Release Date: Tuesday, March 29th 2011

Post-Gazette: Pittsburgh to be a hub for Megabus

Pittsburgh to be a hub for Megabus
Low-cost carrier to begin service May 11 for trips to 15 cities

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

By Jon Schmitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Pittsburgh is regaining its transportation "hub" status for the first time since US Airways dropped its designation in 2004. But this time it will be a hub for bus travelers.

Megabus.com planned to announce today that it is making Pittsburgh the sixth hub on its fast-growing North American network, with service to nine new cities: Akron, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Toledo, in Ohio; Detroit, Toronto; Erie; and Buffalo, N.Y.

That will bring to 15 the number of cities served from Pittsburgh by the carrier, which offers one-way fares as low as $1.

"We're very delighted with the type of ridership we've been seeing," said Dale Moser, company president and chief operating officer.

Trips to the new cities can be booked starting today, with service beginning on May 11.

Pittsburgh joins Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Toronto and Washington, D.C., as hubs for the company, which relaunched service here less than a year ago.

Cities already served from Pittsburgh are State College, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York, Washington and Camden, N.J.

Megabus.com is able to offer lower fares because it doesn't maintain bus stations and takes most of its reservations online, reducing personnel costs, Mr. Moser said. It doesn't advertise much, relying instead on word of mouth and social networking sites.

Trips from here originate at a stop on 11th Street under the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

Travelers who make reservations well in advance can often travel for $1, but the prices rise as the travel date draws nearer and buses begin to fill.

Since the company began operations in 2006, it has expanded to 45 U.S. cities and eight in Canada. Megabus.com is a Chicago-based subsidiary of Coach USA.

Even on the company's long-established routes, ridership has grown 35 to 45 percent over the past year, Mr. Moser said, possibly fueled by rising gasoline prices and people's eagerness to save money in a tight economy.

"This has been something that has really caught on with travelers," Mr. Moser said. "We're giving more people the ability to come to cities and spend money. It's helped to get kids to and from college a lot more affordably than other modes of transportation."

The new routes will "make Pittsburgh more appealing to the tech-savvy travelers, business travelers and families we want to attract, as well as to international visitors who are exploring the USA," said Joe McGrath, president and CEO of VisitPittsburgh, the city's tourism and convention agency.

The company uses single- and double-decker buses that have free Wi-Fi and power outlets. Mr. Moser said Megabus.com had invested $60 million in new buses over the past year.

Reservations and timetable information are available at www.megabus.com.

Jon Schmitz: jschmitz@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1868.

First published on March 29, 2011 at 12:00 am

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11088/1135492-147.stm#ixzz1HzpkBUaY