Megabus — Baltimore to New York on March 12, 2009

A double decker Megabus

I am off work today, and I decided to spend the day in New York, meet some friends, take photographs, walk in the park, drink some wine, and take the bus back.  The dreary weather forecast suggests that the wine part will become a more important part of the day than originally anticipated!

It is always interesting to observe how a travel company behaves under stress.  I was booked on the Megabus that leaves Baltimore (White Marsh) at 8:25 in the morning.  The bus arrived about 10 minutes late, and, Anita, the driver got off to make an announcement.  She told the long line of passengers that the bus that had been scheduled to leave White Marsh at 7:55 had been in an accident, and she asked everyone to form two lines — the people with reservations for 7:55, and another line for those due to leave at 8:25.  Once the passengers had categorized themselves, she told the crowd that her instructions were to accommodate the 8:25 passengers first and then she would do her best to accommodate the people with reservations on the earlier bus.

I felt sorry for her as she had to deal with howls of protest from the 7:55 group, and she (very courteously) explained that she was simply following instructions from her company.  My guess is that about half the early group was left standing at the bus stop.

As you can imagine, it took a while to sort out the passengers, seat everyone, and, finally a very crowded bus left White Marsh at about 8:50.

I don’t know when the people with 7:55 tickets will ever get to New York, but I write this post comfortably seated on the bus with a Wi-Fi connection still thrilled with my ticket that I bought for just one dollar!

The rest of the journey and the ride back to Baltimore on Megabus can be found by clicking here.