Monday, October 12, 2009

NY Adventure: Mega Bus

I will soon be posting about our enjoyable time away in the great state of New York but am unable at the moment as I am at work and should be working, not blogging... but I want to quickly post a letter that I wrote to Mega Bus. Tyler & I use the service frequently between Mpls and Chicago. We used it this past week between NYC and Rochester but had a bit of an unfortunate experience that I can elaborate on later but will share with you this letter. Mostly because Mega Bus relies on word of mouth and potential riders should know what can potentially happen!

On Saturday 10/10, I took a bus from Rochester, Ny to NYC. While waiting in Rochester the bus was over 2 hours late. Mega Bus was nice enough to contact some of the riders about the late bus but was inaccurate in their time estimate (over and hour off). Many of the riders, including my husband and myself, were extremely inconvenienced by the delay due to plans and reservations. Most of us contacted Mega Bus frequently regarding updates about our bus. Each of us was told by costumer service representatives that the bus was held up at the border and that the driver was waiting for the bus in Buffalo. Some of us also inquired about refunds or future ride vouchers due to the inconvenience but were immediately told that the issue related to the US/Canadian boarder and therefore the company had nothing to offer us. Upon boarding the bus, riders who started their journey in Toronto informed us that there was absolutely no issue or delay in crossing the border, the bus was delayed over two hours due to bad traffic around Toronto. With that information I am inquiring again if we may be entitled to a future ride voucher because of the significant and inconveniencing delay. My husband and I both speak very highly of Mega Bus and we use the service frequently however this unfortunate experience has changed our views. We completely understand the chance for delays whether due to a border, traffic, or construction; however I cannot understand the misinformation and the lack of effort on the part of Mega Bus to please and accommodate its passengers. Mega Bus relies greatly on word of mouth and unfortunately there will not be much good coming from the mouth’s of Saturday’s NYC bound bus. Mega Bus could have easily remedied this issue and received even more/better word of mouth than usual by refunding/accommodating it’s passengers who were stuck at bus stops and malls across the state of New York. Unfortunately I may have to pass up Mega Bus as a cheap and convenient way to travel when I need to arrive somewhere on time due to plans or additional travel reservations.