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Worth Every Dollar - Budget Travel with Megabus

Megabus is a well-known express bus brand as it pioneered low-cost intercity bus services as early as 2003. You may refer to our earlier entry on how their effectively adopted strategies and business models brought them a huge success across Europe and North America. The growth of these low-cost buses had great impacts on the way of travel, especially for the younger generation. Let's have a look on how they work.

Back in October, I had an opportunity to have an express bus ride between San Francisco and Sacramento in California, USA. Both Megabus and Greyhound Bus Lines operate the route, with 4 round-trip and 11 round-trip daily services respectively. Eventually, I went for Megabus and made a round-trip reservation at US$11.5 - which was totally a worth of money!

Route and Schedule

San Francisco and Sacramento, the capital city of California, are about 90 miles (about 140km) far apart, which takes less than 2 hours by car.

I eventually chosen the earliest Megabus' departure, which left San Francisco Caltrain Station at 9 am and arrived University/65th Street Light Rail Station in Sacramento at around 11 am.

The carrier also operated other three departures between the two cities:

San Francisco 12:30 - 14:20 Sacramento San Francisco 17:40 - 19:30 Sacramento San Francisco 20:45 - 22:30 Sacramento

Reservations

As mentioned in the previous entry, to save cost, Megabus only accepted online or phone reservation. I made my reservation on megabus.com a week prior to my trips.  I was lucky enough to get a US$3 ticket for my return trip. It costed me a sum of US$13.5 for the round-trip ticket, including the reservation charge.

Having successfully completed the reservation, the company sent a confirmation to my email. It was most important not to lose this as presenting the reservation number was the ONLY way for me to board the bus. On-site crew members or drivers did not have the records of our names or email addresses. So NEVER ever trash the confirmation!

One more little thing to note - administration fee was charge per reservation. So it was always wise to book the return trip in the same reservation and in groups - in case you had travel companions.

Pick-up and Drop-off

Unlike traditional bus companies, Megabus did not stop at large-scale terminus. They picked up and dropped off passengers on curbside which was similar to the Chinatown buses. 

As Megabus stopped at street-side, there were road signs painted in the signature blue and logos for passengers to identify the locations. Uniformed crew would also be helping riders to make check-ins.

Upon arrival to the bus stop, I just had to show my reservation number to board the bus. Similar to travelling with low-cost airlines, I didn't have assigned seat unless I paid extra. After boarding, I just had to pick any seat I wanted, except for the numbered ones which had been booked.

Bus Type

Megabus operates the largest fleet of Van Hool TD925 Astromega double-deckers across America. They enable the company to carry more passengers on each departure and to make larger profits, in spite of the ultra low bus fares.

One of the Van Hool TD925 double-decked coaches based in Los Angeles was taking me to Sacramento.

The coach featured 81 Van Hool Body Line Recliner Seats with three-point seat belts (59 on upper deck, 23 on lower deck). Numbered seats were reserved for pre-booked passengers.

Basic amenities were available on-board, including a lavatory at the rear on the lower deck, free Wi-Fi connections and 110-volt outlets on each seat. One breathtaking feature I liked most was the sunroof on the upper deck. It made the journey across the Californian desert more enjoyable!

Powered by the Cummins ISX12 six-cylinder diesel engine, the Van Hool TD925 Astromega was coincident with the EPA 2010 emissions regulations and came fitted with ZF Astronic 12-speed automated transmission system.

Conclusion

Despite the fact that the ride was fairly bumpy due to the poor suspension of the Van Hool, I would describe the trip to be rather pleasant. The coach was new and tidy. The crew was polite, and the driver was awesome! The driver on-duty, William, was so passionate that he made great effort to make the boring onboard safety briefing to be a more entertaining one. Passengers around me were so impressed. 

It was definitely a worth of money to get a return trip ticket at US$13.5 with such service standard. Of course, the fare wouldn't be always so low. So do compare the price with Greyhound first before you make the decision.

Tips for You

If you were going to enjoy a budget travel on Megabus, or other carrier of its type, the following reminders would be very useful for you:

Book in advance Bus company tends to offer cut-priced tickets (as low as US$1!) for early birds. Fares may go up exponentially a few days before departure.

Arrive at the pick up points early Always arrive more than 15 minutes prior to departure. Not only may you need some time to figure out where the bus actually stops, but you also want to pick desirable seats with your travel partners. 

Book the return trip in a single reservation US$1.5 was charged per reservation. Booking in single transactions means saving your wallet!

#megabus #vanhool #td925 #astromega #budget travel #coachusa #stagecoach

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The Safest Coach We've Ever Built - Volvo 9700

In 2009, Volvo Buses launched their 9700 coaches in the United States and Canada through the Prevost and Nova Bus network in the region. Volvo made some local adaptations to the North American version, including a split window shield and windowless rear. These 9700 coaches were manufactured in Volvo Buses’ plant in Mexico, and the engines were assembled in Hagerstown, MD.

