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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)

#31

Post by supernova87a »

In the US, the experience of what you get goes so strongly downhill the lower the ticket price, it seems more so than in other countries.

As others have pointed out, in other countries the wealth gaps aren't as large, and for example in Chile, the bus system is relatively luxurious (and a necessity) for even average passengers. Probably due to competition as well.

In the US it seems, the cost of vehicles, drivers, overhead staffing, etc. is large enough that they cannot but make the experience horrible -- in terms of routes, seating configurations, schedules.

And as a result there are 2 issues with buses that just make me swear off them, not because of the other passengers or anything:

1) The stop and go nature of navigating in cities just to get to the open road, or to make any kind of stop, and the jostling of the highway -- you just cannot feel at ease or relaxed that the journey is underway and calm.

2) The back-breaking discomfort of the seats that Greyhound installs to reach the passenger density needed to break even. Knees crammed against the hard plastic back of the seat in front of you, and no recline for 6 hours. In other countries, they have buses with sleeper seats and cabins for godssake.

I will go out of my way to take a train even if it's slightly longer, to avoid buses.

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

#32

Post by owenversteeg »

visiblink wrote: post #22
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, becaus…

I completely agree, and I'm very glad to see this perspective in this thread. I used to ride cheap buses because I didn't have much money, now (pre-corona) I still ride them even though I'm doing well. You meet people, hear fun stories, find yourself in interesting situations... There are "filters" on the population that rides airplanes or trains, but all of humanity rides the bus. And while the chance that a grandma unpacks her food and shares some with you on the plane is nil, I've had it happen to me multiple times on the bus, so there's that :)

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

#33

Post by wrp »

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…

When discussing Greyhound, it's important to specify exactly when your experience was, because things have changed a lot over time. When I used Greyhound in the 1980s, buses were clean and on time, and passengers were clean and well behaved. My experience traveling by bus then was better than my experience traveling by air now.

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

#34

Post by Schiendelman »

Symbiote wrote: post #29
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.

Yeah, this seems far safer than driving yourself!

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

#35

Post by S_A_P »

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…

One of the sketchiest places in downtown Houston is the greyhound station. There is a 2-3 block radius in downtown that I won’t walk through anchored by that greyhound station.

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

#36

Post by vagrantJin »

owenversteeg wrote: post #32
visiblink wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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, becaus…

I completely agree, and I'm very glad to see this perspective in this thread. I used to ride cheap buses because I didn't have much money, now (pre-corona) I still ride them even though I'm doing well. You meet people, hear fun stories, find yourself in interesting situations... There are "filters" on the population that rides airplanes or trains, but all of humanity rides the bus. And while the chance that a grandma…

> There are "filters" on the population that rides airplanes or trains

You're on to something here. It's hard to explain generally without sounding like a tool. I occassionaly ride the bus because for the same reasons you mentioned - it's alive in there for some reason. Same with bars and taverns. Blue collar workers have stories for days and make good friends with just about anyone as long as you have a respectful and decent way about you.

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

#37

Post by sthatipamala »

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…

I used to regularly ride Flixbus in the US from San Francisco to Fresno, CA. Definitely not glamorous but also a very cheap and accessible way to get around! Much better than Greyhound.

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

#38

Post by BXLE_1-1-BitIs1 »

One of my kids took the Dog from Toronto to Calgary where I had moved. His motivation was to see Canada. He also shipped all his stuff by bus, but we had to pick it up later. I remember losing my rental car keys in the mountains and talking the agency into shipping them to Lk. Louise where I retrieved the parcel and boarded the bus back to West Louise. The driver dropped me off at the turn-off.

Sadly Greyhound dropped their Western Canada services and none of this is now possible. Saskatchewan dropped their rural bus service not long ago; so granny has to hitchhike to see the doctor.

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

#39

Post by Firehawke »

chiph wrote: post #4

The last time I rode a Greyhound was in 2003 to go pick up a car I was buying. It was still in the "Dirty Dog" era, and it was memorable for the acute hearing the driver had, able to pick up someone in the 12th row listening to music without headphones, and his subsequent yelling at them to turn it down. I think they're heading in the right direction these days. I have seen reviews that say the buses are clean, gener…

My last Greyhound ride was also in 2003, a cross-country trip from Phoenix to Atlanta. It was three days of sheer hell and I couldn't feel my butt (from all the vibration; that was NOT a smooth ride) for over a day afterwards. Didn't help that every single bus stop along the way was in the worst neighborhoods in town, too.

It was enough of an experience that I've been loathe to consider giving them another shot.

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

#40

Post by [deleted] »

S_A_P wrote: post #35
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…

One of the sketchiest places in downtown Houston is the greyhound station. There is a 2-3 block radius in downtown that I won’t walk through anchored by that greyhound station.

[deleted]
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