane Dolkart, 66, of Washington, said as she waited to board.

To continue their growth, discount carriers must persuade more people that traveling by bus is not only inexpensive but as convenient and comfortable as trains and planes.

Or as Mike Alvich, a vice president at megabus.com, put it: “The challenge for us at megabus.com was to get people to take a bus as a first choice.”

[iftheseascatchfire]

Trip to Pittsburgh via Mega Bus? $18.50

What?

I have a lovely friend in Pittsburgh, who graciously invited me to come stay with him, (what? don't give me that look, squishing your nose up at the use of "him," he is a friend, promise.)

ANYWAYS, where was I? Oh yes, I'm going to Pennsylvania for 2 days this February, that is enough time to catch up, see the sights, and not over stay my welcome. But, since I will be staying with him (again with the look?) I am literally paying for my bus trip, through megabus.com (incredible deals, please check them out) and food.

I'm telling you, I'm already learning how to do this whole saavy traveling thing.

Also, sooner than that...going to New York City in January with Raymond (wonderful soul he is) and I'm stoked, beyond stoked actually...it's going to be incredible.

I hope to buy my camera before these endeavors, but I cannot, for the life of me...decide between the Nikon 1 and the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G3

Decisions, decisions...

Oh my, it seems I am rambling a bit much tonight. Well the main focus of this post was really about how cheap it is to travel, and I plan on doing a trip a month on a certain budget...megabus being the primary source of transportation for a good bit of these trips. I'm looking forward to an adventurous year, with minimal spending on things I just don't need.

This year is going to be a journey, and an experience...I cannot help but be excited, 2012...here I come.