From Ann Arbor to Chicago

At the risk of my blog being converted to a travel tips site, let me write about traveling from Ann Arbor.

Yes, you heard right. Public transportation in US is bad and pathetic in Michigan. That surprisingly surprises people even after knowing Detroit is a car's throw away from Ann Arbor!

Train? Well, yes, Amtrak does run from Ann Arbor but it is WAY too slow, unreliable and costly. It is surprisingly so considering there are really so few trains here. Apparently Amtrak gets the last preference on a track, which means LAST preference! Now that's something. Naturally, you cannot trust its timing - this aint no Europe. Of course it is costly too.

I guess the best way to travel out of Ann Arbor is through Chicago ... to Chicago too. It is a great city - a "real" city quite unlike some in Michigan now :) The most convenient way seems to be the Megabus which is, again surprisingly, not as famous as I initially thought. Greyhound? Seriously people?

The one time I did travel from Chicago to Ann Arbor on Greyhound, it took 50% longer. However, the worse part was a longing anticipation of whether there will be seats available on the bus! I was shocked and surprised to know that apparently you can travel Greyhound standing. Wow! If almost always overbook and if you are unlucky (no seat numbers, sorry mate), you go standing. Good luck with that. I heard at least 3 passengers confirm this in the line while we were anxiously waiting to get in at Chicago.

Now back to Megabus. The only time this seems to be running late is when it is snowing. That is understandable. I assume the other modes of transportation will do not better in that weather. I did travel during the snowy season and in fact I was lucky that the bus was an hour late at AA because I arrived half an hour late at the bus stop! The return from Chicago to AA was on a snowy night and the bus arrived over 2 hours late, but it seemed legitimate.

The Megabus also seems to do well with facilities - they have a WiFi on the bus though I don't like to carry my laptop during travel, simply because it spoils the ride for me, IMHO. No, I am not really advertising for Megabus here, but really, they seem to do a good job.

Oh and the better part? You can actually get tickets for as less as $1! No kidding - I did travel from Ann Arbor to Chicago on a $1 ticket, with a 50 cents online registration fees (which in hindsight comes to 50%!) So that's another reason to choose a rare mode of transportation besides your car in here.