Patsaouras Bus Plaza — Local services in Los Angeles

I first found out about Megabus through a Twitter feed announcing that they had promotional fares from LA to SF or LV for $1/trip (plus 50¢ transaction fee). To my astonishment Megabus had previously operated out of LA but stopped service because of revenue.

I'm not one to pass up a good deal when I see one - especially with gas prices as they are (as of this review $3.69/gal). So, I booked two roundtrips to Las Vegas for a total of $4.50! In my haste of booking a trip, my outbound departure turned out to be 12:15 a.m. and not p.m. as I had originally wanted (this turned out to be OK).

Tips for day of trip and Megabus etiquette:

Arrive about 30-45 minutes before your departure (bus departs from the Busway at Union Station on Ramirez and Vignes)

Representatives from Megabus do not arrive until 15 minutes before departure so there is no line - however, proper etiquette is that the order you arrive should be the order in which you check-in and consequently board the bus!

Go paperless (use your smart phone to show your confirmation number to the person checking you in)

Allow ANY person with a physical disability to board the bus first regardless of order of arrival. I witnessed the most disgusting thing where a family of 14! pushed through to board first before a visually disabled couple - despite this family having arrived late. Yuck!

Seating is not assigned. The most leg room on top deck is in the front. All seats are equipped with power outlets. Megabus touts free Wi-fi, however, on my trip it was not working properly outbound; it was here and there on my return trip.

Both of my trips were on schedule; while some of us can get to LV in 3.5 hours this trip will take approximately 5.5 hours which includes a pick up stop in Riverside and a 30 minute break in Barstow. This was OK with me and my traveling partner as we both concluded that taking the Megabus not only saved us gas $$ but also spared us the anxiety of driving in traffic. Our 12:15 a.m. departure turned out to be the best because we got some sleep on the outbound trip.

On arriving at the South Strip Transit Terminal you have a couple options to get to the strip: Arrange for your own pick-up Take the local bus ($6/2 hour pass or $8/24 hour pass) Take a taxi - If you take a taxi it will be about $8 to Mandalay Bay or $17 to Harrah's. If you are traveling with more than one person take the taxi and split the cost. The information booth will give you numbers of taxi co. you can call.

So, would I use Megabus again at their...

I think I prefer MegaBus over Bolt...Still not certain though. Took Megabus to the bay and it was a cheap ride but very long ride. Took about 7.5 hours give or take. We left at 7pm and got to SF at like 2am. I got my tickets a week in advance and had to pay more about $47 one way.

The Pros-

CHEAP! If you get it months before your depature date you can get fares as low as $23 one way. They always have promotions and deals so you can even get tickets for $1.

Boarding is based on when you get to the train station not by when you purchased your tickets. There was a little check-in desk where you showed your reservation number and the attendant handed you a card with a number for loading. Pretty simple.

I liked that it was double decker. Allowed for seemingly more space. The bottom had 4 chair seating facing each other for parties wishing to converse with each other perhaps play some hand games with each other.

The bathroom was downstairs. So if you wanted to escape the putrid smell of fecal matter than you have a place to go.

We had a very informative driver. He let us know stop break times and locations and what time we were leaving. Everything was clear and concise so I knew how much water to sip in between stops.

We arrived and left on scheduled time.

Cons- Wifi is spotty - Don't expect to stream your Netflix but Instagram and Facebook worked just fine.

Power outlets on each seat but I had the unfortunate luck to pick the only seat on the bus without a working power outlet. Look for a lit-up orange light that indicated power.

Driving was fast and aggressive, certainly felt like I was going to die multiple times.

EXTREMLEY car sick. Sitting up top you will feel a lot more of the shakes and bumps so beware if you have a fragile tummy.

Overall inexpensive compared to flying just...

I took the megabus up from LA to Oakland last year during labor day weekend for $39. The fee is only 50 cents per transaction.

When we arrived, there was a huge crowd waiting at Union Station Bay 8. No way could all these people be going to Oakland!! Everyone seemed a bit confused. We thought we were waiting in the right area because other people next to us were waiting for the Oakland megabus. It turns out some people were waiting for San Francisco, others for Las Vegas... so we thought we were in line for something, but we weren't.

So we head toward the front and find a guy checking in people. There's no clear line, everyone is just handing out their reservation papers to him in random order.

I see a double-decker Megabus for San Francisco and hear that the Oakland Megabus is right behind it. The bus looks pretty cool so I'm kinda excited... but then I see the Oakland bus and it was just like a random white bus o_O No double-decker :( I heard someone say that because of the bay bridge closure that weekend, they had two separate buses for SF/Oakland instead of one... boooo

The ride was pretty shakey. I was able to sleep a little (it was the red-eye) but my friend wasn't. It was pretty cold so make sure you have a sweater or something.

The wifi was too slow to do anything. I had better wifi when we made the 20 minute pit stop at a gas station/mcdonald's and I used the mcd wifi.

Anyways! I still don't feel like I took a megabus since it was a regular bus. It was an OK ride. Easier...