[adamjernst]

There are a few reasons. First, the Wi-fi only works about 70% of the time even though the buses are new. Second, these fleets have hundreds of buses. It's not clear that mapping a given bus to the schedule it will run is a trivial problem. Clearly that information is already in the dispatchers' and drivers' heads, but is it in a computer system?

Finally, Megabus already has a system that's supposed to send you a text message if the bus is delayed. It never works.

[rgejman]

This hasn't been my experience, but I've ridden BoltBus less than a dozen times. Every time I've had smooth sailing WiFi from beginning to end. In any case, this can be solved via an independent data plan.

I'm not sure how their scheduling works, but certainly they do have some sort of computerized scheduling system. When I called the operator at 8:35 today she put me on hold for ~40 seconds while she, presumably, looked up the status of the bus. I wonder if they don't already have an informal internal service for keeping track of bus status?

[slug]

I can say that I had my share of boltbus, megabus and the chinatown bus companies and although most of the time the wifi works, when it doesn't it's mostly useless to complain. They even have a sign saying that "the driver doesn't know how to fix it".

In spite of this, it's my favorite way of traveling between cities, right after the train system, although I rarely use the latter, since the prices are outrageously high in the US.