Megabus, minibucks
DETOURS | Road to savings begins with bus company that wings it
MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- This is not the summer of love.
High gas prices and road construction have made this the summer of when push comes to shove.
(Brian Jackson/Sun-Times)
Bookings can be made up to six months in advance. Megabus.com says bikes are not permitted, but I did see a rider store his bike under the bus on my trip back from Milwaukee.
Passengers in wheelchairs are accommodated with 48 hours notice.
This is why I am sitting in the back of a Megabus headed for Milwaukee. Two college girls behind me are talking loudly about how difficult it is to remove their nail polish. One of them has cramps and says that 3,000 mg of ibuprofen have not relieved her pain. I should have packed my iPod.
The 56-seat bus is half full, mostly with young people. The bus is clean and the bathrooms are basic (although the sink doesn't work). Better yet, the price is right: $16 round trip, making this express bus service one of the best ways to tool around the Midwest this summer.
You may have seen Megabus. The blue and orange buses look like they are lost en route from England, right down to the cheery dude with the orange derby on the back of the bus. Megabus.com -- as it is technically called -- is a subsidiary of Coach USA, a UK-based Stagecoach Group company.
Megabus is popular because you can get a one-way ticket for as little as $1.50, depending on when you buy it. The earlier you book, the cheaper the ticket. My $16 round-trip fare was booked three weeks in advance.
Regular Megabus riders point out that classic bus riffraff (think "Midnight Cowboy") is eliminated because you need to pay by credit card.
No-frills Megabus is cheap because it keeps its expenses low. My bus has six small television screens. None of them is on. There are no Megabus stations. Riders wait on city sidewalks, rain or shine. Megabus is like a B.L.T. sandwich without the tomato.
Hey, we got used to that.
The departure point in Chicago is at Union Station on Canal between Jackson and Adams. It took me a while to find it. When I asked an Amtrak security guard for directions he snapped, "We have nothing to do with Megabus."
The folks at Union Station don't seem so cheery about Megabus camping out in front of their turf. A blue sign reads, "You have chosen a carrier that has not provided an indoor passenger waiting area for you. Amtrak and Chicago Union Station have no business relationship with 'Megabus' and cannot provide assistance unless patronizing Chicago Union Station establishments. Please wait outdoors for your bus."
This is your final clue you have reached the Megabus departure point.
Earlier this month, the City Council's Transportation Committee approved a plan to move the Megabus stop a block away to the south side of Canal at Jackson to ease traffic congestion.
"[Megabus] discovered the loophole that any bus service can use any bus stop or bus stand," said Deputy Transportation Commissioner Luann Hamilton. The new stop will be in play by Labor Day, according to Megabus.
There are six daily departures
from Union Station to Milwaukee from 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., which makes all the sense in the world for Milwaukee's Summerfest, running through July 6. Some routes continue to Minneapolis.
The six Milwaukee departures to Chicago start at 6:30 a.m., with the last one leaving at 9:45 p.m. The bus drop off/pick up in Milwaukee is on the west side of 4th Street, north of St. Paul Avenue and about a block away from the Amtrak Station. Keep in mind that departure times can change, so check the Web site or call for the most up-to-date schedule.
I took the 11:30 a.m. on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Despite construction on the Edens, Megabus arrives in Milwaukee at 1:27 p.m. It is two minutes late.
Chicago is the Midwest hub for the Paramus, N.J.-based company. The bus line travels from Chicago to 16 cities (Champaign, Detroit, Indianapolis, Memphis, etc.). It also has service on the East Coast, but you can't connect there from the Midwest.
Chicago food historian Peter Engler has made about 25 round trips on Megabus. Engler, who doesn't have a car, takes Megabus to sample regional cuisine in Detroit, Milwaukee and Toledo, where he had a "Double Goopie" hamburger at the Green Lantern diner.
"Considering the price, Megabus service is great," he said. "On my second trip ever the bus caught on fire before they let people on. It was right outside Union Station. There weren't any flames, but the fire department came and sprayed foam all over the back. The bus actually drove away and they had another bus there within 15 minutes. It still got into Milwaukee on time. That impressed me."
Dale Moser is president and CEO of Megabus. He explained that the cheery dude in the orange derby is is a Scottish bus conductor. "He's our brand figure. His name is Chuck (For A Buck)," said Moser, who joined Megabus.com when it launched in April 2006.
The Stagecoach Group company is one of the UK's largest bus operators, connecting more than 100 cities. Moser said Megabus follows many of the same concepts, such as guaranteed seats when booking online and downtown stops as opposed to outlying bus terminals or airport locations.
Megabus traffic is booming in this summer of when push comes to shove.
"We're at triple-digit growth," Moser said. He said $50 is the most you can pay for a round-trip ticket between Chicago and Detroit; $24 is the highest price between Chicago and Milwaukee.
Moser said the company cuts costs by steering people to the Internet.
Megabus regular Engler said that could present a problem, "especially if there's a breakdown on the last bus of the day. There is no mechanism to get any information whatsoever. Originally it wasn't even easy to find their 1-800 number," he said.
Economy is still on my mind when I get off the bus and find myself in downtown Milwaukee without a car.
It is easy to find a cab by the Amtrak station. I head to the Astor Hotel, 924 E. Juneau Ave., (800) 558-0200. It is an $8 cab ride with tip and is within long-walking distance to downtown and Summerfest grounds. The Astor also offers a free, daily shuttle service within a two-mile radius of the hotel between 7 a.m. and 9:30 p.m. or until midnight during Summerfest.
Built in 1920, the eight-story Astor is on the National Register of Historic Places. Rooms range from $99 to $199 for a grand suite. The hotel's shuttle drops me off at the 5th Ward (Walker's Point), home to some of the most fantastic antique malls in the Midwest. I pick up a mint-condition "Amazing America Tours (Pre-Planned Vacations by Greyhound)" 1954 brochure for $5 at the three-story Fox Skylight Antiques, 112 E. Mineral St., (414) 382-0006. The brochure lists tours from Chicago to Rockaway Beach, Eureka Springs and Nassau/"Gay Havana Cuba!" as part of a 14-day air and bus tour.
Also don't miss the extensive collection of 20th century decorative arts and artifacts at Moderne-aire, on the northern tip of the 5th Ward at 170 S. First St., (414) 223-0717. I've purchased 1960s ashtrays here and I don't even smoke. It is in a 4,000-square-foot space above the popular Alterra coffee shop.
My Milwaukee friend Julie suggests dinner at the new Indian Rasoi, 1692 N. Van Buren St., (414) 223-3080, also within walking distance of the Astor. A house specialty like the Dal Makhani (four kinds of beans cooked and sauteed in ginger and garlic paste) weighs in at $9.95. We wash our Indian food down with wonderful Kingfisher beer from India ($4.50 a bottle).
We adjourn to hear some live music -- more on that down the road -- and the evening's food, beer and tequila successfully establishes a measured mood for the Saturday morning Megabus ride back to Chicago.
A young man in front of me is watching the late Suzanne Pleshette in the 1968 flick "Blackbeard's Ghost" on his DVD player. We pass a woman driving down I-94 with her poodle in her lap. I am safe inside my bus. We are going places.