DALLAS — The wheels on the Megabus will no longer go round and round in Texas.
Earlier this month, the discount city-to-city bus service -- famous for offering fares as low as $1 -- announced that its routes between Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston were to be discontinued as of August 16.
Simultaneously, the company announced that it was also discontinuing as August 16 its bus routes between Atlanta; Charlotte; Durham, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; and Washington, D.C.
At the same time, Megabus also revealed that it was turning over a number of its intercity route operations in the Northeast to partner transit providers Peter Pan Bus Lines and Fullington Trailways.
These announcements come two months after Megabus' parent company Coach USA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order "to preserve jobs, ensure continued service and maximize the value of its businesses."
Even with Texas and other service operations ceasing, Megabus continues to operate out of more than 500 stops across the country.
Initially founded in 2006 as a city-to-city bus service throughout the Midwest, Megabus had already expanded into one of the biggest bus companies in the country by the time it entered the Texas market in 2012.
Along with the discounted fares it offered, Megabus further established its brand among travelers with its free Wi-Fi offerings and its signature fleet of blue, double-decker buses.
Now, 12 years after pulling into the Lone Star State, the brand is hauling off to other climes.
It's an interesting time for bus operations in Dallas-Fort Worth -- even beyond Megabus ceasing its area operations.
In January, the Dallas-based bus travel giant Greyhound announced plans to move out of its Downtown Dallas terminal upon the expiration of its lease in October. At the time, the company said it was working with the City of Dallas to identify a new Dallas terminal, but no new location has been announced yet. It's possible that Greyhound's Dallas future could see the company not operating out of a terminal at all, but rather out of parking lots throughout the region, as Megabus did.
Even intracity bus travel is somewhat in a strange place these days in North Texas as several cities within the service area of Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) have passed resolutions supporting cuts to the funding they contribute to the transit agency's operations.