Megabus

Been waiting an hour and a half in Philly on Market and 6^th for the 3:40pm bus and still not here. Made two phone calls to the number
provided and two agents can’t help. Spoke to a driver of another Megabus and he had no intentions of even looking at me. 5 of us waiting on the Philly streets. — at Independence Hall.

#Megafail. Two stars because it will get you where you need to go. BUT not on schedule and with crap customer service. Right now, standing in line for the Philly to NY bus. We’ve been waiting 45 minutes and no bus. Call customer service and they have no ETA for the bus.
No refund, no fix, no nothing.
Meanwhile, three busses from NYC to Philly have unloaded and pulled away. Meaning they haven’t scheduled their drivers properly. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out.
Go with Bolt. I do this route often enough to have measured both and this is my last time with Mega.

The worst customer service ever. When hey can’t answer your question, they actually hang up on your phone! Fuck mega bus!

(I clicked 3 stars when starting this review)
So after reading several reviews for the Megabus, the chief complaint of the concensus: time management. As I am on the Megabus right now I have a couple things to say (completely factual):
–My bus was scheduled to unload at 2:25pm. We are on the highway still at 3:00pm.
–The driver held my hand when I was coming down the stairs.
–The navigator of the trip was EXTREMELY strict and orderly.
–The bus driver came to full stops at every stop sign.
–The driver comes uncomfortably close to cars in front of him.
(I clicked 2 stars)
Just now the navigator began talking over the intercom explaining to us that the scheduled time is an ESTIMATED time and Megabus’ job is to get us to our destination safely. While I understand this, I’m thankful my flight is 3 hours from now. He had a very ill compassionate attitude stating that if we wanted to be here earlier that we should have taken last night’s bus. He further noted that we could talk to the «doc manager» (sp?) But he wouldn’t have anything to say further than what the navigator had to say.
The only thing good I have to say at this point is the bus itself was well maintained and the seats weren’t half bad. Other than that we just arrived. 3:15pm.

If you are looking to take a bus out of philly to another city, there is no reason to take Megabus. I’m going to tell you right now, take Bolt Bus. It is usually cheaper, on time much more often, and better customer service.
Yeah it’ll get you where you want to go, and you may even have a pleasant trip. Most are double deckers with each seat having its own personal outlet. But as someone who has taken a bus outta philly quite a bit times (mega like 10 times, bolt about 7) bolt has been much much more reliable.
Mega has been late for me arriving and also been late to leave. They sometimes change drivers mid trip at a pit stop, which bolt does too sometimes, but mega always takes longer. The bolt bus drivers stand out to me as actually caring about the passengers and they will typically make some nice small talk.
This review is just making me realize I need to make a positive review for bolt. I can’t review this without comparing it to bolt. It’s a direct competitor and they even pick you up and drop you off at the exact locations mega bus does.
Side note: Some friends of mine used mega bus to take them from LA to Seattle. The bus broke down, and they were stranded to wait for another bus for hours. Sure it sucks, but things like this happen. Mega of course would refund or at least partially refund for this right? Nope. Nothing. They contacted customer service numerous times and NOTHING. No apology, no refund, barely an notice. They called, emailed, everything. And nothing. Yeah this isn’t a part of my personal experience, but this is something other customers should know about and it says a lot about the company as a whole.
This gets two stars ONLY because it will get you where you need to go… but with a fairly high chance of nightmares

First time on this bus going to New York. The bus was very crowed and Me and My Sister had to go to the second level to find a seat. The seats was to close for the first thing in the morning all the different smells is making Me sick. The price was right!!! And the good thing is that I don’t have to drive to New York and try to find parking lots and pay the tolls. And the other thing is to book my trip early to get the best deals.

You get what you pay for. There is nothing special you are going to get on a MEGABUS. It is a cheap bus to take you from point A to B. If you are not rushing anywhere and have time to kill, this is a bus for you. You cannot predict what will happen during the trip, so plan to leave earlier than usual. The upstairs is hot during the summer and comfortable during the winter. There is no indoor area to wait for this bus. You will be standing (no chairs/​benches) on a sidewalk against a fence under that Drexel University giant sign, so plan and dress according to the weather. It is a convenient bus If you are on a budget and heading to places like NYC or DC. Bring some toilet papers/​hand sanitizers. I mean personally, I will not use the bathroom, but If you have to, then you would not want to be disappointed with lack of toilet papers. Forget WIFI in this bus, bring your own. This bus If heading to NYC they always stop at 6 and Market Street close to the Independence Center. Again no chairs/​benches on this station either, you will be standing on the sidewalk on Market Street. I am not sure, If this bus is wheelchair accessible.

