bike2math

My wife was unable to take time off work this year (she needs to save it for visiting a family member who is very sick) so I took my summer vacation on my own. I realized that this would allow me to use Greyhound for a multi-city trip, something my airplane loving SO would never tolerate, so I booked a 1500 mile journey with stops in three cities. Total cost for transportation was less than 200 dollars!! Plus I saved three nights in hotels by scheduling late buses.

I noticed very quickly that things were different from my last long haul bus ride (a decade ago); every bus was full. In fact the last one I was on had three people sitting the isle for two hours of the journey (not sure that was legal but what the heck). A decade ago I remember being able to always snag a pair of seats to myself in the back of the bus, no luck this time!

Of course if I have to sit next to someone who spends the next 12 hours complaining about riding on the Dawg again I'll become homicidal.

I'm looking forward to my business trip on Amtrak next month, I'm curious to see how much that has changed since my last ride. Anyone else taking long car-free trips/vacations this year?

slowjoe66

I think someone like yourself who is excited about riding Greyhound is more the exception than the rule. Most people that I know (myself included) despise the bus, and only use it for a last resort. But hey, more power to ya if you dig it.

Platy

Greyhound holds to its schedule pretty well. Much, much better than Amtrak in most of the USA, actually. It still goes to many small towns. It's super cheap compared to most other transportation.

Compared to air, Greyhound treats you with more respect (i.e., like a human being) and in some ways is more convenient.

It is what it is. What it is not is a luxurious experience.

Riding Amtrak requires serene, saintly patience. Riding Greyhound requires an exceptional sense of humor. I am not kidding. I am thinking of the time one bozo on the bus faked a heart attack so the driver would let him off in a small town between two regular stops (they had an ambulance waiting then the guy walked away).

bike2math

Well: I come from a long line of cheapy cheap cheapskates who grew up learning frugalness and stubborness and best of all good humor in the face of just about anything. My father taught me to shop for value and to only buy precisely what I need and nothing more. This summer I needed to get from Point A to Point B to Point C and back to Point A, without my SO I only needed a bus ticket. I certainly don't think it's for everyone, but I like that there seem to be some people willing to give it a shot now.

Ride Happy

I haven't taken a ride on Greyhound since '66 to visit my aunt and uncle in Midland, TX. However, I believe you when you say they are always packed. I often take the bus here in Houston, and stop to change buses at the downtown transit center. The DTC is two block from the Greyhound station, and on the route Greyhound takes out of downtown, and every bus I see is full. Since I'm car free I'm considering taking Greyhound to Dallas to visit a friend instead of taking Southwest. Call me crazy, but I refuse to take my shoes off at the security checkpoint. I hate being treated like a criminal when the real criminals/terrorists already know how to circumvent our pitiful "homeland security" B.S. They could just as easily carry high explosives on a bus and detonate them in a downtown area or bus terminal bringing down another high-rise, or two, or three.

bike2math

Well it's coming to buses soon as well. When I was in NYC-Port Authority terminal they were frisking people before they got on the buses.

The trip from Houston to Dallas sounds quite reasonable. I'm moving to McAllen soon and with the airline contraction I'm planning on use Greyhound to get to one of the bigger cities when I fly out it looks like it will save almost 200 dollars on most tickets.

Cyclist0383

+ a bizzllionty.

I simply hate HellHound. Urgh.

Cyclist0383

Where is the value of being extremely late to your destination, often without your baggage, after spending many, many, hours on an uncomfortable bus that stinks? There is value and there is cheapness. Greyhound offers cheapness, not value for your money.

bike2math

I was at most 15 min. late with my bags at each leg. I can't remember the last time a plane trip went as smoothly. For greyhound YOU transfer your bags from bus to bus so I have trouble seeing how you could lose your baggage (certainly has never been an issue with me, not a decade ago with lots of bus rides, and not this trip either). I think the airlines could learn something by seeing how well that system works.

Cyclist0383

I've had my bags lost several times on Greyhound. As for being late, how many legs did the trip have? How did the bus smell, how long was the trip, and how much did it cost for the ticket?

bike2math

How? Were they taken out at an earlier stop by mistake? I've had my bags lost several times by various airlines, In fact one was never recovered, so ...

Travel in three separate legs with 1, 0, and 2 transfers; the bus smelled like BO but so did I, quite likely I made the bus smell like BO, (why does it matter how the bus smells? It still gets where it is going smells or not, okay smells like fire might be bad but it didn't ... Incidently if you were standing near me and my bicycle after a commute you'd say it smelled as well ) , trip was 1500 miles and cost 175 (14 day advance purchases and a special deal for the legs between Boston and NYC). The real deal was that if you try and do a three legged journey with an airline they will want a small fortune for it, plus you get the extra violation from security because you are on one-way tickets, with Greyhound you just buy your tickets and get off when you want to stop.