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I used to take Greyhound a lot when I lived in NYC and didn't have a car. It was much cheaper than Amtrak and sometimes even more convenient for me. To minimize the chance of getting stuck in traffic, get on the bus so it won't be hitting the highways at rush hour. The crowd waiting at Port Authority for the bus is a bit different than the crowd waiting at Penn Station for Amtrak, but I didn't have any complaints when I traveled Greyhound routes along the east coast originating out of Port Authority. I prefer Greyhound over the Chinatown buses because I like waiting at Port Authority and knowing exactly where my bus will depart, as opposed to lining up on a street corner to load a Chinatown bus.
However, I've had some not so great experiences when traveling via Greyhound in other parts of the country. The worst had to be when I was going from Houston to San Antonio. Someone decided to use the rest room and suddenly the bus filled with a foul stench. A passenger opened the emergency exit door in the ceiling to allow for some ventilation, but it took a while for the stench to pass and I sat in horror wondering if Greyhounds everywhere were so vile. Luckily my experiences in NYC were much much better.
Wife and I took the 'Hound from Dayton, OH to Philadelphia a couple of years ago. Seats were better than I remember from years ago. We felt reasonably safe at their terminals. Our complaint was that they seemed to make us get off the bus fairly often to clean or service the bus. Since most of our trip was at night, this sure cut into our sleep time.
My mom and brother took it a few years ago from Wisconsin to Virginia only because my brother was terrified of flying. My mom said she felt very unsafe and it was such a hassle. It took them twice as long to get here rather than flying. She said sometimes the buses were so full it was hard to find a seat and the people on the bus were unpleasant. She was terrified to go back on it and I offered to even buy her a plane ticket back. I think the trip scared my brother enough as well because the next time he came out here, he took a plane. I'd NEVER go on a Greyhound bus myself and I know my mom said she'll never step foot on one again either. She jokes that its amazing they are still alive, especially the way some of those drivers drove (especially at night through the mountains).
Everything you heard is true, but that's half the fun.
There's an awful lot to be said about life on the margins; it seems like Greyhound is a magnet for every vagabond, traveler, bum, n'er-do-well and tragedy case out there. Of course, that's precisely why I love traveling via such methods (I'm an Amtrak man, myself) but to other, more "sterilized" types, I can certainly understand the aversion they might have towards Greyhound. I happen to find it invigorating. I like being surrounded by people with nothing left to lose.
Great comments LM1. I rode the Big Dog buses across the country a few times in the 1970s, it was a real experience. I've used them for a few shorter trips to get from A to B over the years, but I like trains better for public transportation if available. Our long haul bus transport system in the US is so primitive compared to Mexico. In Mexico, I love to travel around by bus because they have the one of the world's greatest long haul bus transport systems with many competing private carriers along the same routes. Many have routes with very nice luxury buses (if you pay a little extra for the first class ticket). It's a real easy way to get from city to city without having to drive yourself, and you don't have to hassle with a rental car.
You will surely meet some, ah, interesting people on the buses. Good and bad. For whatever reason, I've found that folks feel chattier on a bus that they do on airplanes. I was once stuck on a Greyhound bus next to an elderly man from Michigan who insisted on telling me his astonishingly redneck life story. "So the cops came to arrest my son, but they found my pot plants instead, so I agree to turn in my son if they wouldn't arrest me. My son then slashed my tires."
You will surely meet some, ah, interesting people on the buses. Good and bad. For whatever reason, I've found that folks feel chattier on a bus that they do on airplanes. I was once stuck on a Greyhound bus next to an elderly man from Michigan who insisted on telling me his astonishingly redneck life story. "So the cops came to arrest my son, but they found my pot plants instead, so I agree to turn in my son if they wouldn't arrest me. My son then slashed my tires."
Mississippienne, I think ya got material for a potential bestseller in that trip; either that or a great country song...
Some of you have more patience than I. My one Greydog trip was from Modesto, CA to Reno, NV and for me that was too long,stopped in every drink water enroute
I normally like the type of people who ride Greyhound... but not drunk, stinky ones.
My train experiences have been much better. I met a woman on the way from Boston to Chicago who was taking Amtrak all the way from Philadelphia to Las Vegas and back. She got on in Philly, changed trains in NYC, got onto my train in Albany, and then changed trains to a different one in Chicago. She was in her 70s and told me her life story between Albany and Chicago. She didn't mind flying, just loved taking trains! She was a Jamaican nurse who had raised 4 kids in the projects only to have them all graduate from Ivy league law, business, and med schools and since then she has traveled the world on their dime. :P
Then from Chicago to Nebraska, I sat with a girl my age. It was her first time out of Michigan and she was going to Western Nebraska to dig ditches along the side of the road for a highway project. It paid enough for her to get out of debt and to help support her one year old son who was splitting his time between her mother and the baby's father. She was a really sweet girl who had made some poor choices and now was digging in her heels to make it right and I wish I had gotten a contact number or email address for her before I got off the train... I'd love to know how she's doing now.
a few years back my wife took a bus from Minnesota to Pensacola FLA to visit our son (who was in the Navy) daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
I was intrigued by the stories of all the "characters" my wife encountered on the bus. (a lot more "intruiged" than she was. )
The major complaint the wife had was it seemed the only food stops were McDonald's and to this day the wife gets furious if I even joke about stopping there. Any other fast food is OK-------but I guess she saw enough McDonald's and tasted enough McDonald's on that long bus trip to last her a lifetime.
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