Volvo described their 9700s as "The Safest Coach We've Ever Built". It featured a number of innovations in protecting drivers, passengers and occupants in other automobiles. On top of the preventive features, for example, the disc break with Electronic Braking System (EBS) and Electronic Stability Program (ESP), the bus manufacturer also put a lot of efforts to increase protective safety.

The 9700 structure was well constructed to comply with the R66 testing standard. Front Impact Protection (FIP) and Knee Impact Protection (KIP) were designed to absorb impact during collision, and thus reducing the injury of the driver. Volvo 9700s were also equipped with the pioneering Front Under-run Protection System (FUPS) to protect the occupants in automobiles in case of frontal collisions. FUPS also minimized the damage to the steering, reducing the chance of loss of control of the vehicle.

Other than safety, operation efficiency was also important to bus carriers. Volvo 9700s were power by the fuel-economic Volvo D13 engines. The 13,000 cc engines were able to deliver a maximum of 435 hp and 2,250 Nm of torque through the signature Volvo I-shift 12-speed semi-automatic transmission system.

50082 A Volvo B13R / 9700

CP88427 Volvo B13R / 9700

#volvo #9700 #B13R #i-shift

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The Pride of Freeway - Kuo-Kuang's MCI in Taiwan

Kuo-Kuang Motor (國光客運) earlier announced that all MCI 96A3 motor coaches in the fleet would be retired next year, bringing the 37-year legend of MCI coaches on freeways in Taiwan to an end.

Kuo-Kuang is currently the sole carrier which operates Motor Coach Industries buses in Taiwan. It owns a total of 33 units in which all of them are 40-feet long 96A3s. Most of them are deployed to ferry passengers between Taipei Taoyuan International Airport and the capital's Main Station.

In late 1970s, a batch of luxury coaches had to be imported for the express bus services on the newly completed North-South Freeway. At that time, there was a serious trade deficit between Taiwan and the United States. As a result, the Directorate General of Highways decided to purchase a total 50 units of MC-8 coaches from the American coach-builder - Motor Coach Industries (MCI). 

In 1980, Taiwan Motor Transport (臺灣汽車客運) was set up to continue providing bus services. The company imported another batches of MCI coaches. 210 units of MC-9s were acquired in 1980s. In 1989 and 1992, there were two more bunches of MCI 96A3s.

All of these extraordinary MCI coaches were put on the freeway bus routes, with the brand named "Kuo-Kuang Class" (國光號) - meaning the pride of freeway in Chinese. To better position the premium service of "Kuo-Kuang Class", the carrier invited Professor Wang Chang-wei (王壯為教授) to create the calligraphy on the bus-body. At that time, travelling on a Kuo-Kuang bus was a superior experience. 

In 21st century, Taiwan Motor Transport went privatization. Kuo-Kuang Motor was founded and received some of the MC-9 and 96A3 buses. Due to the high maintenance and fuel costs, the operator had plans to replace these old American machines with newer Daewoo buses.

FA-188 MCI 96A3

FO-068 MCI 96A3

FA-986 MCI MC-8

#kuo-kuang #MCI #motor coach industries #MC-8 #96A3 #wang chang-wei #國光號 #台汽 #王壯為

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VIP Liner (VIP ライナー) High Speed Bus

Introduced in 1964, the Shinkansen (新幹線) high-speed railway in Japan has been famed for its speed and convenience. However, price-conscious passengers may find its fares being unaffordably high. As a result, overnight express bus services become their alternative. Many bus carriers are offering different overnight bus services to attract passengers. This can be more remarkable for the routes between the Great Tokyo Area and the Kinki region (近畿地方), the second most populated in Japan.

Heisei Enterprise (平成エンタープライズ) also joined the competition in 2007 by launching the new brand - VIP Liner (VIP ライナー). VIP Liner operated overnight express buses mainly between Tokyo, the Chūbu (中部地方) and Kinki regions. To sharpen their competitive edges, they designed different cabin classes to better suit customers' needs.

Having VIP Lounges at bus stops were also unique to this carrier. Instead of parking in shared bus terminus, the carrier set up lounges in major cities for their customers to relax before and after long-haul travelling. Complimentary drinks and other paid services were available at their Wi-Fi connected saloon.

Plumeria Grande (プルメリアグランデ)

This female only class features 9 rows of 1+1+1 memory foam reclining seating, with legroom approximately 95 cm. Fixed shell seats with on-demand entertainment systems were also available in selected front and back row seats.

Royal Blue (ロイヤルブルー)

Royal Blue Class features 25 independent Airy-Sofa seating with up to 118 cm legroom. Each seat is separated with private curtain.

