By Addison Martin
The popular and low-cost Megabus will stop running its Omaha to Chicago route in January 2017.
The route stops in Iowa City, so many students and Iowa City residents use the route to get to Chicago, whether it’s to see friends and family or to get to a large airport.
While students will still be able to use the transportation to make it home before winter break, the Omaha World Herald reported that the last routes will run on Jan. 9, 2017, because of shortages of passengers.
However, this route is a common way for students who live or have families in the Chicago area to commute during holidays without having to keep a car around or pay extra for gas.
Megabus did not respond to The Daily Iowan in time for publication.
“I was really angry because there’s been kind of this shift, because they moved the actual Megabus stop from Iowa City to Coralville — that’s really a huge impact for people who rely on walking downtown,” said UI junior Lauren Logsdon, an Iowa City resident.
Logsdon said she has used the Megabus service for years to see close friends in Chicago and to get to O’Hare Airport. She also noted the strain the change puts on families after Megabus moved out of downtown.
“I remember seeing families walking on the side of the road from downtown to get there, at like 3 in the morning, it was wild, and now the complete removal of it of the route as a whole is really unfortunate for people who rely on that route,” she said.
UI junior Noopur Inani has been using the Megabus route since high school to see her family in Chicago.
“I was really sad because now I will have to either drive to Chicago, which is really difficult to find parking when I’m in the city, or I will have to use the suburban express, which only takes me right outside the city,” she said. “It’s really unfortunate that I can’t have a service that literally drops me off at Union Station in the city.”
While students will no longer have the possibility of services through the Megabus routes, other transportation companies such as Greyhound said they will step up if necessary and they will continue to offer their routes.
“Greyhound currently offers four daily roundtrip schedules between Iowa City and Chicago at fares starting as low as $20,” said Lanesha Gipson, the senior communication specialist at Greyhound Lines Inc. “We will continue to monitor ticket sales and assess any increase in demand to determine whether we need to increase frequency along that route.”
While Megabus tickets run as low as $10 if people book in advance, Gipson said Greyhound has special student discounts through its Student Advantages Program.
“We will remain committed to providing safe, affordable, and convenient transportation, offering stellar customer service as well as an overall extraordinary travel experience for students and other customers who travel on Greyhound,” she said.
Both Inani and Logsdon said they would consider using a different service to get to Chicago, even if the price would be a little steeper.
“The thing about Megabus is it as a fairly convenient as far as price goes, and it costs so much for gas money and to park in Chicago,” Inani said. “If there was a service that took me directly into the city, I would absolutely use that.”
