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Comment by ams6110 | Hacker News Reader

Short summary: Megabus are one of a few companies operating low-overhead, curbside pickup intercity bus service.

"On most city-to-city trips under 300 miles, the curbside bus offers tickets that cost a tenth of those of Amtrak and far less even than the price of the gas to get there by car."

Passengers book online, tickets are delivered to cell phones, busses are equipped with WiFi and power outlets at each seat.

Article points out the advantages of busses over high-speed rail, which has tended to get more press as being the future of mid-haul intercity travel. Building rail lines requires years of time and bureaucratic approval, and you better hope you were right about the demand for the route. Busses can go wherever needed on existing roads and reconfigure routes easily.

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Even lengthening existing Amtrak trains can take years of time and bureaucratic approval. The design of the Acela trainsets is such that Amtrak could add four more business class cars, which would double the number of business class seats per trainset, while keeping the current power cars.

Transportation improvements over time tend to make some trips possible in much less time than was previously possible; this is true of the automobile, the Interstate highway system, the jet airplane, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Nobody has demonstrated a 150 MPH bus running on the existing Interstate highway network yet. High speed rail has the potential to increase the distance that can be covered in a 60-90 minute commute.

Boston, NYC, Philly, and Washington DC could all be commutable with existing technology. It'll probably take 25 years before we decide to build it. This went live in 2004: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Maglev_Train

> High speed rail has the potential to increase the distance that can be covered in a 60-90 minute commute.

Yes, but at what cost?

And then there's that pesky "and how many people will benefit?" problem.

Just to put the lid on the kettle here, WIFI works on about 1/10 Megabus trips.

Does the power strip work? Given the ubiquity of 3G coverage, I don't mind lacking wifi that much anymore.

Their wifi is just a hub plugged into a 3G modem. If it's not working, your 3G probably isn't either.

> Busses can go wherever needed on existing roads and reconfigure routes easily.

This can be a pro, but also a con; in particular, it means people are unable to assume stable routes when planning things like new developments or where to live/work. Bus routes change all the time, but I can count on the subway station near my apartment probably still being there in 10 years, and probably still running roughly the same line as it does now.

>Article points out the advantages of busses over high-speed rail, which has tended to get more press as being the future of mid-haul intercity

It doesn't have to be an either-or situation, as both modes have their strengths and weaknesses. For example, while bus is cheaper than rail, it still has to deal with the same problems that automobile traffic has to deal with (weather and traffic delays being the most common). HSR is more expensive than bus, but is faster (talking about real HSR, not the Acela) and it's cheaper to add capacity.

That said, buses and HSR are complementary in lots of ways and there's no reason why they can't work together (just like no one is asking people to choose between buses and cars, we can have both). One example is the joint-ticketing arrangement between the Amtrak Downeaster (Portland ME) and Concord Coach Lines. Buy a bus ticket and miss the bus? Just jump on the next train (and vice versa).

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