Megabus (Las Vegas to Los Angeles)
The bus was ready around thirty minutes before departure time, although we couldn’t board for around another fifteen minutes. The temperature in Las Vegas by this time was hot, so at least there was a canopy to stand under. The process seemed a bit long-winded to board with the driver telling everyone they couldn’t sit in some of the downstairs seats, but nearly everyone was heading upstairs anyway.
However, on arrival upstairs, a problem emerged. The bus was like a sauna, which was helpfully noted by the driver when she passed through the coach to count everyone. However, despite some complaints, the driver said that the policy was that the coach drivers were banned from idling by the company. I’m not sure why Megabus have come with this solution, but it wasn’t entirely comfortable for the fifteen minutes or so we were waiting.
Yet again, like my last Megabus trip, there was someone trying to pay on boarding. There was some discussion about this before the passenger gave up and said they’d try and book on the next bus, although that was around seven hours away.
The inside of the coach. Megabus are very proud that they have their own entertainment system for passengers, they e-mailed me twice about it and it was also on the booking e-mail. However, the wi-fi on the coach didn’t work, which was most inconvenient, which of course meant that the entertainment system also failed. I was less concerned about this than I had no access to e-mails or anything else during the five hour journey.
I thought that the lack of wi-fi would be solved by the bus’s stop during the journey. This has always been a McDonald’s, which is very convenient as it allows for not just the purchase of food, but also the use of the restaurant’s wi-fi. However, since my last trip on this journey Megabus has moved to Love’s, a petrol station which charges customers for wi-fi. They had food at the Chester’s Chicken which is part of Love’s, but this didn’t have wi-fi no doubt as Love’s policy to charge for everything they can. In irritation I refused to buy anything and was pleased I had snacks and drinks from Walmart….. The state of the toilets in Love’s was also unsatisfactory, so hopefully Megabus will move to somewhere rather more suitable again in the future.
Oh, and the bus driver counted everyone and realised someone was missing. She ended up running inside to find the passenger and it transpired they’d decided to stay in the petrol station and not continue with the journey. It didn’t occur to them to perhaps tell the driver that, but I have to give credit for the driver noticing, they don’t usually count everyone.
Photos from the journey, which went through some marvellous scenery. It wasn’t of course quite as impressive as the Grand Canyon scenery from the previous day, but nonetheless, the wide expanses provided excellent views which passed the time given the complete lack of wi-fi.
The driver was always friendly and the quality of her driving was excellent, the journey was smooth and we also arrived a few minutes early. This normally wouldn’t make much difference, but on this occasion it allowed me to catch the Pacific Surfliner to San Juan Capistrano. Given that my ticket also only cost $1 the value for money was of course excellent.
And one more comment, just for Dylan, this means that I’m in California!!!!!