We recently shared our excitement over the prospect of getting to NYC on the cheap and comfortable: the semi-new bus routes set up to rival that bastion of Mid-Atlantic inexpensive travel, the Chinatown bus. We are deeply saddened to share with you the experience of QuizMasterChris, who had quite a surreal time whilst attempting to get to aforementioned Big Apple on Megabus, one of those “book early, get cheaper tickets” outfits. That didn’t quite work out for Chris and his girlfriend, who were silly enough to think that "reservation" meant that they had, well, a reservation to board and ride the bus that was supposed to take them from 30th Street Station to New York.

The story is funny only because it didn't happen to us: After arriving at 30th Street and being told they weren’t on the bus driver's "list" and therefore not legitimate ticket holders as they were led to believe by the printed reservations in their hands (and the bank statement showing the tickets had been paid for), and that once the bus made its second stop in Center City there would not be any seats for them, they were given another option:

This is where the story takes a Lewis Carroll turn. The driver claimed that we could ride if two people with reservations didn't show up at 6th & Market... but we weren't allowed to ride with him to 6th, even though the bus was only half full! We would be allowed to ride the bus we had reservations for only if we could beat him to 6th & Market on the subway (retracing the route we took to get to 30th incidentally) or in a cab, and if once we got there two seats which were booked went untaken. He wasn't going to wait for us there, either.

It doesn't really get any better from there; the whole sordid tale would stretch our credulity, if we weren't used to dealing with transit in this city. Seems private industry can suck as bad as public. Luckily Chris made it to NYC that day; sadly it looks that, like him, we’ll be crossing Megabus off the list of our transport options.

Image credit: Flickr user Daquella manera