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.

Back in '76 I bought an Ameripass, for the bicentennial; $99 got you 99 days of bus travel. I rode from NYC to San Diego, in about a week as I remember, then took Delta back; the horror of the bus ride wasn't worth it. Even then, with unlimited travel and the ability to go wherever I wanted, it was a catch 22. Get to where you wanted to go the quickest, and you had to go on the interstate, which was endless gray ribbon; choose the two lane highways, and be stuck for 20 hours straight with religious crazies, droolers, thieves, and folks who resist daily hygiene.

I did see some great stuff, but I was young; I also had some pretty awful fellow travelers. Seeing as how things have reportedly gotten much worse over the last 30 years, my advice is don't do it.

For short travel, the bus is okay and tolerable. For example, a bus from Los Angeles / Phoenix to Vegas or from NYC / Philadelphia to Atlantic City would be fine (if you were on Amtrak you would have to do this anyway). I would think anything longer than that would be intolerable unless you were under 30 or had a very high level of patience. To save a segment, I would pay separately for the transports to and from / vegas and AC. You'll find that bus trips out of NYC/Philadelphia to Atlantic City are very inexpensive as are bus junkets from Los Angeles to Vegas.

But I think there's been enough warnings to you, Croupier, that the bus, although cheapest, is not the way to go.

Quote: Croupier

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.

I never did but met some people who had--one guy got the names of everyone in the group to make a formal complaint. He said the customer service was terrible, barely one notch above what you might expect if you were an inmate on a prison bus.

Greyhound has be in or on the edge of bankruptcy for 40 years for a reason.

Yeah, Im starting to get the hint. Thanks for all your input people. Ill probably go with boymimbos suggestion of train for the long haul, bus for the short trips.

Lux Bus from Southern California and Anaheim in particular to Las Vegas is a nice way to travel. Greyhound has some good routes between Washington, New York, and Montreal (or Boston).
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Don't discount buses for some short routes. But long routes are not worth it. Even though they aren't very fast trains can be much more comfortable than driving. They are biggest in the Northeast or San Diego to Los Angeles.
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The Empire Builder Amtrak Train from Chicago to Seattle goes through some of the prettiest parts of the country. That train and the Coast Starlight from Seattle to Los Angeles are very popular for sightseeing.
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If you veer down to Mexico there are some excellent buses. It is very competitive and the only economical way to travel. But bus quality is much higher than in the USA (if you go on luxury bus). If you are on a 2nd class bus you often find yourself next to a goat or a chicken.

If you want to consider the Green Tortoise adventure bus tours thats one thing, but not something like Greyhound. The Green Tortoise was a bus operated by hippies in the sixties, now they own buses, youth hostels, camp grounds, etc.

Quote: Croupier

Yeah, Im starting to get the hint. Thanks for all your input people. Ill probably go with boymimbos suggestion of train for the long haul, bus for the short trips.

Not trying to rub it in or make you look foolish, but if there is anyone out there who thought we were not kidding about Greyhound being barely a step above prison transportation:

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC-TV) - Dozens of Greyhound bus passengers were stranded in downtown Memphis Sunday afternoon waiting to get back on the road.

The bus passengers, who had been stranded when a winter storm hit the Mid-South Friday, began to get frustrated by Sunday afternoon.

Clint Allen from Texas was trying to get to Omaha, Nebraska but got stuck in Memphis for four days. He said it was not just the wait that bothered him. It was the lack of communication.

"They won't even talk to you in here," Allen said. "You ask them something and they're real snappy with you."

Allen was also delayed in Dallas, but said the people at that Greyhound station were far more accommodating than in Memphis.

"We got laid over in Dallas and they gave us free meal vouchers there because we were stuck for ten hours," Allen said. "We've been stuck here since Thursday and they won't even help you with a free cup of coffee."

Jimmy Gipson has been stuck for two days and said he needs to be at work Monday morning.

"They're taking buses to Chicago," Gipson said. "Why can't they go to St. Louis or Columbia, Missouri?"

When Action News 5 interviewed another stranded passenger, Cynthia Caponey, a security guard threatened to not let her back inside the station, claiming Greyhound "has that right."

Caponey was trying to get to St. Louis to see her son and grandsons.

"We're all at a loss in there, trying to figure out why we're the only ones not moving," Caponey said.

Caponey was in disbelief at how the security guard treated her.

"Just because I wanted to say something and voice my opinion," Caponey said. "I should be able to, I guess I'm not understanding that."

