Port Charlotte, FL, Thruway Bus "station"?

[Austruck]

Wow, a table on board the bus. Who knew?

I know! I had no idea! And cup holders! And a tidy little restroom in the very back. And Wi-Fi. It was entirely pleasant for a bus experience. 

 

[Rail Freak]

Megabus actually has tables on the lower level of many busses. It's really not all that rare.

I have taken this bus (route) on all my departures & returns from/to home. I've never seen this! Maybe it's something new (at least since I've taken the Silvers. Most of my trips, I fly between Denver,Portland or Albuquerque & Tampa!)

 

[Triley]

Of course, the bus driver has no way of knowing how far in advance you've arrived at the curbside stop. But in some cases, the driver may decide to leave early if all ticketed passengers are on board and there is some sort of traffic problem lurking up ahead...leaving a few minutes early may keep the bus on-time further down the line. This should be the exception rather than the rule, however.But assuming the bus has left previous stops on time, or close to on time, there is a hypothetical limit to how early the bus will show up. If you are comfortable with your knowledge of the location, there's really no reason to show up more than 15 minutes in advance, but allowing 30 minutes is probably a good rule of thumb. Time to get coffee, use the facilities, etc.

Exactly. The Amtrak website always says 30 minutes prior. I'm sitting at a stop waiting on my thruway bus to Seattle right now and I showed up with 11 minutes to spare. I know that from the originating stop it takes 20-25 minutes to drive here (second stop), so no reason to show up 30 minutes prior.
In all fairness I do love fairly close and take an early city bus just in case, then eat breakfast at McDonald's which is less than a 10 minute walk from the stop.