Megabus.com, part of the Scottish-based luxury bus company Stagecoach Group, on Tuesday added a top deck to its New York-to-Washington service when its first double-decker arrived at Metro Center carrying 79 passengers.
It was the first of 18 buses to expand the company’s fleet in the Northeast. The company operates routes between New York and seven cities in the Northeast and Canada, including Boston, Philadelphia and Toronto. Seven more buses will begin operating out of New York by the end of July, said Coach USA Senior Vice President of Operations and Safety Don Marmichael.
The sleek blue bus, with two rows of tinted windows, increases passenger capacity 40 percent. But with the same engine size as its smaller 55-passenger cousin, it also increases fuel efficiency by 25 percent, Stagecoach CEO Brian Souter said. It takes just 4 pints of fuel per person to get a full bus from New York to Washington.
When Mr. Souter, 54, began his first job as an 18-year-old conductor aboard a red double-decker London bus, he never dreamed the company he would start in 1980 with only two buses would take in 2007 revenue of $3 billion with $350 million in net profits.
But the son of a bus driver said his company is succeeding so wildly because it is tapping into a market segment not typically drawn to bus travel: a modern, tech-savvy crowd of young people, especially women, looking for cheap travel methods. Even the elderly enjoy the comfort and safety - every seat is equipped with seat belts - of the smooth ride, he said.
“We think there’s a whole market of people out there that we can plug into,” Mr. Souter said. “Our client base is predominantly younger people and older people, as well.”
Only 18 inches taller than some single-level charter buses, the double-decker bus was built according to European specifications, Mr. Souter said. Its design gives it a low center of gravity, making it a safe ride. Passengers can access the Internet with the on-board Wi-Fi and they can watch movies on flat-screen HD televisions mounted on the walls. And tickets, sold through an on-line lottery, start at $1, with the average ticket price out of New York costing about $11.
“I’m very passionate about public transport,” Mr. Souter said. “I think it’s a product of the future.
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