What you need to know as Megabus rolls out its new Michigan route this week

**jpbollma** · July-09-12, 03:24 PM

This is a great new Detroit travel option in my opinion! I have many friends in Chicago and Grand Rapids. The pricing is based off of a market based system. If you book far enough in advance you may even receive a $1.00 fare. I put in Sept 15th for GR and it would only cost me $4.00 there and back. These are nice busses..leather reclining seats, hostesses, bathrooms, wifi, snacks, phone charger/computer charger plug ins... ect.

I like to drive as little as possible and will be living downtown. I am fortunate to be able to work downtown so I can use the People Mover for that and take this bus to visit friends. There was also another private bus that was started that for $5 will take you all over Detroit between 6 p.m. and 2:30 a.m. They are working on including Royal Oak, Ferndale, and Hamtramck.

Is there also an Amtrack Train that travels between Detroit and Ann Arbor now?
What you need to know as Megabus rolls out its new Michigan route this week

http://www.mlive.com/business/west-m..._as_megab.html

**iheartthed** · July-09-12, 03:27 PM

There has always been an Amtrak route between Detroit and Ann Arbor.

**jpbollma** · July-09-12, 03:30 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

There has always been an Amtrak route between Detroit and Ann Arbor.

Oh, thanks! I thought I had read something in the news about it fairly recently. Maybe increasing the amount of times it runs? I could just be pulling something out of my ass, but I thought I had read something recently..

**iheartthed** · July-09-12, 03:33 PM

Originally Posted by jpbollma

Oh, thanks! I thought I had read something in the news about it fairly recently. Maybe increasing the amount of times it runs? I could just be pulling something out of my ass, but I thought I had read something recently..

I wouldn't be surprised if they increased the frequency. This is the train route that originates in Pontiac and terminates in Chicago.

**professorscott** · July-09-12, 03:59 PM

Originally Posted by iheartthed

I wouldn't be surprised if they increased the frequency. This is the train route that originates in Pontiac and terminates in Chicago.

There are definite plans to do so. In fact the train cars already have been purchased and refurbished. The remaining hurdles are some track improvements so the additional trains don't bottleneck freight trains [[required of the freight railroads because they own the tracks), and funding for operations. I expect you'll see some occasional "event" trains by next year and regularly scheduled additional trains by 2014 or 2015.

**DetroitPlanner** · July-09-12, 06:40 PM

The Detroit-Ann Arbor train was designed to increase the frequencies needed to commute between the two cities. Unfortunately, there is little money available to run the service. The cost of the ticket is nowhere near what is needed to fund all of the operational costs. Here is the latest on the service:http://www.semcog.org/A2D2June2012Update.aspx

**wolverine** · July-09-12, 06:57 PM

This is great that there are more options to travel to Grand Rapids. Getting to Ann Arbor and Detroit has never been a problem from Chicago, but going to GR takes some planning...now it's made easy.

I still prefer taking the train. I used to be a more frequent megabus user on many routes....Chicago to Detroit...to Cincinnati...to St. Louis...to Milwaukee. I've also done some East Coast routes. Overall, my friends have agreed megabus isn't as good as it used to be. Some of the morale of the drivers has declined. Alot used to be really cool and nice, but I've seen more rude drivers and I swear one of them had nearly fallen asleep when we crossed lanes and went onto the shoulder. Plus I've clocked speeds on my phone and found buses going faster than 70 mph at times. I'm all for getting to my destination faster, but I'd rather not be speeding in a vehicle that easily tips over. Boarding megabus at Chicago Union Station is nothing short of horrible. I shouldn't even mention Union, because I don't believe they are paying any sort of lease, rather using some leftover curb space across the street. As a result, 4 buses converging creates a mob of confused people. Someday I hope the current Chicago Union Station will be rebuilt from scratch, or perhaps use the Historic Union Station Great Hall can be put back into use for train and bus passengers.

Some of the routes have gotten so crowded that there's been incidents of there being not enough seats and too many passengers [[how does that happen?) Once I got stuck returning to Ann Arbor on a Chicago Chinatown tour bus! Basically some random bus company was contracted out to take us to our destination. So the regular amenities were lacking. We had to guide our driver to the Ann Arbor park and ride.