After second, third, and seventh chances, I have finally given up on Megabus.
My most recent terrible experiences:
–The Phila-​NY Megabus arrives one hour late on a day when there’s a downpour. There is no place to take cover so everyone gets drenched as we wait. When the bus finally arrives, there’s no apology or even acknowledgment of lateness.
–I’m taking a 6AM Phila-​NY bus and it arrives at 5:45AM. My teammates and I are going to a competition and our coach is running a bit late. At 6:00AM on the dot the doors close. Right then our coaches Über pulls up next to the bus and he runs out. We ask the bus driver to open the door for our friend and he shouts «NO! No stopping!» (he hadn’t even started to drive yet). My friends along with others on the bus ask him again if he can open the doors since our friend is literally standing there, and as he pulls aways he again shouts at us saying «no, It’s against the rules, no stopping.» We all just sort of sat there in disbelief. AND THEN about five minutes later at a red light he comes back to where we’re sitting and he’s like «No talking loud, it’s against the rules. You disrupt others.» Again we’re just shocked into silence, as none of us had been speaking very loudly. Then when the Megabus recorded speech comes on and it gets to the part about speaking loudly HE TURNS UP THE VOLUME! So aggressive.
This is added on to many others that have happened over the years, but this most recent one was definitely the worst.

Once left me standing in the 5 degree cold in NYC for over an hour when the bus was late. No refund, no apology, not even a mention of the inconvenience.
The WiFi only sometimes works. I was once planning to submit some work while on a trip and when I tried to log on, it didn’t connect. I called customer service and I got something to the effect of «You paid for a bus ticket. The WiFi is just something extra that we do for the customers. Sometimes it doesn’t work and there’s nothing that we are willing to do about it.»
Also their no refund policy speaks to how much they care about the customer experience. They know they are cheap and that a lot of people can’t afford a better service. If you can afford it, use any other company.

Bring your own toilet paper if your on a long trip and may need a break as they don’t refill the rolls!
Also front seat upstairs gets really hot on a sunny day

Common sense advice: Be careful using the bus bathroom. If it’s dark out, or if you’re in a tunnel, you may knock your head walking back up the steps. Lesson learned. But also, the bathroom was tolerable at 7 a.m. Woo-​hoo!
Since it was my first time taking the bus, I wanted to give myself time to find it. Fortunately, my Uberx driver knew exactly where the buses park and dropped me off…45 minutes early. Big fail on my part. Good thing it’s crazy warm for December!
Eventually the bus arrived, we all boarded, I had a seat to myself, and the charger was functioning. Great! Overall, it was super quiet on the bus, too, aside from the couple directly behind me… because that’s my general luck.
Bus was on time. There was no traffic since it was a Saturday morning. All in all, a solid experience. I hear the buses aren’t always like that, but MegaBus is definitely a good, low-​cost transportation method that I’d use again.

First let me say I absolutely hate taking buses because they are slow and are prone to breaking down, traffic, etc. Needless to say, I bought two tickets to Harrisburg from Philadelphia for Friday October 30^th, 2015. My issue doesn’t lie with my commute but with their customer service. Although I only paid $ 35.60 for two tickets, where Amtrak would be $ 33 for one ticket one way, I WILL NEVER RIDE WITH MEGABUS AGAIN.
So, at the last minute my guest decided not to come to Harrisburg. So I told the person at the bus I only needed to use one ticket and asked could I use the other one to come home? He didn’t know and directed me to customer service. When I called customer service they told me my account is locked after 6 hours before my trip. Clearly it’s after my trip, so I was told to email the company. The response I got via email said the same exact script as the people in their sales department. Long story short I’m SOL out of my $ 18 unused ticket, and they lost a frequent traveling customer. First and last bus ride! Thanks megabus!

Had a trip from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. at 9:30PM, the bus did not show up at all. After an hour or two later I got an email notification that the bus broke down. Megabus let us on the next bus which was 10:30PM first come first serve. I went on that bus and the driver was lost for about an hour trying to get to Delaware. He stopped on the road and asked if any passengers know the direction to the Megabus stop in Delaware. It should be his job to know where the stop is. Luckily someone had a GPS. My trip was suppose to be 3hrs but it ended up being over 4 – 5 hours. I did not get to my stop until 3AM in the morning.
Megabus is cheap, but very disorganized. They need to train their staff better and be more efficient.

Ok I will give megabus 3 stars because I can score super cheap tickets even for longer journeys. On a regular basis !! However my last journey was annoying. I was with my two children (9& 3) the 9 year old can entertain herself for the journey and has done so even when younger. My son however is a different type of beast. So when our bus left 15 minutes late and the the driver stopped halfway through to score some food, it wasn’t the best. We were able to score some random snacks mid way through and I was able to get my coffee, but this stop resulted in us arriving much later to our destination meaning we were riding random buses late at night. I love you mega but get your drivers together.

I will no longer use Megabus for my travel after the trip I had yesterday. I was traveling from DC to Philly and the bus broke down in Maryland on the side of the highway. The driver said something was wrong with the air pressure and it made the doors fly open and they would not close. We sat on the bus in 85 degree weather without ac on for a half hour. The driver said we could not leave the bus. Then, he said they would be bringing a backup bus to us and it would be 1 hour until it came to us. At that point, many people were complaining about how severely hot it was on the bus and we were allowed to sit outside. We waited an hour until the bus came, and we drove the rest of the way home. Since the delay was not over 2 hours (megabus policy), they will not be issuing refunds or any compensation.

