Students find Megabus late, dangerous

      Sophomore Conor Smith waited hours for his MegaBus to arrive on Laird Campus to go to his New York home this past Thanksgiving.

“The bus was over two hours late, and the bus driver made a 15 minute stop that was unnecessary,” Smith said. “My Internet kept going in and out and it overall was just a really stressful trip.”

Smith’s experience was similar to sophomore Janelle Lutza’s. Though she said she liked how cheap her trip was, she had several major issues with the bus company.

“I didn’t really like the MegaBus,” Lutza said. “It was over an hour late and the Internet was awful.”

Megabus.com offers several services which appeal to college students such as cheap rates and free Wi-Fi, according to Vice President of Marketing and Public Relations at Megabus.com, Mike Alvich. The bus company opened a stop at the university in September at parking lot number six on Christiana Drive. Students can take the buses to and from New York City, Baltimore and Washington D.C.

Tickets are offered as low as $1, depending upon when users purchase them, according to Megabus.com.

“People like Megabus.com because you’re getting more for less money,” Alvich said. “The success of 24 million people is saying something very positive. They are saying to us it’s a better way to travel.”

Director of Parking and Transportation Services Richard Rind said students had issues with the timeliness of the buses when the service started running on campus, but that problem has since been fixed. The feedback from students and the community has all been positive, Rind said. 

“I have not heard a single person complain,” Rind said.

Unlike Rind, Alvich said he has heard several complaints of the buses showing up late. Typically refunds are not an option when a bus is late, although during Hurricane Sandy, MegaBus did offer some refunds and tried to reschedule canceled buses, Alvich said. When buses are late, it is usually due to unforeseen incidences, such as bad weather or traffic accidents, he said.

Junior Jeff McSweeny said he also had a negative experience and would rather find alternative ways of transportation than use the bus company.

“I didn’t feel like my bus driver was very friendly,” McSweeney said. “I didn’t really like the atmosphere of the bus, and I honestly would have rather just driven myself.”