Megabus Service Between Milwaukee and Chicago Drastically Cut

The intercity bus service famous for their $1 tickets has substantially scaled back their operations in and out of Milwaukee. Megabus provided a wealth of options to and from Chicago just a few months ago, and their scaling back of a few daily runs in December wasn’t cause for much concern. Apparently, we should have viewed it as a sign of bad things to come though, with what used to be six trips each way everyday trimmed first to four, and now down to two.

We did not hear back from Megabus on a rational for the cut, but it would appear the buses are likely being used to run the route between Indianapolis and Chicago that was expanded in March. A route that for the time being probably is more profitable due to the lack of Amtrak service between the two cities more than once a day in each direction.

The Milwaukee stop is now exclusively part of a larger route to Minneapolis so departure and arrival times are based around end-points on the route, not Milwaukee. The convenient leaving times are now a thing of the past, as no bus currently originates it’s journey in Milwaukee.

What’s left of the service between Milwaukee and Chicago?

Milwaukee to Chicago (runs that were eliminated highlighted in red)

• 6:30 AM (arrive 8:30)
• 8:30 AM (arrive 10:25)
• 1:00 PM (arrive 3:00)
• 2:30 PM (arrive 4:25)
• 7:00 PM (arrive 8:55)
• 9:45 PM (arrive 11:45)
• 11:30 PM (arrive 1:15) – new service
  

Chicago to Milwaukee (runs that were eliminated highlighted in red)

• 6:30 AM (arrive 8:25) – new service
• 7:00 AM (arrive 8:55)
• 9:30 AM (arrive 11:05)
• 11:30 AM (arrive 1:25)
• 3:00 PM (arrive 4:55)
• 5:30 PM (arrive 7:25)
• 9:30 PM (arrive 11:25)

Effective Megabus and Amtrak Schedule – Milwaukee to Chicago (as of December 1st, 2009)

• 6:15 AM (arrive 7:57) – Amtrak – Monday through Saturday
• 8:00 AM (arrive 9:29) – Amtrak
• 11:00 AM (arrive 12:29) – Amtrak
• 1:00 PM (arrive 2:29) – Amtrak
• 1:00 PM (arrive 3:00) – Megabus
• 3:00 PM (arrive 4:29) – Amtrak
• 5:45 PM (arrive 7:14) – Amtrak
• 7:35 PM (arrive (9:04) – Amtrak
• 11:30 PM (arrive 1:15) – Megabus

Effective Megabus and Amtrak Schedule – Chicago to Milwaukee (as of December 1st, 2009)

• 6:00 AM (arrive 7:29) – Amtrak – Monday through Saturday
• 6:30 AM (arrive 8:25) – Megabus
• 8:25 AM (arrive 9:54) – Amtrak
• 10:20 AM (arrive 11:49) – Amtrak
• 1:05 PM (arrive 2:34) – Amtrak
• 3:00 PM (arrive 4:55) – Megabus
• 3:15 PM (arrive 4:44) – Amtrak
• 5:08 PM (arrive 6:45) – Amtrak
• 8:05 PM (arrive 9:34) – Amtrak

Service quality also seems to be a growing issue, as Megabus appears to frequently leave riders in the cold as to how long a delay will be (despite having a text messaging system in place that has never once been used in a delay I have been part of). Chicago Now blogger Glenn McBridge has a great breakdown of his experiences, which have been remarkably similar to mine it appears, noting that Megabus is great 50% of the time and that you get what you pay for.

We’ll let you know when and if Megabus adds more service out of Milwaukee again.