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 Van Hool TD925 coach at Penn Station in March 2009 | |
| Parent | Renco Group |
|---|---|
| Founded | April 10, 2006 |
| Headquarters |
|
| Service area | United States Canada |
| Service type | Intercity coach service |
| Routes | 30 |
| Hubs | |
| Fleet | Motor Coach Industries single-deck coaches Van Hool single-and double-deck coaches |
| Operator | Coach USA |
| Chief executive | Linda Burtwistle |
| Website | us ca |
Megabus is an intercity bus service operating in the United States and Canada. It is also the operator of the Virginia Breeze bus service.
On April 10, 2006, Stagecoach Group, operator of Megabus (Europe), introduced the Megabus brand in the United States through its Coach USA subsidiary with routes in the Midwestern United States. [1]
In August 2007, Megabus introduced service to Arizona and California using Coach America as a contractor. [2] Ridership was sluggish and in early 2008, Megabus discontinued services in Arizona and California. [3]
In late May 2008, Megabus began service to/from New York City, with service to/from Albany, Atlantic City, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Philadelphia, Toronto and Washington, D.C. Further expansions included service to Syracuse, Rochester, Hartford and Niagara Falls, Ontario.
Megabus returned to the West Coast on December 12, 2012, initially serving San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, Sacramento, Reno, Riverside and Los Angeles. [4] [5]
By May 2013, the service had served 25 million passengers. [1] By October 2014, it served 40 million passengers. [6]
In April 2019, Stagecoach Group sold its North American operations, including Megabus, to Variant Equity Advisors. [7] [8]
In August 2024, Peter Pan Bus Lines took over operations of the Megabus routes in the northeast and mid-Atlantic states. [9] Some routes were taken over by Fullington Trailways. By that month, Megabus has served over 50 million passengers. [10]
In November 2024, Megabus was sold to Renco Group, although Coach USA remained the manager of bus operations. [11]
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The Megabus fleet has the megabus.com name on the front and sides in yellow against a blue base and the Megabus logo on the left side of the coach (facing forward) and rear of the bus. The DATTCO fleet used for Megabus service also has Megabus logos, but with a DATTCO logo instead of a Coach USA logo for Megabus buses owned and operated by DATTCO. Buses on the M25 Megabus route operate with Academy Bus livery.
Megabus service began with used Motor Coach Industries 102EL3 Renaissance coaches, often transferred from other Coach USA operations, with some services utilizing Chicago- and Wisconsin Coach Lines buses. In 2007, Coach USA updated its Chicago-based Megabus fleet with new MCI J4500 single-deck and Van Hool TD925 double-deck motorcoaches.
In May 2008, Megabus expanded to the Northeastern United States with a fleet of primarily brand-new Motor Coach Industries D4505 coaches, several new Van Hool TD925-double decker buses, and some buses purchased secondhand or transferred from the Chicago fleet. This expansion came as Megabus exited from the West Coast market. [3] Further expansion in the Northeast came in the fall and winter of 2008-2009, when additional double-decker buses were delivered, resulting in much of the single-deck buses being transferred to sister operation Eastern Shuttle, pushing many of the EL3s to retirement. The fleet transferred to Eastern Shuttle was eventually returned to mainline Coach USA duty following divestiture a few months later.
The Canadian Megabus fleet consists of 15 2009 TD925 buses operated by Trentway-Wagar. All of the Canadian fleet is equipped with electrical outlets and Wi-Fi. The Canadian buses are pooled with the US fleet for NYC-Toronto or Philadelphia-Toronto runs, with drivers swapping at Buffalo to stay within their certified country. On these runs, the buses will typically only have Wi-Fi service available in the home country for the bus being used; i.e., Canadian buses will turn off their WiFi at the US border, and American buses will turn off WiFi upon entering Canada. This is to avoid roaming charges from the cellular carriers that provide internet service.
The safety of intercity bus lines came under scrutiny in 2011 after the World Wide Tours bus crash, operated by one of the Chinatown bus lines, caused 14 fatalities. [25] The National Transportation Safety Board conducted a six-month study and found that while bus travel was considerably safer than by car, curbside buses had seven times the fatality rates of traditional bus lines. [26] [27]
Greyhound Lines, Inc. (Greyhound) operates the largest intercity bus service in North America. Services include Greyhound Mexico, charter bus services, and Amtrak Thruway services. Greyhound operates 1,700 coaches produced mainly by Motor Coach Industries and Prevost serving 230 stations and 1,700 destinations. The company's first route began in Hibbing, Minnesota, in 1914 and the company adopted the Greyhound name in 1929. The company is owned by Flix North America, Inc., an affiliate of FlixBus, and is based in downtown Dallas.
