The bargain bus company Megabus is expanding its new reserved seating option to 30 cities in North America. It will cost you a couple of bucks to pick your seat, and seatmate, too, if you are traveling together, and help you avoid that free-for-all dash to a seat that suits you.
When I book an airline seat, I try to avoid the rows closest to the bathroom and galley because of the traffic and noise of passengers and attendants going back and forth, especially people using my seatback as a handle to steady them in the aisle and waking me up from a nap.
Reserved seats are visually distinct with solid blue coloring and are identified by a large number embroidered onto the seat fabric that corresponds to the specific seat number you select on the Megabus website when you purchase your ticket.
There are just ten of these seats on each bus, and reserved seating is available only at certain times, since not all busses on a particular route are equipped with the reserved seat option. Another caveat is that, you aren’t told the price of the reservation until you book your seat. The only thing Megabus says is that it is a “nominal fee”.
A Megabus executive told me the reservation price is between $3 and $10, depending on route, day and time of day, for the most popular seats on the bus, including upper-deck front window, upper deck balcony or lower deck tables.
The reserved seating option premiered over Memorial Day weekend on select routes in Baltimore, Boston,Philadelphia, New York, and Washington, D.C.,and in mid-June in Canada in Toronto, Kingston, and Montreal.
On September 10th, the reservations system expands to a total of 30 cities, including San Francisco, New Orleans and Columbia, Missouri, a city close to my own heart, since that’s where I attended the Univserity of Missouri School of Journalism.
Here’s are some additional Megabus cities for reserved seating, in alphabetical order:
Austin, Baton Rouge, Burbank, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, Indianapolis, Iowa City, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Oakland, Omaha, San Antonio, San Jose, St. Louis, St. Paul, Toledo.
The familiar big blue Megabus launched in 2006. It is a subsidiary of Coach USA, one of the largest city-to-city express bus service providers in North America. The double-decker busses are eco-friendly green-certified, with free Wi-Fi, power outlets, restrooms and are wheelchair accessible.
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