Boston is now closer to Yale with the launch of a new MegaBus line offering rides beginning at one dollar between Boston and New Haven.
The new MegaBus route gives Yale students a third major travel option to Boston, in addition to Greyhound and Amtrak. Each day, four buses depart from Union Station to Boston’s South Station, and three run from Boston to New Haven. Each ticket’s initial fee is one dollar on megabus.com, but that price rises as more tickets for each bus are booked.
“That means if you book early, we’ll always have that dollar fee,” said Don DeVivo, President of DATTCO Coach & Tour Group, the company in charge of operating the New Haven MegaBus route.
The pricing offers an affordable alternative to Greyhound Lines’s bus fees, which start at $32.85, and Amtrak tickets, which can range from $49 to $154.
The new line is attracting a growing number of customers, DeVivo said. The route currently averages over 100 riders per day, with over 200 on Fridays and Sundays.
DeVivo said these numbers have steadily increased since the route opened on Aug. 17. He added that MegaBus plans to start using double-decker buses when demand becomes too high for standard coach models.
DeVivo said MegaBus is still working on informing customers about the new line. “We rely pretty heavily on social media and blogs on the Internet to [advertise] our service,” he added. Devivo said MegaBus is also trying to attract Yale students using advertising on posters around campus and in student publications.
DeVivo said that MegaBus is popular with college students and young professionals, and hopes that Yale students as well as other college students in the New Haven area will use MegaBus for Boston travel.
Natalia Garza ’14 has taken a MegaBus around-trip from Philadelphia to Boston, and called the addition of a Boston-New Haven route “wonderful.” Garza said while she doesn’t live in Boston, she definitely plans on taking advantage of the low prices.
“Obviously it’s going to be used by a lot of students for the Yale-Harvard game,” Garza added.
Sarah Rosales ’14 said “One dollar is great … I am absolutely planning on using [MegaBus].”
Andi Zhou ’13, who lives in a suburb of Boston, had not yet heard about the new MegaBus route. Zhou, who has taken both Amtrak trains and Greyhound buses to Boston, said “I’ll definitely consider [MegaBus] for my next trip home. It would certainly be much cheaper than the other options out there.”
Timothy Stokes, Company Spokesperson for Greyhound, said the company has not noticed lower ridership since the addition of the MegaBus line.
“I wouldn’t say we would lose business [to MegaBus],” Stokes added. “This gives our customers more of an option to choose from when deciding to travel in the area. [It’s] more of a benefit to passengers.”