You've got $5 in your pocket and nothing to do. The five spot's not enough to get you into a movie theater, but what about Chicago? According to Coach USA's new Megabus.com -- a bus company whose ticket prices begin as low as $1 -- you've got plenty.

The low cost, express and entirely Internet-based booking transportation company has already seen success in the United Kingdom, and now the first United States Megabus.com hub has been established in Chicago. The bus runs between Milwaukee's Amtrak Station and Chicago's Union Station and makes no intermediate stops. The journey takes about an hour and 45 minutes.

"We (opened Megabus.com) here in the U.S. because it has been quite successful in the U.K. for the past two and a half years," says Dale Moser, president and chief operating officer of Coach USA. "By doing some demographic studies, the Midwest market -- Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Detroit -- has a need for an alternative transportation source."

While the U.K. Megabus.com has buses zigzagging all over the country, the U.S. Megabus.com has eight Midwest stops coming off of the Chicago hub: Milwaukee, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Detroit, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and St. Louis.

At the moment, Milwaukeeans can only take a bus to and from Chicago; however, a few of Megabus.com's other cities have buses that make stops in other cities.

Moser says the Midwest will be the test to see how the buses will catch on and if other U.S. hubs will be opened.

There's already been a large response from the public, and with ticket rates beginning at $1 it's easy to see why.

Moser says the best chance people have at getting the most inexpensive seats is by booking early.

"(The price) varies based on the run and the time of day. In every case the highest fare is still more economical than other alternative modes," he says.

Currently, Megabus.com's prices for single passenger tickets to or from Milwaukee range from $1 to $8.

The only way to take advantage of Megabus.com's deals is through the Internet, which Moser says is an innovation in itself.

"Society today goes to the Internet for deals and it's an easy way to book. It's easier than staffing a large call center," he says. "We've taken the latest technology and have taken discount airlines sites, used their technology for a bus operation and it seems to work really well."

Booking a trip on Megabus.com seems easy enough. Go on the Web site, choose how many passengers are traveling, decide where you're headed, select the date and time, pay and you're done.

It seems like a gimmie for the traveler, but there are plenty of perks for the company and its clientele as well.

"From an operational stand point, we know when a bus is filling to capacity of 55 seats instead of a bus pulling up to a station and 70 people are waiting on a bus," Moser says.

One bus may show up and because of lack of seating, people will have to be turned away he says.

Moser says with Megabus.com, people have a guaranteed reservation and passengers will have a seat.

Megabus.com's Web site is megabus.com.