I've never seen the leather seats and hostess [[wtf, really?) that the original poster is talking about. The only food is the Love's truck stop that takes place halfway between routes, which is perfectly fine with me. There's nice bathrooms on board, but the wireless internet only works sometimes.

I've done Amtrak for all the same routes. Sometimes it's cheaper than megabus, more often it's not. But there's way more room to spread out, recline, and walk around. There's the dining car and plugs and outlets. I feel like the safety and quality of service is better.

Customer service is great for both. Both Megabus and Amtrak are willing to reschedule tickets easily. I haven't had any issues.

I'll still continue taking megabus, but it's become more of a chore. If I can get a deal on car rentals or cheap train tickets, I'll go that route first.

**illwill** · July-09-12, 11:20 PM

Wolverine, that was a great post. Very funny and descriptive.

Union station will not be tore down as beautiful as it is but they're expanding to the other side of Jackson.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...1BAxSfeU_MDSUw

**Wintersmommy** · July-10-12, 01:26 PM

another great [[or not so great) thing about the Mega bus is that it leaves ON TIME. About 2 weeks ago I went with a friend to Chicago and missed out bus by 7 minutes! scheduled to leave at 8:30, we were there at 8:37 after i accidently slept in too late and the bus was GONE..no where in site 7 minutes after scheduled leave time. Thats pretty darn efficent
as for us we ran ourselves over to the Train station and hopped the 11am train to Chicago instead.
Mega Bus wouldnt allow us to switch out tickets to a later bus despite having room available to do so..just an FYI..we werent upset or anything since it was our fault but i was kind of suprised.
all in all both the train and the bus were nice. Train took longer [[we had to stop to let a little boy off who fell and broke his nose on a seat). But there was much more leg room and the option to walk around and get food was nice. It was about 2 hours longer on the Train than the bus but it did feel like much more than that

**Hypestyles** · July-10-12, 01:37 PM

I wish there were Detroit to Atlanta/Washington DC/Nashville routes..

**j to the jeremy** · July-10-12, 02:40 PM

Originally Posted by Hypestyles

I wish there were Detroit to Atlanta/Washington DC/Nashville routes..

There's Megabus to Pittsburgh, cleveland, and DC I think, which means you can connect on trains to all those other cities.

**wolverine** · July-10-12, 06:15 PM

Originally Posted by illwill

Wolverine, that was a great post. Very funny and descriptive.

Union station will not be tore down as beautiful as it is but they're expanding to the other side of Jackson.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...1BAxSfeU_MDSUw

Oh, I'd never advocate for the old historic Union Station to be torn down! It's a beautiful building, but it's not actually in use as a train station. You can cut through it to get to the current Union Station which is beneath all the 70's office buildings across the street, but for the most part the building is used for special events. If someone is having a party, Amtrak passengers and the general public may not enter that building.

There's all kinds of talk about that high speed rail to the airport plan as well as the proposed Clinton Street subway line. Whatever happens, I'd want to see the Great Hall put back to use a train station

**stasu1213** · July-11-12, 07:24 AM

I wish the Mega Bus goes from Detroit to New York or Washington DC. It doesn't go to either city.

**Sandhouse** · July-11-12, 07:54 AM

You can take Megabus from Detroit to any other point on their route map, you just have to change at one location or another. Last January I looked into traveling to DC. The connection at Pittsburgh worked well in one direction, not so well in the other, at least for my schedule. If you are lucky to find a short layover, the trip time can compare well with driving, and youi're saved the expense of parking your car in Washington, Chicago, or other high-cost places.

One weak point in the Megabus system is that it can't issue you a through ticket like Greyhound or the airlines, and it can't display connecting routes. You have to read the schedules for each leg of your trip, and assemble your own table of arrival and departure times at the points of connection. Each leg of the trip is a separate transaction, with another couple bucks' charge on top of the fare. Still a good deal, though, especially if you buy far enough ahead to get the $1 fare [[actually $3.50 per leg after the additional charge).

It is good that the Rosa Parks terminal is being made available to Megabus. This should be more convenient than the curbside locations in other cities, or the park-and-ride lots not served by local buses.