Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.601 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
Originally Posted by launcher
I am going to employ this tactic, as I already have with Greyhound and Peter Pan to get cheaper fares on routes that have "transfers" in NYC - whether same seat or not, those transfers are often cheaper as separate A-B and B-C segments than if booked A-C.
I know you said there is no risk of missing the connection in terms of time -however, what is the boarding and reboarding procedure? Is there a risk of getting outted by the driver for trickery and booted off the bus at Binghamton, or sent off into the standby queue while the legit ticketholders take my seat?
You
are a legit ticketholder.
I used this strategy just last week, and got the roundtrip for $40.50. Even though one Short Line bus is normally used for the entire trip, even "full fare" customers will have two separate tickets, as the NYC-BGM leg is operated by Hudson Transit Lines, and the BGM-ITH leg is operated by Chenango Valley Bus Lines. There is a change of drivers at BGM as well. On the way up from NYC, you can buy your BGM-ITH ticket at NYC (or during the stop at Monticello, as I did) and just stay on the bus. When the new driver comes on, he collects the BGM-ITH tickets from through passengers. On the trip from ITH to NYC, I did have to get off the bus, go into the station, and get my Megabus ticket. The whole transaction took two minutes, and there was no reboarding issue, as the bus was not full. (I even let the ITH-BGM driver know that I was using Megabus from BGM to NYC, and when he radioed BGM to let them know how many through passengers he had, I heard him say that one passenger has to get his ticket in BGM.)
If the bus had been oversold for BGM-NYC, I presume -- but do not know for certain -- that those with a Megabus reservation would be given priority over walk-ups with no reservation.
If you are traveling on a late-night bus when the BGM ticket office is closed, I believe that the bus driver processes Megabus reservations.