Seats and service, you can not complain for the price but at least they should be able to manage the time well.
I use megabus when i come to see my family once a month or so from DC to philly.
Ive been waiting in line for 1hour without no idea if the bus will ever show up.
Terrible terrible.

Unfortunately this review is not so great. I use Megabus rather often for myself as well as purchasing tickets for my mom to visit from out of town. There’s often some delay and never clear instructions as to what is next or where to stand or any valuable information. The Megabus I’m Washington DC Union Station is equally horrible of not worse.
In this very moment, I’m waiting with my m for her 9pm bus that has not shown yet and it’s now almost 11pm.
All in all, I really really want to like Megabus, I really do.

I’ve taken Mega bus 3 times from Philly to NYC to see my boyfriend. I would leave Friday afternoon and return on Sunday. The first 2 times were seamless. Got on, left, got to NY, and got back safe and sound.
It’s a great way to travel for cheap but it’s not the lap of luxury. The wifi is slow and restrictive on some sites and there arn’t outlets at every seat. On the other hand, I usually would get my own row so this is great for sprawling out and sleeping during the 2+hour trip. The bottom bus is better than the top; the ride is smoother, you don’t have to worry about falling down or climbing up stairs, HEAT RISES so the bottom is cooler, closer to the exit… on the other hand, the bottom does have the bathroom and it’s just a little gross to be so close.
My only complaint is that they don’t clean in between trips. On my way back to Philly there was a god awful smell on the lower deck. This made my ride extremely uncomfortable and I know everyone else could smell it too. Something may have been spilled on the ground (food, drink, puke) and it probably wasn’t even bothered with.
I would probably take mega bus again somewhere I haven’t been like Boston or Pittsburgh. I guess you win some you lose some…

My Megabus road memoirs. This review contains my «real time» thoughts from the road.
Departure from Philly:
My ticket was misleading in saying that the stop was 30^th street station. In reality, the bus loads on JFK slightly northwest of 30^th street station. My knowledgable Über driver knew where to drop me off and my voyage was smooth sailing from there. I showed my ticket and quickly entered my bus about 10 minutes prior to departure. I picked a seat near the door, which was temporarily undesirable since the door was open and it was cold out. When the bus left a few minutes after the scheduled time of 7:00, I was left the winner with an open seat next to me.
I should have researched beforehand because the bus has outlets. Hopefully I will have enough juice on my phone to continue my memoirs for the journey home.
My first gripe: I can’t figure out how to recline the seat. It’s the emergency exit so maybe it just doesn’t decline.
More leg room than a U.S. Airways plane. Is there something that can be done about the sunglare?
30 minutes in: my back hurts. I’d rather be sitting next to someone and reclining versus in this crushed up position.
My seat is right next to the bathroom and the door just swung open. Megafail.
I took advantage of my double seats, stretched out, and a nice little nap came my way.
Lincoln Tunnel traffic. The bus will be late. Trains are better than buses.
NYC traffic. It’s 9:10am and the scheduled arrival time. Again trains are better than buses.
Official arrival time: 9:22am. Only 12 minutes late.
Departure from New York:
They did not enforce the 15 prior rule as I showed up 2 minutes prior to the scheduled departure, but they did leave promptly at 2:50.
The bus wasn’t full and most people were able to get a row to themselves. I’m bunking up this trip but at least my seat reclines.
Against everything I stand for, I attempted to use the onboard bathroom. There was no toilet paper. No thank you.
Random note, the top level of the bus doesn’t ride as smoothly as the bottom level.
This bus makes two Philly stops: one near Independence Hall and the other near 30^th Street station. I opted for the Independence Hall stop since there are more direct buses back to my neighborhood.
Arrival: 4:45pm. 25 minutes ahead of schedule since I got off at an earlier stop.
*Final thoughts: for $ 13.50 round trip, not too shabby of an experience. You get what you pay for, and I think I got my money’s worth and then some. Experience was overall pretty easy, and I’d recommend giving it a shot.

Use them and expect: $, basic service that comes with the budget price
What I got from it: I noticed that Amtrak has low prices to local cities from DC if you purchase tickets in advance. I forgot the advance part of the deal, so 12 hours before my trip to Philly, I decided that Megabus seemed to have the best deal.
Leaving on a Thursday morning seemed to provide some cushion from the tourist crowd. Megabus themselves seemed to also be on task with everything: on time, clean bus, smooth ride. Leaving on a Friday night seemed to produce almost the opposite: late bus arrival, uncleaned, and we even had to pick up other passengers due to another bus breaking down, so it was definitely crowded.
But my friend and I are definitely fans. It’s such an inexpensive fare! Why would I expect more from a one way ticket that costs as much as parking in DC? Or costs less one way than some dinners do in most neighborhoods of the city?
Totally recommend this service if you don’t mind doing the budget travel.