The Chainlink

Taking Bike on MEGABUS

Hi All:

I have never taken MegaBus, or any long transit bus before but am traveling to Wisconsin Dells next week and the 175 miles via bike in one day seems ominous; thinking of Megabus-ing to Madison, then biking to the Dells.

The MegaBus website says, "no bikes" on buses.

Anyone had any experience with this? I have no problem boxing and assembling the bike, just do not want to be turned away at bus stop. Can't bring bike travel case since I would have to carry it after getting on bike.

Any advice/experience would help greatly.

Thanks in advance.

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Permalink Reply by payton on October 22, 2009 at 12:44am
Jen has the right idea here. Otherwise, you can check your bike as baggage (or even have Amtrak ship it) to Lacrosse, and then go to the Dells from there.

I've done a folding bike on Megabus several times; they do require a bag.

Amtrak baggage is among the cheapest ways to ship something from A to B, provided that you can pick up or drop off at staffed, baggage-accepting stations at A and B. They'll even hold the bike box for your return trip, and their boxes are quite roomy and thus easy to pack into.
Permalink Reply by Kevin Mulcky on September 12, 2010 at 7:01pm
I just took my bike on the megabus to Kansas City. I packed it in a cardboard box, although not a "bike box." Megabus staff didn't bat an eye.

Also from the PGH Bike forum there's a message from megabus that I printed off just in case I ran into any problems. Scan down about halfway to see the statement from megabus.

http://bike-pgh.org/bbpress/topic/megabus
Permalink Reply by oncewasenough on September 12, 2010 at 10:38pm
When I traveled via Amtrak with my bike it was such a hassle. The attendant was irritated I had a bike and didn't help me load it on the train up the narrow, steep stairs, and they had me put it inside the car, in front of my seat, in the space usually reserved for passengers with wheelchairs. It fell over on me about 3 times due to the swaying car. I've had many crappy train rides but that was one of the worst.

My megabus experience was a bikeless one but the bus was delayed over 3 hours, was about 58 degrees inside due to an air conditioning malfunction, and the trip from St. Louis to Chicago took almost 9 hours. Good luck to you!

I suppose since I rarely take public transportation my tolerance for it has lessened.
Permalink Reply by heather s on September 13, 2010 at 10:55am
Matt M. got it right. Just take the Van Galder. http://www.coachusa.com/info/vangalder/ss.toolkit.baggage.asp
You can bring it boxed up or fully loaded.

There's no reason to have to wonder if you'll get a lenient driver or the luck to get a mostly-empty bus, or to sweet-talk or tip the conductors into letting you bring on your bike. Getting to Madison with your bike doesn't need to be complicated.

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