LOS ANGELES Coach USA launched its low-cost, megabus.com intercity bus service on the West Coast last week with the hope that even California motorists will be willing to give up their beloved autos for a bargain and a chance to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality.

The company began serving six major cities San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, Las Vegas and Phoenix from a new hub here.

Dale Moser, president and chief executive of Coach USA and megabus.com, said growing concerns over gasoline prices, traffic and pollution will help drive people to megabus.com motorcoaches for city-to-city trips.

"With more people using megabus.com, fewer out-of-town automobiles will be driving into the city center and adding to traffic congestion and air pollution," he noted. "And, compared to other modes of transportation, bus transport is the most fuel efficient."

Coach USA introduced the low-fare curbside service in the Midwest in April 2006, with roundtrip express runs to eight cities from a hub in Chicago. A little less than a year later, it added five more cities.

Moser said people who live in the Midwest are just as much automobile people as they are in California and many of them have been willing to park their cars for some of their travels and ride the bus. About a half-million people already have ridden the service, with nearly 60 percent of them former car and airplane travelers.

Research last year showed that 45 percent of megabus.com passengers previously traveled by car and 24 percent were former train users. A further 17 percent used to travel by another bus service, while 13 percent are former airline passengers.

Since its debut, megabus.com has proved most popular with women ages 35 to 55 who want to travel to or from Chicago for a few days' leisure, visiting family or friends, shopping, or taking in sights.

megabus.com also is popular with students, young professionals and retirees who have time for leisure travel but don't want to hassle with driving and parking, according to Moser.

Unlike the Midwest operation which is run by Coach USA, the West Coast day-to-day operations will be handled under contract by Coach America.

Moser said since Coach USA sold its West Coach and Southwest holdings early in this decade, it has not had a presence in that part of the county and it felt it would be best to contract with a company already doing business in the area. "We wanted a quality company to do it for us," he said.

According to Moser, the western cities selected for the initial megabus.com service from Los Angeles were chosen because of their size, distance from the hub and potential ridership.

megabus.com will offer four trips daily between Los Angeles and San Diego, with passengers boarding in downtown San Diego at 3888 Beech St.

Moser said each run has a limited number of advance tickets available for $1 each, plus a 50-cent handling fee, and average one-way prices throughout the operation run about $13.

Tickets, which only can be purchased over the Internet, are a maximum of $34.50 to Las Vegas and $38.50 to San Francisco.

Meantime, megabus.com is gearing up to launch new equipment for some of its service in the Midwest double-decker buses. Moser declined to provide details of the plan, but confirmed its in the works and will be officially announced in a few weeks.

The company is purchasing more than a dozen American-specd Van Hool TD925 double-decker coaches for the service. (See related story on this page.)

The West Coach move is expected to be the last major megabus.com expansion for a while, according to Moser. There has been industry speculation the company planned to take its service to the East Coast.

"We plan to work hard to deliver quality service in Los Angeles and enhance over the next year," he said. "Then well see where that takes us."