A new bus service will soon be offered that can bring UConn students and area residents directly from Storrs to New York City. Megabus.com, a city-to-city express bus company, will begin daily service to and from Storrs on Friday, Feb. 18.

Fares start as low as $1.

The service will begin with an interim schedule and those interested can already begin booking travel at www.megabus.com for Feb. 18 and beyond. Megabus was scheduled to begin service at the end of March, when the permanent schedule will be rolled out, but campus and Megabus officials were both eager to bring the service to campus sooner. Megabus.com will offer two daily round trips from its stop on Stadium Road between the Co-op and Gampel Pavilion.

“I am optimistic that we will be able to secure similar express bus service to Boston and other cities from Storrs in the near future,” says William Wendt, the head of Transportation, Parking, and Logistics at UConn. “I’m also confident that these new transit efforts will eventually serve the planned Storrs Center Intermodal Terminal that is part of the Storrs Downtown project, which is moving forward with approvals and federal funding.”

Megabus.com offers riders environmentally-friendly, 56-seat single-deck buses, free Wi-Fi, power outlets, and restrooms.

New Britain-based DATTCO Inc. will operate the megabus.com UConn Storrs route under a partnership arrangement that brought service to Providence, R.I., Hartford, and Amherst, Mass. last year. UConn students and others will also be able to use the service to get into downtown Hartford. Megabus is currently working to get approval for the Hartford stop to be adjacent to the UConn School of Business.

Additional information about the service, schedules, arrival and departure times, and fares is available on the Megabus website.