For more photos, please visit our Flickr page!

#vip liner #heisei #plumeria grande #royal blue #overnight bus #vipライナー #平成エンタープライズ #プルメリアグランデ #ロイヤルブルー #夜行バス

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What's the matter with Google Bus?

Around corners in San Francisco Bay Area, you will see dozens of shiny white coaches with dark-tinted windows, no logo, but an LED display showing "GBUS TO MTV". It has been an usual scene of the morning SF. In fact, these are Google's commuter buses ferrying 4,500 - 5,000 employees every day to and from Googleplex in Mountain View which is 40 miles away.

These commuter bus services - not only for Google, but also other tech giants like Facebook and Electronic Arts - stirred controversies last year. Some views suggested that the bus services enabled the high-paid tech people to move into San Francisco and thus driving up the cost of homes. Some also opposed their unpaid use of public bus stops leading to delays and congestion.

Earlier this year, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) required these firms to pay US$1 per day for each public stop used for picking up or dropping off their employees. Later, the agency conducted an 18-month "Commuter Shuttle Pilot Program" to increase fees and impose more regulations for the use of a shared Muni and commuter shuttle stops network. A permit (as shown in the photo between two headlights) had to be applied.

23485S1 Van Hool TX45

#google bus #gbus #mtv #tech bus #commuter shuttle pilot scheme

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The Success of Megabus

In 2003, Megabus commenced operating express buses between cities in the United Kingdom. Three years later, it then expanded to the North American market with a hub in Chicago through its parent company Stagecoach Group, and the subsidiary - Coach USA.

Megabus has been well-known for their low-cost express bus services, with fares starting from US$1 plus a reservation fee per transaction. The carrier offers "no-frills" services which eliminate the non-essential features to keep the fares low, for example, Megabus uses curbside bus stops instead of traditional stations, only accepts online or telephone reservations instead of setting up ticket offices.

Besides, the carrier also adopts the "yield management" strategy which has been more commonly used in the airline industry. The company sells seats at different fares based on understanding, anticipating and influencing passengers' behaviour in order to maximise its profit. To put it differently, a lower fare might be charged to a passenger who books his trip in advance; departures of lower demands could be cheaper; and tickets with less restrictions would cost more.

Our crew had a ride earlier on its San Francisco - Sacramento route. We will share more about Megabus' services and business models in the upcoming trip report. Please don't MISS it!

Megabus Elizabeth / DD465 Van Hool TD925 Astromega

#megabus #stagecoach #low-cost express bus #no-frills #yield management

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India - Trip Report on Volvo B7R 9400 (Thiruvananthapuram to Alappuzha)

Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) is a state-owned bus operator, running city bus, inter-city and inter-state bus services. It was established as early as 1938. KSRTC has been headquartering in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala State. Owning over 5,000 vehicles, KSRTC has a fleet consisting of a majority of Indian-made Ashok Leyland and Tata buses. They also own a number of Volvo B7R/B9R air-conditioned coaches for long-haul premium services.

I was on-board the Thiruvananthapuram-Bangalore Volvo services. Bangalore is the third largest city in India. It is considered as the Indian "Silicon Valley". The whole journey was about 700 km, with a duration of more than 14 hours. This time, I did not finish the whole journey, but planned to alight in Alappuzha. The reason was to grasp to rare opportunity to watch the Nehru Trophy Boat Race! Thiruvananthapuram and Alappuzha was about 150 km apart. This sector officially takes about 3 to 4 hours.

3 Airavat Club Class Volvo coaches are scheduled for this route. RA102, which served me this time, is one of them. It is a Volvo B7R - 9400 coach, equipped with a Volvo D7E (290PS) engine. The bus departed punctually at 15:15 heading to Bangalore.

Basic information of the ride: Route: Thiruvananthapuram to Alappuzha Date: 12 AUG 2012 Time of Departure: 15:15 Operator: Kerala State Road Transport Corporation Class: Airavat Club Class Coach Type: Volvo B7R - 9400 Fare: Rs 253

Photo captured in Thiruvananthapuram Thampanoor Bus Station before I boarded the bus. Note that I did not buy the ticket in advance, but paid to the contractor after I found an empty seat.

The simple dashboard design on this Volvo coach.

The bus carries 45 reclining seats. The Airavat Club Class is described as Semi-sleep bus by KSRTC. The window seat showed the fully reclined position.

The specification of the bus

Something happened when the coach was approaching Kollam, about 70 km away from Thiruvananthapuram. The coach was broken down, with warning lights flashing. The driver tried to restart the bus but failed.

The two drivers on-board tried to fixed the problem. 30 minutes later, the bus was able to start up again. 

