Megabus or Greyhound (CIN to ATL)
 

A friend and I are planning a trip from Cincinnati to Atlanta and are interested in taking a bus. Neither of us have used Megabus or Greyhound in the past and are curious to know more about them. We are looking to leave on 2/28 in the afternoon and come back 3/4 anytime. Price wise (so far) Greyhound is way cheaper but it is a longer trip. Can anyone give us tips or information on either companies? ANYTHING (and I mean anything) would be helpful!

Thank you!

Put megabus into the search box above, there have been thread on here.

The wheels on them go round and round round and round round and round.

Greyhound may be a longer trip because it stops in lots of places. That is not good. Take the shortest and most direct route. If you love traveling by bus, you can take the ones that stop everywhere.

Try to take a bus that goes as much as possible during the day when you can see the scenery. You will doze off, but that is probably all you will do on an overnight ride and there is nothing to see when you wake up.

The downside of traveling by bus is that they stop where and when they stop, not where you want them to stop. Decent food and decent bathrooms may not be available when you would like. Take sandwiches/picnic/carrot sticks, and a small lysol spray, hand wipes and alcohol rub.

I have taken Megabus from Cleveland to Chicago. I love it.

There is a real benefit if you plan far enough in advance. The first seat sold is $1 and the next few are $5. I went to Chicago last summer for $7.50 RT. If I drove, the tolls are $40RT. The bus has wireless and it will make a stop so people can get a bite to eat. I think Megabus is great.

They did have a major accident in their KC to St. Louis route last summer. I always use my seatbelt and sit on the lower level in the middle of the bus--I noticed that very few of the passengers buckled up.

The Megabus buses I see on the interstate living in Atlanta look much nicer and newer than the Greyhound buses. Megabus has the nicer terminal/station. It is on the Marta line at the Civic Center. The buzz around Atlanta is quite positive about Megabus.

Actually, Greyhound is launching its premium Greyhound Express service on Feb. 14 between Cincinnati and Atlanta. It always operates new buses with a guaranteed seat, free Wi-Fi, extra legroom, leather seats and power outlets, with fares starting as low as a dollar. Advance purchase fare for Feb. 28 is $32 one-way. There are fewer stops along the way, so it takes less time. Your first stop after Cincinnati is Nashville with a 55 minute layover where you can get a bite to eat at the new terminal. The only stop after that before Atlanta is a quick 10-minute stop in Chattanooga. So, no small town stops along the way. You can get more info about it at www.mygreyhoundexpress.com.

1) Looking at the Megabus schedule, there is no afternoon bus on 2/28. It's either 9am or 9pm. One-way fare is $35 or $48 respectively, travel time of 9 hours 5 minutes.

2) Greyhound has numerous departure times with a round-trip fare of $64. Greyhound has 7 buses leaving Cincinnati on the 28th, however 4 of them are 6:30am or earlier. The other options are noon, 2:15 or 9:40pm. Trip time of 10 hours 20 minutes down, 9 hours 35 minutes back (depending on which bus you're one, some are longer).

Based on those two things, Greyhound is slightly cheaper, slightly longer but has more options for departure times.

I don't think it really matters much which one you take, either way it's going to be a long bus ride. Choose the departure times that work best - since you said you're leaving in the afternoon that means you have to take Greyhound from Cincinnati to Atlanta, but you'll have to look at departure times on the 4th and possibly take Megabus back if their times work better for you. Unless you're looking at some discounts, price is virtually the same so schedule should be the deciding factor.

Hi Alykins,

The difference between the two companies is pretty subtle, both offer pretty affordable bus travel to most major cities. In terms of services, Megabus provides express service routes (not really applicable to you), wifi, guaranteed seating, curbside stops and budget fares. Greyhound also has wifi, in addition to plug in areas, extra leg room (great if your a big guy like me), and a rewards program that's handy if you end being a consistent traveler with them. Just depends on what you value.

In terms of your trip, Greyhound would probably be your best bet considering Megabus doesn't have any buses leaving that fit your schedule on the 28th. There is bus that leaves at 12PM as well as one that leaves at 2:15PM,, so you have some options. Both tickets have an estimated travel time of 10 hours and 20 minutes, so a little lengthy, but if you buy them in advance you can get them for pretty cheap, $64 each.

Here is a link:
https://www.greyhound.com/farefinder/step2.aspx

Also just for a heads up, I'm in the beta for this cool new website called Wanderu which basically aggregates all the major bus and train schedules into one searchable list so you don't have to go website by website anymore. Being a big traveler myself, its always helpful to find tools like this that make it easier to try and plan a trip. You should check it out for future reference!

http://www.wanderu.com/

Hope all this helps, and good luck!