BRATTLEBORO — There's a new transportation option in Brattleboro.
On Sept. 7, Megabus.com, an intercity express bus company, added a Brattleboro stop to its daily Burlington to New York City route.
Southbound buses now depart from the Transportation Center on Flat Street at 11:45 a.m., with stops at the Hampshire Mall in Hadley, Massachusetts, Columbus Boulevard in Hartford, Connecticut, and Union Station in New Haven, Connecticut, before arriving at the Port Authority terminal at Seventh Avenue and 27th Street in New York at 4:45 p.m.
Northbound buses depart from New York at 11:45 a.m. and arrive in Brattleboro at 4:45 p.m., with stops in New Haven, Hartford, and Hadley before arrival at the Transportation Center.
The northbound bus stops in Montpelier at 6:45 p.m. before arriving in Burlington at University Place at 7:30 p.m.
“We're really excited about starting this service,” Sean Hughes, Megabus's director of corporate communications, said last week from his office in Paramus, New Jersey. “We've only been here a week, but the response has been good.”
Hughes said the Brattleboro stop was a logical addition to an already existing route. “It's a good connection point to our other routes.”
There are no other plans for service from Brattleboro to other cities, Hughes said. “We're waiting to see how this stop works out.”
There is no Megabus ticket office at the Transportation Center, so riders have to go online to reserve seats on the bus. Ticket prices start at $39, one-way, to New York.
The double-decker buses seat up to 81 passengers, with free wi-fi and restrooms available. The buses are also wheelchair-accessible.
Megabus is a subsidiary of Coach USA. It was launched in 2006, and the company says it has served more than 50 million customers in that time. It operates service between 120 major cities in North America.
Brattleboro continues to be served by Greyhound, which offers one daily bus between its stop at LiptonMart on Canal Street, and Boston and New York City.
The southbound bus leaves Brattleboro at 10:10 a.m., and stops in Springfield, Massachusetts, at 11:30 a.m., for those wishing to transfer to another bus to Boston. It later makes a stop in Hartford, before arriving in New York at 3:30 p.m.