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Megabus: You Can Privatize Public Transportation

By on December 9, 2012 in Featured

Photo by jimcintosh

When libertarians and bright-eyed liberals talk privatization, one of the things that the liberals always ask is “how can we possibly privative public transportation?”

One word: Megabus. Megabus is a city-to-city, express bus service. Their regular price for a round trip ticket between Washington DC and New York City is $8 per person. Compare that to a one-way ticket on Amtrack ($80) or Acela Express ($142).

Megabus is giving away 200,000 free seats for travel between January 4 and March 12, 2012.

Economist Mark Perry had this to say about the company:

Megabus is a great example of a competitive, flexible, low-cost (sometimes free), consumer-driven, market-based solution to inter-city transportation that has thrived without any government subsidies, tax breaks or taxpayer funding. Contrast that alternative to government transportation options like Amtrak and high-speed rail proposals that are the opposite: non-competitive, inflexible, high-cost, politician-driven, and not market-based, requiring massive amounts of taxpayer funding and subsidies.

Photo by jimcintosh.

bus public transportation

Business Opportunities Weblog editor and publisher Dane Carlson lives in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, just 15 miles from Yosemite National Park. He accidentally became a professional blogger in 2001. He has added 12,203 posts to the site.

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  • http://www.nwwildfoods.com/ Huckleberry Syrup

    A smart way to invest. Nice one Dane! This may insist someone to try.

  • Accountancy Service

    Megabus is a city-to-city, express bus service. This service would be very comfortable and a money saver. This would definitely benefit the consumers.
    http://www.accountancyhere.com

  • Veritas

    While I’m an avid fan of Megabus and think it’s a fantastic service (being a frequent user), the author is conflating two, mutually exclusive issues: public transport and privatization/capitalism. Megabus once provided service from SF to LA for the same low rates. Problem? It folded because there wasn’t enough business to make it lucrative. Public transport isn’t a for-profit endeavor; it is a public service. Should there be low-cost travel between SF and LA? Absolutely. And if Megabus cannot do it, then certainly the government should… for many reasons ranging from reducing fuel emissions (because so many business people use planes to travel up and down the CA coast) to cost effectiveness…

  • http://bestchoicetechnology.com Bloice Davison

    At that price, it seems unlikely that they can stay in business. If they can, it is one more example of private sector of efficiency. Businesses profit and consumers benefit.

  • Aaron Seyedian

    Gee, I wonder who pays for all those nice highways that this glorious private service runs on? The cost of the ticket isn’t the only cost of the ride. If rail travel was subsidized as heavily as our highway system, your argument might make a bit of sense.

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