MegaBus: Cheap Bus Fares for Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Minneapolis and More

I thought it was a joke: $1 for a bus ticket from Milwaukee to Chicago? That's cheaper than a regular public transit ride within the city limits. But as I handed the MegaBus driver my ticket confirmation and climbed aboard an orderly Chicago-bound bus, I realized they weren't kidding.

It turns out that MegaBus, a low-fare bus service that originated in the UK, has now launched operations in the US, touting scandalously cheap ticket prices. April 2006 marked the inauguration of American MegaBus routes, and the buses have since been zooming happy passengers between a handful of Midwestern cities. If their cheap bus fares catch on, which seems quite likely, it won't be long before Greyhound begins to whimper.

So what is the MegaBus concept, you're asking? Well, MegaBus is like the Jet Blue or the Southwest Airlines of intercity bus travel. They're a low-cost carrier that maintains cheap bus fares by minimizing expenses, skipping consumer extras, and encouraging people to book in advance. They serve single destinations in select cities with little-to-no stopping en route.

For the Chicago-Milwaukee route, fares start as low as $1 for a one-way ticket and then go up based on how many seats have already been sold. After the batch of $1 seats are taken, there's a grouping of $3 seats. Then come the $5 seats - and so on. But even the last-minute bus tickets between Milwaukee and Chicago, priced at $8 each way, are cheaper than anything Greyhound offers.

There are no hidden fees or other catches with MegaBus. Besides the low fares, there's a piddly fifty-cent booking fee. I clicked in awe as I purchased my first round-trip bus ticket between Chicago and Milwaukee on MegaBus: $1 for the ride there, $1 for the ride back, and $.50 for processing. A grand total of $2.50 was charged to my credit card. And I'd like to remind everyone that $2.50 will not even buy a gallon of gas at current prices.

MegaBus keeps the fares cheap by eliminating intermediary services. There are no bus terminals, ticket agents, or other costly operating expenses. Travelers purchase their tickets online, receive a confirmation number, and provide it to the driver as they board. Pick-up and drop-off locations are just city streets conveniently located near public transit stops in major Midwestern cities. For example, Chicago buses arrive at and depart from Union Station, a hub for Amtrak and Metra service, located just blocks from the Loop and the CTA trains. You're no worse off taking MegaBus than you are taking Greyhound or Amtrak when it comes to making ground transport connections or having friends and family pick you up. (By the way, the going rate for a one-way Amtrak ticket between Milwaukee and Chicago is $20 while a one-way Greyhound ride is $14.)

Clean and comfortable, MegaBus (at least for now) is a reliable, frugal way to travel between Midwestern cities. As of May 2006, they run multiple trips a day between Chicago and Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Saint Louis, and Indianapolis. It's true that the Milwaukee-Chicago route is the shortest, but one-way fares can still be found in the single digit prices for other routes...even the much-longer Minneapolis-Chicago trip.

Especially if you're flexible with dates and time, you can find a MegaDeal with MegaBus. Look for the company to grow its brand in the coming months, and visit their website at www.megabus.com.