Megabus.com's short-lived run in Los Angeles was what one critic called a megabust, and loyal fans are taking its final departure pretty hard.
The ultra-cheap bus service, which rolls out of town for the last time Sunday, had a devoted, albeit limited, following and had been gaining a steady stream of new riders -- though not quite steady enough. In online reviews and message boards, they raved about the clean and roomy buses, shared stories of their experiences and offered tips on how to obtain the lowest fare: $1.
Now they're lamenting the abrupt exit.
"My friends and I are all in mourning," Jan Brown of Van Nuys wrote on Yelp.com.
Brown, 66, became an early enthusiast, riding the bulky blue-and-yellow buses five times to San Francisco and Las Vegas. She loved the convenience and cost, she said, and talked it up to "anybody who would listen."
One-way fares started at $1, plus a 50-cent booking fee, and the highest price for a ticket to San Francisco was $39.
"People would say, 'Are you crazy? There's no such thing,' " recalled Brown, who works at an animal shelter. "It was just such a fabulous deal."
A subsidiary of Paramus, N.J.-based Coach USA, Megabus said last month that it was shutting down its Los Angeles hub because of low ridership, less than a year after launching the service. Despite the bargain fares, the 56-seat buses would sometimes leave Union Station with just a few riders.
"Megabust," said Bart Reed, executive director of the Transit Coalition, a Southern California mass transportation advocacy group. "It was kind of a good concept but it wasn't carried out."
Megabus entered the Los Angeles market last August, with daily service to San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Las Vegas, San Diego and Phoenix. Stops in Millbrae and San Ysidro, both in California, were later added.
Company officials predicted that Southern Californians would try an express bus to escape rising gasoline costs and congestion, and that people concerned about the environmental effect of driving or flying would appreciate the bus alternative.
But within months, Megabus began offering fewer trips and canceling routes, until only San Francisco and Oakland remained.
"It's really unfortunate," said Stefanie Cheng, 19, a student at Santa Monica College and a first-time Megabus rider who traveled to the Bay Area last week. "I was like, 'No, why are they shutting down? I just found out about this!' "
