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Author Topic: Greyhound buses. Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 04-11-2008 02:06 PM                     Anybody have any experience of them? Are they any good? Reliable?  |  IP: Logged Jennifer Pan THE JEN! Posts: 1219 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: Nov 2003 posted 04-11-2008 02:34 PM                        If you want to ride with smelly people, and be a smelly person yourself... SURE! Also having the bus break down or have a flat tire... or having to detour and get lost. Not to mention the bus being delayed several hours so you have to take a different bus.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-11-2008 02:43 PM                     My experience with GreyHound has been positive as a rule  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 04-11-2008 02:48 PM                        I have had excellent experience traveling on the Greyhound Bus. I try to sit up front where I can view the sites out the front window.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-11-2008 02:55 PM                     They just opened a brand new terminal here in Salt Lake City. Its pretty nice and the location is optimum for the "Greyhound" folks in SLC... away from any LDS Church stuff. The good part for those riding Greyhound is that the terminal is right next door to Amtrack and the light rail stops right in front of the terminal. Hence the Greyhound folks can still make their way to the Temple stuff. The downside is that alot of the SLC street bums hang out over there..... . I've never ridden Greyhound and don't desire to but it can't be any worse than the bus ride they show in "Planes Trains and Automobiles". Amtrack is another story. Ridership is way way up with most trains leaving town full these days but the train is also alot of fun and the ride between SLC and Denver is one of the most spectaculuar rides one can take. The dining car food is normally above average and is prepared fresh for you. Highly reccomended! Mark  |  IP: Logged Stephen Furley Film God Posts: 3059 From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England Registered: May 2002 posted 04-11-2008 03:07 PM                     I'm thinking of spending a few days in Chicago later this year, and I'd prefer not to fly, so it comes down to Amtrak or Greyhound; It's a longer journey than I've ever made by either mode of transport. Sitting for long periods can be a problem; how often does Greyhound have 'leg-stretching' breaks?  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-11-2008 03:20 PM                        One of the big complaints about the bus service is that they stop in every dinky little town, so stretching your legs shouldn't be a problem. A friend of mine rode the Greyhound from West Yellowstone to here. (About 350 miles) He said he could have easily driven home and back to West Yellowstone in the time it took to make the one way trip, due to all the stops. As always, your own mileage may vary...if you're not pressed for time, the bus is easily the cheapest way to go!  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-11-2008 05:28 PM                        I'd take Amtrak over Greyhound in a heartbeat. Yes, it's more expensive, but the trains and stations are nicer and more comfortable and are more likely to follow the schedule. Trains have cafe cars (and full dining cars on long trips) and don't get stuck in traffic. Greyhound is cheap for a reason. If you need to be somewhere by a specific time, I would avoid busses in general. My experiences with Amtrak have been generally positive, although I think that their prices are higher than they really should be in order to be competitive with car travel (for short trips) and air travel (for long trips). My experience with Greyhound is limited and I hope to keep it that way. The only good part about Greyhound is the price, as far as I can tell.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 04-11-2008 07:05 PM                        Amtrak's passenger trains lease the use of the tracks from freight companies like Union Pacific and as such Amtrak is often subservient to the schedule of higher-priority freight traffic. At least on the west coast. Amtrak trains are often sidelined on the north-south run through CA-OR-WA to make way for freight. I'm not arguing against Amtrak or taking the train, but Amtrak does have occasional scheduling issues. Having said that I'd take Amtrak over Greyhound any day, but both will get you to your destination one way or another.  |  IP: Logged Mark Ogden Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 943 From: Little Falls, N.J. Registered: Jun 99 posted 04-11-2008 07:05 PM                     I second Scott for Amtrak. I take their northeast corridor service whenever I need to go to Boston or Washington, usually several times a year. The newer Acela cars are first-rate (but only a little faster, despite the hype), the older Metroliner cars are, well, older. You'll still get there faster and happier, there are dining and lounge cars, and you can get up and stretch whenever you want. Plus, they need the $$$.  |  IP: Logged Daniel Wright Expert Film Handler Posts: 163 From: Okmulgee, Ok , USA Registered: Oct 2003 posted 04-11-2008 10:15 PM                     I took the Greyhound from Tulsa to Boston last summer. It has good points and bad. It cost me $100.00, the bad was two layovers of about 6 hours each in St. Louis and another in the port authority terminal in New York. Either of which I would not recommend a single female to be in alone. One of the passengers in St. Louis went outside for a smoke and someone tried to sell him drugs. They stopped in a quickie mart type store for a break at about 3 am. Other then that it was McDonalds. You have to transfer your own luggage. So travel lite. The only real problem we had was two women almost getting into a fight in the back of the bus one night. If one had not been restrained by her husband we would have had a nice cat fight.  |  IP: Logged Chris Slycord Film God Posts: 2986 From: 퍼항시, 경상푹도, South Korea Registered: Mar 2007 posted 04-11-2008 10:25 PM                     quote: Daniel Wright The only real problem we had was two women almost getting into a fight in the back of the bus one night. If one had not been restrained by her husband we would have had a nice cat fight. Don't you mean the "problem" was the lack of a cat fight?  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 04-11-2008 11:10 PM                       I will happily NOT recommend Greyhound as I have had nothing but BAD experiences with them. First, it is not a bargain because they stop EVERYWHERE! It takes forever just to get down the road this way. Secondly, their employees can be very rude, lackadaisical, ignorant, and downright shiftless. Many of them don't smile or say thank you, and fairly act like you are an interruption to their day. They are union and figure they by-god don't HAVE to treat you well. It's difficult for them to get fired, so consequently they don't seem to give a . The drivers almost always speed and make unsafe maneuvers on the road, as well. Believe me, I saw them do dangerous stuff around my truck and others, every day, back when I was a driver. But the employees aren't the only bad thing about riding Greyhound, nope... I've been on Greyhounds that had incidents with drunken passengers ("strictly" forbidden, so they say), belligerent rednecks, and one guy who kept hollering about child molestation and how he was going to kill the driver if he didn't stop telling him to shut up! Child Molester was also making threats to other passengers. Do you think the driver put this dude off the ride... or that any other driver did anything to keep us safe? Oh, they'd SAY they were going to do something, put the dangerous people off the bus, but I never saw anyone do anything to keep order on a Greyhound bus. Not very long ago, a driver caused me to miss my connection for home early one evening, by refusing to let me board his bus to Grand Central Station -- saying I had the wrong bus to where I was ultimately headed. I needed to go to Philly, not NYC, says he. Never mind that the tickets and itinerary clearly showed I had the right bus, right gate, and right time! Made no difference to this guy. Well, the ticketing agents at this terminal had already gone for the day, so I had no one who could confirm it for me. Meantime, the guy drives his bus away and I had no choice but to go to the gate he told me to. He was right, I WOULD get home from Philly... BUT NOT FOR ANOTHER 12 HOURS!! I never was so P.O.d! I slept in the little tiny plastic seats of the Philadelphia bus station all night, no money and hungry, with vagrants and drunks running in and out all night; talking to themselves, singing out loud, and harrassing people. Plus, I was very ill from a spinal condition, which was aggravated by the extended rides and then trying to sleep across those damned seats! When I told the employee on duty at the window about the screw up... do you think they did anything to make good on it? I mean, after all, it was their dumb ass driver who'd gotten me into the mess to begin with? She had me fill out a form, so she could give me ONE DOLLAR for a vending machine "meal"!! That episode was the last straw for me and Greyhound. I will NEVER ride with them again. Good luck, if you go.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 04-11-2008 11:23 PM                        Only poor people ride on Greyhound. And poor people are assholes.  |  IP: Logged Mike Olpin Chop Chop! Posts: 1852 From: Dallas, TX Registered: Jan 2002 posted 04-12-2008 12:15 AM                     That's not true, Joe. Some of us just have an irrational fear of flight. I'm considering an Amtrak trip this summer myself! Southwest Chief from Chicago to L.A.  |  IP: Logged

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