"In Britain, the publicly traded Stagecoach Group is a transportation monolith, moving 2.5 million people each day on its buses and a full quarter of all U.K. rail passengers on its commuter lines and trams. The company first tried the Megabus idea there in 2003, and the service now links 50 cities in England, Scotland, and Wales—and hooks up with Megatrain—with fares starting at, yes, £1. The company's American division, Coach USA, operates charter, sightseeing, and even school buses throughout the U.S. and Canada. *** Surprisingly, the initial expectations for Megabus in the U.S. were low. At the 2006 kickoff party, held at Chicago's Navy Pier, Moser's boss, a Scotsman, asked the Pennsylvania native to assess their prospects. "I told him, 'We're Americans, we're attached to our cars. That's our identity. It's going to be a challenge, but let's give it a shot,'" Moser recalls as we sit in the Dunkin' Donuts, watching his buses pull up along the opposite curb and depart. " - × × ×