Despite the security guard's threats, Caponey decided to be interviewed in hopes of getting help for the other passengers.

After the interview, the security guard kicked Caponey out of the station, forcing her to wait outside in the cold for her bus.

"I should be able to talk to who I want to, when I want to," Caponey said.

Caponey said she thinks the Greyhound station in Memphis needs new management.

"It's not just for me," Caponey said, "it's for everybody else who comes through here."

Action News 5 contacted Greyhound, but was told to call back Monday.

Caponey's son made the drive from St. Louis to pick her up from outside the station.

Don't forget the felons who are transferred via bus. Fortunately (?), they are minimum-security folks from one prison to another, in addition to the ones who were paroled or released:
http://current.newsweek.com/budgettravel/2009/06/the_feds_send_inmates_between.html

I'd take the train too. They also have a much better Rewards program - it is easy enough to get enough Amtrak Rewards for another cross country trip if you wanted it (look up the "Slidell loophole" sometime).

Can you explain what the "Slidell Loophole" is? I looked it up but couldn't figure out what it was.

Try http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/13120721-post15.html for an explanation of the Slidell Loophole. Basically, due to the way Amtrak redeems reward points, you can get more travel for fewer points.

I was curious too, so I googled it to find out more. Someone from another forum explains it here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/13120721-post15.html

I have a hard time believing that Amtrak hasn't caught on yet and fixed it, however, the dates on that forum appear to be from within the last month, so it seems plausible.

EDIT: Someone else beat me to the punch.

As I see it, the "Slidell Loophole" is a way for train aficionados to see the country without paying for it. Typically it is used for going to New Orleans. When you book the ticket on Amtrak from the West Coast (San Francisco and northwards), the routing takes you through Chicago and Washington, DC, then down to Slidell (which is one stop east of New Orleans). If you book straight to New Orleans, you go to Chicago and south to New Orleans (missing Washington, DC).

If you are using rewards, normally, a trip to Washington DC is a 3 Zone trip while a trip to New Orleans is a two zone trip. A roomette for a two zone trip costs 20,000 points while a roomette for a three zone trip costs 35,000 points (bedroom is 30,000 vs 50,000). So for a lot less points, you get to spend much more time on the train and see a lot more of the country. That's because Amtrak only cares about your origin and destination. If you happen to travel way out of the way to get there, Amtrak doesn't care.

So the "loophole" is that you get to see alot more of the country using a minimal amount of points (or dollars).

Quote: pacomartin

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.

You're right about that.

However bus service leaves a lot to be desired. Here are some lowlights in reverse chronological order:

The Mexico-Puebla freeway was closed due to flooding (not the bus company's fault), but buses to Puebla were still running. I booked one by phone, asking specifically for an ADO GL bus. I was advised it was best to leave from the East terminal and that the trip wold take 2:40 rather than the usual 2:00. I nearly missed the bus because the ticket was for an Estrella Roja Executive (Estrella and ADO are part of the same corporation), plus the trip took 4:00, plus it went past the North terminal on its way out of town.

Coming back from that fiasco the highway was still closed. This time I was advised to go to the North terminal, which I intended to do anyway. Upon boarding the driver informs us we'd be entering through the East, sigh.

So-called First Class buses in all companies have TVs that show movies. That's fine, but they carry the sound in the PA system rather than via headphones. So if you want to sleep rather than see the movie, you're out of luck.

Of course you can take ear plugs along, right? Right, but they may not do you any good. Once with ADO the volume was so loud even with foam ear plugs it was still too loud. The driver claimed he couldn't control the volume. PLus on that trip the rest room smelled worse than a gas station rest room which hasn't been cleaned for two years. The stench whenever it was used was pretty bad. In a 4.5 hour trip, it got used a lot.

I've had better luck with ETN. That's a deluxe line with wide seats, foot rests, headphones, and the left side has single seats. Even then, though, I've had problems. On a trip leaving at 5 am to Queretaro, the driver had the radio on in the PA. I asked him to shut it off because I wanted to sleep, he claimed it was stuck.

Bus travel is boring and tedious, so on board movies make sense. I never watch them because 1) they're usually pretty bad movies and 2) they are dubbed into Spanish. I loath dubbing passionately. What I can't understand is the sound over the PA. Do the bus lines assume everyone wants to watch the movie? Some of us may prefer to sleep or read. If you want to avoid such auditory abuse, you have to take the deluxe buses which do carry headphones for sound.

Overall I'd rather fly or drive, but the options are not always available.