Buses have been used as a mode of public transport in London since 1829, when George Shillibeer started operating a horse-drawn omnibus service from Paddington to the City of London. In the decades since their introduction, the red London bus has become a symbol of the city. In 2019, buses accounted for 11 per cent of trips taken in the city.
A double-decker bus or double-deck bus is a bus that has two storeys or decks. Double-deckers are used primarily for commuter transport, but open-top models are used as sightseeing buses for tourists, and there are coaches too for long-distance travel. They appear in many places around the world but are presently most commonly used as mass transport in cities of Britain, and in Ireland, Hong Kong, Berlin and Singapore.
Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses and express coaches in the United Kingdom.
Stagecoach in Oxfordshire is the trading name of Thames Transit Ltd. It is a bus operator serving the county of Oxfordshire, England. Since 1997 has been a subsidiary of Stagecoach Group, and since February 2021 it has been part of Stagecoach West, managed from the latter's headquarters in Gloucester.
Stagecoach East Scotland is a bus operator providing services in eastern Scotland, with its regional base in Dunfermline, Fife. The company is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group.
Coach Canada is the Canadian affiliate of Coach USA.
An intercity bus service or intercity coach service, also called a long-distance, express, over-the-road, commercial, long-haul, or highway bus or coach service, is a public transport service using coaches to carry passengers significant distances between different cities, towns, or other populated areas. Unlike a transit bus service, which has frequent stops throughout a city or town, an intercity bus service generally has a single stop at one location in or near a city, and travels long distances without stopping at all. Intercity bus services may be operated by government agencies or private industry, for profit and not for profit. Intercity coach travel can serve areas or countries with no train services, or may be set up to compete with trains by providing a more flexible or cheaper alternative.
Stagecoach in Lincolnshire is a bus company, formerly known as Lincolnshire RoadCar, operating services throughout Lincolnshire. The company is a division of Stagecoach East Midlands, which is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group.
Coach USA, LLC is a holding company for various American transportation service providers providing scheduled intercity bus service, local and commuter bus transit, city sightseeing, tour, yellow school bus, and charter bus service across the United States and Canada. It is owned by the Renco Group.
Olympia Trails, which used to also do business as Megabus Northeast, LLC, ONE/Independent Bus, and Red and Tan bus, is a bus operator serving northern New Jersey with local and commuter bus service. It has been owned by Coach USA since 1998.
The Oxford to London coach route is an express coach route between Oxford and London along the M40 motorway. Operated by Stagecoach West under the brand name Oxford Tube, there are up to five coaches an hour via Lewknor, High Wycombe Coachway, Hillingdon, Shepherd's Bush and Baker Street terminating on Buckingham Palace Road, Victoria.
Gray Line Montreal, although a member of the Coach Canada family, is an independently managed operation, that also formerly carried the brand of Stagecoach Montréal. They run a fleet of coaches and double-decker buses in and around Montreal, under the banner of Gray Line Worldwide sightseeing tours, offering city tours and trips to Quebec City. Although departures are mostly at the Dorchester Square/Peel Street location, some of the routes offer hop-on hop-off convenience.
The Neoplan Skyliner is a double-deck multi-axle luxury touring coach built by German coach manufacturer Neoplan. It was introduced in 1967.
Van Galder Bus Company, legally Sam Van Galder, Inc. is a regional bus service headquartered in Janesville, Wisconsin. A subsidiary of Coach USA, the company had been a family-owned business for over 50 years until it was sold in 1999 to the Stagecoach Group, who retained Stephen Van Galder as president under the Coach USA banner. In 2004, Van Galder acquired Rockford Coach Lines, which provided airport service from Rockford to O'Hare, from Greyhound Lines.
Megabus is a long-distance intercity coach service operator owned by Scottish Citylink and based in the United Kingdom. Founded by Stagecoach Group in August 2003, it operates using low-cost fares, formerly starting at £1, based on a yield management model.
The Witch Way is the branding for long-standing English bus route X43, which runs between Burnley and Manchester. The service is currently operated by The Burnley Bus Company.
Stagecoach X5 is an inter-urban bus service linking Oxford and Bedford via Bicester, Buckingham and Milton Keynes
Stagecoach Midlands is a bus operator providing local and regional services across the English Midlands, operating in the counties of Northamptonshire, Warwickshire and the West Midlands. The company is a subsidiary of the Stagecoach Group and is headquartered in Northampton.
The 2019 Totnes bus crash was a single-vehicle collision on the A385 road at Berry Pomeroy, Devon, England on 5 October 2019. More than 50 people – including the driver – were injured when a double-decker bus overturned at high speed between Totnes and Paignton. Eight passengers suffered injuries described as "serious" out of 37 requiring hospitalisation; though there were no fatalities.
