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100 Years on a Dirty Dog: The History of Greyhound (2013)

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Re: 100 Years on a Dirty Dog: The History of Greyhound (2013)

#21

Post by dwighttk »

cafard wrote: post #7

Forty-odd years ago, I rode Greyhound a fair bit. It was before deregulation brought airline fares down. The buses were reasonably clean, not that smelly unless you sat way back by the restroom. I wouldn't care to do it today--the 20-year-old back can tolerate what the 60-year-old back can't, or anyway would rather not. But it wasn't that bad. I would stand at the end of the line for a bus. The worst outcome was sitt…

My travels have tended toward trips that are too long for Greyhound to be an option. NC-TX or NC-MN are more expensive than even non-discount airfare and take more than a day vs less than half a day...

Re: 100 Years on a Dirty Dog: The History of Greyhound (2013)

#22

Post by visiblink »

blululu wrote: post #11

Greyhound: a tour of the worst part of every city in North America. During less lucrative times in my life I used to ride on Greyhound (and Bolt & Megabus) semi-frequently. It is a good deal if you don't mind spending an extra 6 hours waiting around and are willing to risk being decapitated to save ~$50-200 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Tim_McLean ). One thing that I will say is that intercity bus travel…

I'm in Western Canada and Greyhound is gone now. A couple of replacement bus lines started up prior to the pandemic, but I don't know if they've survived.

I never had a problem with the depots, though they definitely weren't classy places. If you knew the towns along the route, it was usually easy to walk to a better restaurant, store, etc.

I continued to ride the bus long after my economic situation improved, because I actually enjoyed it. I met a lot of interesting characters taking the bus. I've heard a lot of "Greyhound stories," smoked a bit of weed with strangers, and found myself in some unexpectedly cool situations. Always an adventure. Air travel is so sterile in comparison.

Re: 100 Years on a Dirty Dog: The History of Greyhound (2013)

#23

Post by jessaustin »

kingkawn wrote: post #9
reaperducer wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But it wasn't that bad I rode Greyhound a few times in the year before the pandemic. Cincinnati to Indianapolis. Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Chicago to Madison. My experience was the same as yours: It's not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. I think people just have a worst case scenario in their minds that keeps them away. I understand that. I feel the same way about airplane travel over the last decade or so.

It’s run of the mill vilification of anything associated with poverty

No, it's not. Greyhound regularly simply cancels trips in order to fill more seats on the next trip over the same route. The result is that people who don't have any other choice end up traveling e.g. for 20 hours instead of 8 as the published schedule would suggest. They wouldn't get away with this if their customers were people whose complaints have the attention of officialdom. I don't really believe the "it would cost more if they didn't jerk you around or if they ever cleaned the terminal" excuse either.

Re: 100 Years on a Dirty Dog: The History of Greyhound (2013)

#24

Post by racl101 »

I used to love riding the Greyhound, ... that is until that beheading in 2008. That was ..... that was ... messed up.

I used to ride that bus to Edmonton too. Hit a little too close to home for me. Never rode the Greyhound again after that. Now every drunk or drug addled person was suspect for me and Greyhounds had no shortage of them.

And ... yes I know the guy was a schizo ... but still.

Re: 100 Years on a Dirty Dog: The History of Greyhound (2013)

#25

Post by dashundchen »

mrjaeger wrote: post #18

I've taken Bolt buses now and again, usually to go from NYC -> Philly, which is kind of a pain by train. Didn't even realize they were a Greyhound brand! I'm not a very finnicky public transit user and while not fancy, the buses I was on were usually pretty clean and spacious. I do wish Americans were more willing to utilize buses, as often times they are a very economic way of getting around (both for the individual…

Yeah in my experience riding Greyhound in the Great Lakes late 2000s-mid 2010s it's not as bad as people made it out to be, if you got a newer bus. Service was frequent and cheap and I never faced a cancellation that wasn't due to snow. Though it may be because the New York - Chicago routes are heavily used.

I would rank it around the same as budget airlines like Spirit. Maybe better because there were rarely infants traveling IME.

Still no public transport beats a train for me, even Amtrak. You can't beat the space and comfort.

Re: 100 Years on a Dirty Dog: The History of Greyhound (2013)

#26

Post by ggcdn »

Frequently rode greyhounds from Vancouver up through northern BC when I was young. About 1/5 rides would have some memorable event. A drunk yelling slurs at no one in particular, a mother screaming at her kids to the point the driver is threatening to call child services if she doesn’t calm down. Police pulling the bus over in the middle of nowhere and arresting someone. These kind of things.

Generally it was only the poorest people who would be riding Greyhounds up north, or those unfortunate enough not able to drive themselves.

Re: 100 Years on a Dirty Dog: The History of Greyhound (2013)

#27

Post by jimmaswell »

The bad reputation of Greyhound bewilders me. I've taken it from NYC to Baltimore (5 or so times that trip), Columbus, and somewhere I forget in NJ. The buses are never dirty, never had an issue with passengers, there are usually outlets to use, and there's free wifi albeit with some services like video streaming blocked. I always found it a good value for the price and it remains my go-to bus service. Maybe crazy things just happen on busses sometimes, Greyhound picked up some cultural momentum for being associated with this through coincidence or more people using it than competitors, and there are 1000 people who had a good ride and didn't post about it for every 1 person with a weird story.

Re: 100 Years on a Dirty Dog: The History of Greyhound (2013)

#28

Post by jimmaswell »

cafard wrote: post #7

Forty-odd years ago, I rode Greyhound a fair bit. It was before deregulation brought airline fares down. The buses were reasonably clean, not that smelly unless you sat way back by the restroom. I wouldn't care to do it today--the 20-year-old back can tolerate what the 60-year-old back can't, or anyway would rather not. But it wasn't that bad. I would stand at the end of the line for a bus. The worst outcome was sitt…

In my experience the seats have always been good and there were lots of people much older than 60 on the bus.

Re: 100 Years on a Dirty Dog: The History of Greyhound (2013)

#29

Post by Symbiote »

blululu wrote: post #11

Greyhound: a tour of the worst part of every city in North America. During less lucrative times in my life I used to ride on Greyhound (and Bolt & Megabus) semi-frequently. It is a good deal if you don't mind spending an extra 6 hours waiting around and are willing to risk being decapitated to save ~$50-200 ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Tim_McLean ). One thing that I will say is that intercity bus travel…

A small number of murders, plus very few fatal collisions, still seems like very good odds compared to driving in a car.

Re: 100 Years on a Dirty Dog: The History of Greyhound (2013)

#30

Post by Symbiote »

mrjaeger wrote: post #18

I've taken Bolt buses now and again, usually to go from NYC -> Philly, which is kind of a pain by train. Didn't even realize they were a Greyhound brand! I'm not a very finnicky public transit user and while not fancy, the buses I was on were usually pretty clean and spacious. I do wish Americans were more willing to utilize buses, as often times they are a very economic way of getting around (both for the individual…

FlixBux expanded to the USA.

(I've never used the service on either continent, I usually take trains if there's a reasonable option.)

https://global.flixbus.com/bus-routes

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