Provided by Megabus
North American city-to-city bus provider Megabus has abruptly ended its services to and from Houston and other major Texas cities, meaning Houstonians will have to turn to other providers for interstate bus transit.
“Unfortunately, Megabus had to make the difficult business decision to discontinue our service to/from Texas,” VP of Commercial for Megabus Colin Emberson said in a press release. “We are still offering trips to more than 500 cities in North America and we’re always looking for opportunities to provide new routes in the future.”
Megabus announced on its website that all services to Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston would be discontinued as of Aug. 16. The company also apologized for any inconvenience and said customers who had already purchased prescheduled tickets would be contacted and refunded. Other routes across the country were also canceled, including services between New York, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington D.C.
Mustafa Tameez, a representative for Transportation Advocacy Group Houston, said the sudden suspension of Megabus in Texas would leave vulnerable Texans with even fewer transportation options.
“Commuters, again, are left stranded holding the bag for what looks like a private equity purchase,” he said. “Consumers are going to have to find their way [into] the big cities. … So many of them have just counted on this service for so many years.”
In early June, Coach USA — the parent company of Megabus — commenced voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings in a District of Delaware U.S. Bankruptcy Court, according to an announcement.
“As we move through this process, our top priority remains safely carrying the millions of passengers who choose our buses each year and working closely with our valued contract customers and transportation agency partners,” Coach USA CEO Derrick Waters said in a statement.
On Aug. 14, the parent company announced via a press release that the bankruptcy court had approved the acquisition of Megabus Retail by Bus Company Holdings U.S., LLC, an affiliate of The Renco Group — a private holding company based out of New York City.
According to PR Newswire, all of Megabus’s intellectual property and retail operations are expected to be a part of the transaction.
Before Coach USA announced its bankruptcy, the company said it operated 2,250 vehicles, and more than 2,700 employees across 500 U.S. cities. Megabus was founded in 2006 and began service in Houston in 2012.
At the time of publication, Coach USA did not respond to a request for comment on how many, if any, employees were laid off due to the termination of services in Texas.
Texans still hoping to travel within the “Urban Triangle” of Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas via bus still have several options. Transit company Red Coach still operates routes to and from Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Waco and College Station. Flix Bus — a Munich-based company that bought Greyhound in early 2023 — also still offers services throughout Texas.
With the exit of Megabus from Texas, Tameez said he hopes other businesses set up to fill the gap in the market.
“Whether [it’s] the bus companies or the rail or even just Southwest Airlines — and other airlines that connect our big hub cities — consumers still have to travel in between these big economic engines and we need support from the private sector as well as the public sector to make sure those options are available and available soon,” he said.
One of the communities most likely to be affected by the end of Megabus is university students, Tameez said.
“The biggest consumers of Megabus were students, people that weren’t able to afford the airlines,” he said. “Those consumers are left stranded with that kind of devastating announcement on a very short time turnaround. This was an economical way to go see your family, to go to college and even go for work purposes, to go other places seeking opportunity. Those people are the ones that are left holding the bag with this private equity acquisition and this horrific liquidation.”
