NORMAL - Twin City travelers can soon get to Chicago or St. Louis for as little as $1.

Megabus.com will launch two daily trips each to Chicago and St. Louis on Monday from the Amtrak station, 100 E. Parkinson St., uptown Normal.

Customers need to book early to get the $1 seats.

"Tickets go on sale 45 days in advance on the Web site," said spokeswoman Liz Brower. "The closer you get to the travel date, prices go up incrementally. Ticket prices max out at $17 (one-way), so you'll never pay more than that."

The trip will be on 56-seat buses with reclining cloth chairs, reading lamps and lavatories. At this point, however, the company will not be using the 79-seat, double-decker tour buses that it made famous four years ago in Scotland.

"By the end of this calendar year, you will see them," said Dale Moser, Megabus president and chief operating officer. "European culture is much more acclimated to public transportation that we are in America."

Megabus.com was launched in the U.S. in April 2006 and now offers service to 14 cities in the Midwest and seven cities on the West Coast.

From Chicago, Twin City residents could travel to Ann Arbor, Mich.; Cincinnati; Cleveland; Columbus, Ohio; Detroit; Indianapolis; Kansas City, Mo.; Minneapolis; Milwaukee; and Toledo, Ohio.

Moser said the times aren't in synch for hub travel, however.

"This is really a leisure travel service," he said.

The Chicago-bound bus departs at 11:15 a.m., and the return trip to Normal departs at 4:30 p.m. The St. Louis route departs Normal at 7:15 p.m., with a return bus leaving St. Louis at 8:30 a.m. All trips take about three hours.

To book trips, visit www.megabus.com.

Greyhound also offers bus service from Bloomington-Normal.