Greyhound Buses

I was planning a cross country trip around the US and was planning to use Greyhound buses as opposed to car rental.

Has anyone taken a long distance trip on a Greyhound, or has anyone any experiences of cross country trips without a car?

THanks in Advance

Craig.

My experiences were quite a while ago but bus travel has gone downhill since then.
I would not recommend it based on what I have heard.

The bus is not as cheap as you think. Especially if you have two people. I don't know anyone who has taken a long distance bus ride in the US. Usually it is strictly people who don't have any credit and can't rent cars.
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It is unfortunate. Mexico has a highly developed bus system. The best class of bus has only 25 seats. Many middle class people take buses, but then tolls are very high there. There are only two specialty trains left in the country that carry passengers (maybe 3).

Well, I have experiences on buses from my days early in University and must say that is an awful experience. Because buses are the cheapest way to travel, buses attract low-lifes. It is not comfortable. On the other hand Greyhound offers the most stops and destinations (including Canada and part of Mexico) and the Discovery Pass (at $399) for 30 days is a great deal.

On the other hand, Amtrak (the train) I believe is far more comfortable and is a bit faster. The cost of a 30 day pass is $579 and allows you to travel 12 segments. It's no EuroStar mind you, and Vegas and Atlantic City is serviceable by Amtrak "bus" service. You can walk around the train. You'll dine in an actual dining car serving regional cuisine. The people on the train tend to be more friendly. You'll have to plan your trip a bit more with Amtrak.

These are the things I needed to know. I know next to nothing about the Amtrak system service so its definately something Ill look into. Thanks.

Croupier,

Greyhound is sadly not the National Express. Amtrak also offers a 15 day pass (8 segments). Though the Amtrak is far from perfect, between it and the Greyhound, it is luxury.

The National Express aint all its cracked up to be, but the price is what makes me take it. The trains here are far too expensive for certain journeys, so I take the National Express. Comfort isnt my priority. But thats why I was asking, to find out about these things, from people that know.

Well to serve as my comparison, I've taken the National Express from Gatwick to Cambridge several times. It averages 4-5 hours or so. Similarly, I've taken Greyhound from Boston to New York, which has a similar length of service (though longer distance). I found the reliability of the National Express coaches much higher in terms of seat availability and punctuality.

The buses themselves are quite similar, and some of the newer Greyhound coaches are a bit comfier than the older models.

I think the issue really boils down to the service itself, as Greyhound terminals can be scary places, and they have a policy of overbooking all their routes, so seating is far from guaranteed, especially when travelling from one large city to another. It is doable, but I would advise against it if not travelling between major city pairs served by a somewhat direct route as buses generally speaking are quite infrequent. That's my .02

Thanks. I Was mainly considering it for transferring between major cities. I was hoping to tour from East Coast to West Coast, via places such as New York, Atlantic City, Philly, Nashville, Memphis, San Antonio, Albuquerque, Vegas, LA, San Fransico with maybe a few other random stops in between, and spend about a month (30 days) doing it.

Please don't take the bus for these journeys. Take the train. You'll appreciate America much more. Spend the extra $150 and take Amtrak.