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Follow TURFVonlane the new luxury version of MegaBus
A quicker way for ordinary citizens to head to Austin to advocate on behalf taxpayers? I think not. Why do I sense lobbyists will use this more than ordinary citizens? Somehow I visualize attendants handing out those moist, heated linens to wipe your delicate fingers after a meal like flying first class. Us ordinary Joes take MegaBus...Vonlane offers an alternative so the elites don't have to mix with lowlife taxpayers.
Vonlane will start Dallas to Austin runs in premium buses
By TERRY BOX
Automotive Writer
Dallas Morning News
April 21, 2014
A premium bus service will start in Dallas next month with routes to Austin in vehicles configured like corporate jets.
The service is aimed mainly at business travelers.
Vonlane, a new company based in Dallas, will offer full-size buses equipped with 16 leather seats.
It will offer complimentary food, drinks and Internet service, as well as a conference room, shoe-shining service and even toothbrush kits.
Each bus will have an attendant onboard to serve passengers, closets for hanging coats and no baggage fees for up to three bags weighing 50 pounds or less.
Tickets will cost $100 each way, and Vonlane will compete primarily with Southwest Airlines, founder and president Alex Danza said.
“Our whole focus is to give productive time back to business travelers,” said Danza, who owns 70 percent of the company along with another main investor. “This is a radically different level of service than you get at Megabus or Greyhound.”
Most full-size buses seat 56 people. Vonlane buses will put a premium on space, offering only 16 seats — and no middle seating.
“For half the cost of air fare, we will give people first-class service,” Danza said.
The business will cater primarily to professionals such as lawyers, accountants, lobbyists and others who bill their time and expertise.
Vonlane intends to make the Dallas-Austin trip, which is about 200 miles, in three hours, and Danza says all of that can be productive time.
“When you take into account the drive to the airport, looking for someplace to park, standing in line at security and all the other hassles, you might have 30 minutes of productive time on a flight to Austin, and the whole process takes three hours or more,” he said.
The first bus will depart at 6 a.m. May 5 from the Wyndham Hotel at 3300 Mockingbird Lane near Love Field, and should arrive at around 9 a.m. at the Hyatt Regency on Barton Springs Road in Austin.
Return service to Dallas starts at 10 a.m. with four departure times from each city per day.
Danza, 40, who has a background in the chauffeured-services business, said he has worked on the Vonlane concept for nine months.
He described himself as a “million-plus-mile business traveler who is really tired of flying.”
Vonlane will begin service with two buses, five drivers and five attendants, and it intends to buy two more of the $700,000 vehicles in September, Danza said.
It plans to expand in the months ahead with routes to Houston and San Antonio.
More information on the service is available at vonlane .com.