However, the bus was found abnormal again near Karunagapalli. The drivers decided to have it repaired in the KSRTC workshop.

The engine of the B7R coach.

However, due to the leak of experience and knowledge in repairing a rare Volvo coach in Kerala, the bus was not able to continue its remaining journey in a short time. I decided to ask for fare refund and took a Fast Passenger class Ashok Leyland ordinary bus to my destination. Finally, I arrived Alappuzha safely at 21:00.

Recently, KSRTC is making plans to end its Volvo services to Bangalore. The Volvo buses were reported to have a lack of regular maintenance. There are not sufficient qualified maintenance staff either. These Volvo coaches are in poor conditions that only one of the three is in service. The service is greatly interrupted. The bus was sometimes even cancelled in last minute. Some opinions suggested replacing the unreliable Volvo service by the new Super Deluxe Service, which will be operated by Indian-made buses equipped by air suspension.

Lastly, we bring you some spectacular photos during the Nehru Trophy Boat Race!

#india #alappuzha #nehrutrophy #ksrtc #volvo #9400

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The Adventure to DPRK

Many of you may be interested in how to get access to DPRK, or North Korea. Maybe I am going to write a brief journal on the planning of the trip and what we saw and experienced in North Korea. Of course, I am also going to give a short introduction to their touring buses. 

To start with, we contacted a travel agency in the border city Dandong (丹东), Liaoning Province. They organize 1-day tour to Sinuiju, and 4-day tour to Pyongyang irregularly. More frequent departures are expected for peak season, especially the summer vacation. Travel agencies in Beijing or Shenyang also organize tours to North Korea. You have to expect a higher price, and lower in frequency. We emailed our passport and permit copies to the travel agency two weeks before departure. Passport was submitted a day before our tour. The agency helped us with the visa application.

Everything was smooth. Our visa application was successful. We were heading to one of the suspicious country on earth - North Korea! After passing through the customs at Dandong Railway Station, we were able to catch the train to the capital of DPRK - Pyongyang. 3 minutes after departure, we were above the Yalu River - the border between North Korea and China.

After crossing the river on the Sino-Korean Friendship Bridge, we finally stepped into North Korea. Soldiers from North Korea side boarded the train for customs checks at Sinuiju Station. It took around 2 hours, and our train started again. We arrived Pyongyang Station at around 5 in the evening. We were then sent to the hotel.

In the following 3 days, we were brought to different "standardized" tourist spots in Pyongyang, Kaesong and Nampo City. To begin with, we sent to Mansudae Fountain Park and the Grand Monument. We had to show our respect to the eternal President Kim Il Sung by giving flowers. After that, we were taken to experience a short metro journey, from Puhung to Yonggwang Station.

After visiting the West Sea Dam in Nampo and Mansudae Children's Palace in Pyongyang, we had the opportunity to watch the Arirang Mass Games at dusk. Arirang is the must-see iconic performance in North Korea. It was recognized by Guinness World Records as the biggest event of its kind. In total of 100,000 people are performing each time, including one third of them creating mosaic pictures by holding up colour cards. It is only held from late July until September.

On the third day, we were driven to Kaesong City, the border city between the North and the South. We were brought to the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ. We were able to visit Panmunjom, where the 1953 Korean Armistice Agreement that paused the Korean War was signed. After the visit to the DMZ, we went to the Koryo Museum in Kaesong City.

At noon, we were taken to other tourist attractions in the Capital, including Kim Il Sung Square, the Monument to the Party Founding, the Tower of the Juche Idea and the Triumphal Arch. The trip ended on the 4th day by travelling on the train back to Dandong.

Coaches in North Korea

There were only a very limited number of vehicles in North Korea. We could hardly see a coach on roads. We can classify coaches in North Korea into two types – tourist buses and charter buses for locals.

Tourist buses are usually newer and better in conditions. All of them are owned by the state-owned travel agencies. Quite a number of them are brand new Chinese-built King Long and Yutong coaches. Some older ones were second-hand coaches from Japan, including Fuso and UD coaches.

Another type of coaches is charter buses. They are usually used for school bus or shuttle bus for factories and large organizations. Almost all charter buses are second-hand vehicles imported from Japan, China, and South Korea. They are older and poorly maintained. We have seen different models such as Hyundai Universe Space, Aero Town, Hino Rainbow, Ankai Kassbohrer, etc.

Thank you very much for reading.

#dprk #dpr korea

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Founded in 2004, Coach-digi.com is an all-rounded online community for tourist bus enthusiasts and those who are in the industry. Our crew members have been proactively gathering first-hand information and news about coaches around the globe. 

To celebrate our 10th anniversary, Coach-digi.com proudly presents our Social Media Enhancement Programme. We are launching our Tumblr and Flickr pages to give you a brand new experience in browsing and sharing coach-related information!