# Riding the (ex-) Dirty Dog



## Swadian Hardcore (Aug 29, 2014)

This is a travelogue of a Greyhound bus ride after editing, streamlining, and the addition of more recollections. I will say in advance that it is quite long. Hope you enjoy reading!

You all probably have heard of "Dirty Dog" being mentioned about Greyhound. Greyhound and all we bus foamers knew their worst buses, the MCI-Dina G4500 (Model G), were the ones being called names and dragging down the reputation of their whole company. Ever heard about dirty, run-down, "old", uncomfortable, smelly, rough-riding Greyhound buses? Leaking restrooms, stained seats, engine fires, and other misadventures? That's your G4500, or to the public, the "Dirty Dog".

Just a second now, the Dirty Dog also applied to the old narrowbody MC-12 in some cases, but most of the time, it was the G4500. And the G isn't old at all, it first entered production in 2001, supposed to be a new, modern design made of fiberglass to impress passengers, but backfired and failed miserably with the aforementioned problems. Greyhound had heard about Mexican luxury buses, and decided they wanted some of their own, so they ordered enlarged Mexican buses with Mexican seats thinking they would earn big money, especially since the fiberglass, instead of steel, made the bus light and fuel-efficient. Snap American MCI styling over a Mexican Dina bus, and you have the integral G. Of course, production was suspended in 2003 after Greyhound started fighting a lawsuit against MCI and Dina for axles, hatches, and headlights falling off, in addition to the G's notorious rear fires.

So, Greyhound suffered financial problems with the disasterous G program, buses that were supposed to be the new Greyhound standard, planned orders for 1,500 units were dilated to 446 units and they were hated by both drivers and passengers. People complained and complained, but Greyhound could not fix the G no matter what they did. Greyhound started retiring some G's in 2009, but then wheelchair mobility regulations (ADA) stopped that, because all the G's were wheelchair-accessible, and a lot of older Greyhound weren't. Finally, in 2013, with Greyhound recovering its finances, they were able to replace the old, white G's with newer units, but they decided not to scrap the G's, because they could be used to expand capacity from Greyhound's shrunken network after route cuts in earlier years. So, the G's we sent for a rebuild, and when first 12 rebuilds proved successful, Greyhound cautiously started rebuilding the entire G-fleet.

We foamers on GTE and other Greyhound threads were skeptical of the rebuilt G's. We thought they would be slightly refurbished, painted blue, and unveiled to the public as a brand new bus. But nobody had ridden it and then given a full report on the bus itself. On my latest Greyhound trip last week to Colorado, I rode 6 Greyhound buses, and only one was a Blue rebuilt G4500. But one was good enough, I spend ten hours in it, and I quickly discussed it with the friendly driver.

Friday, July 25th, 2014

10:00 AM
I'm on the RTD transit bus to Downtown Denver. Going to Glenwood Springs today. I'll drop by the Garage before heading to the Terminal. I'm booked on 1683, a through run New York City-Los Angeles. Let's see what type of bus it is and what happens.

11:00 AM
Got to the Greyhound Garage. All kinds of buses here. DL3 #6538 just pulled in, dunno from where. Burnt out D4505 #86379 at one end. Rare second-hand J4500 #6994 in the yard. Lots of DL3's and White G's sitting around. One blue G, #7029.

11:45 AM
Picking up tickets at the Greyhound Terminal. There's a White G on the Arapahoe side, I think an Arrow & Black Hills D4505 just pulled out. A blue bus just pulled in, not a D4505, is that a D4500CT?

11:55 AM
Driver just came by, told me I'd be on his run.

12:05 PM
Boarding now. It's that weird blue bus, it's actually a Blue G4500, looks kinda like a D4500CT except for the round nose. Actually, it's #7029, I just saw it at the Garage, I guess they swapped buses for the through run? So maybe #6538 went to the Garage coming in from New York City, and the Blue G #7029 will take over to Los Angeles. Weird, I heard rumors they were banned from California.

12:15 PM
Man, this bus is nice! Never taken one before. Feels totally different from the White G's. These seats look the same but feel like they have more padding. Aw man, the legroom is awesome! Never had so much legroom on a regular Greyhound seat. Can stretch out all the way. Seats in front are reclined back max (lots of recline), but no problem, windows are big. Luggage capacity is huge, too, probably 600 cubic feel total (cargo hold plus parcel racks). Oh, they also added magazine pockets and cup holders to the old Brasil seats, yeah, not Brazil.

12:30 PM
What the heck? Bus was supposed to go at 12:15 PM, now it's 12:30 and still nothing.

12:45 PM
They turned off the interior lights. We're still waiting. Some guy says we are waiting for the connection bus for Dallas. OK, whatever. I'll eat some packed food for lunch. No bad smells in this bus. White G smelled like plastic on a good day, burning plastic on a bad day.

1:00 PM
Ain't waiting for the Dallas bus no more, let's go! Driver makes the announcements, he's taking the bus to Green River, Utah, which is after my stop, Glenwood Springs.

1:15 PM
Nice! This bus rides well. Very comfortable bus, I'm amazed at this Blue G.

1:20 PM
Argh, traffic congestion! More delays......

2:30 PM
Congestion is finally over! Let's get going. Already past Idaho Springs.

2:45 PM
Climbing lots of mountains. Climbs mountains well, this bus. No problem with the incline before and after Eisenhower Tunnel. Some people on this bus came from Saint Louis and Kansas City. Lots of kids on the bus. Lots of kids on Greyhound in the summer.

3:00 PM
All right, rest stop at Frisco, delayed of course. Really nice scenery around here! I'm photoshooting both the interior and exterior. Tried out the lavatory, it's not bad either! They replaced the sliding lavatory door that leaked all the time. They also took away the middle seat beside the lavatory, but left a raised base there for the people in the last row that want to lie down and sleep better.

4:30 PM
Glenwood Canyon, always awesome to go through! Those huge windows are great. Also, they only have a very thin bar in between in window.

5:00 PM
In Glenwood now, great experience with this bus! Safe ride to Los Angeles, my fellow Hounders! Go Greyhound!

Saturday, July 26th, 2014
Heading back to Denver on 1312 Las Vegas-Denver. Bus is D4505 #86535, the same bus that had directly replaced the white G's before the latter was rebuilt. Same driver as yesterday. He helped me fend off an old man that called me a lowlife and tried to start trouble, so I decided to talk to him in Frisco.

The driver says he prefers the Blue G over the D4505, and hates the White G. He says he "doesn't really like the D4505 at all". He says he knows the White G caught on fire all the time, but doesn't know exactly why they would flare up and burn. He has never driven a DL3, yes, he confirmed that twice after I found it shocking, because Greyhound has a lot of DL3's. He says he really liked driving the old narrowbody MC-12 (now retired due to ADA) for how they "sit on the road", but agrees that the MC-12 was cramped for long drives. Finally, he says Greyhound orders new buses every year, and believes the next order with be for Prevost X3-45's, a smooth-riding bus that he also likes to drive, having driven three of those.

Conclusion
Blue G's were common all along this trip to Colorado. I saw one in Salt Lake City on my outbound leg, running Portland-Denver 1318. Saw #7199 and #7212 both at the Denver Terminal upon arrival. Possibly one other. Next day, I saw #7027 headed to Dallas. On the way back, saw a trio in Salt Lake City resting. Saw #7216 in Reno after arriving back, also resting. So there's definitely an increasing amount of Blue G's out of Denver Garage as more and more of them get rebuilt. Two of the white G's I saw in the Garage were plain white awaiting rebuild.

This bus is great and I would not hesitate to take another ride on it. The legroom was especially great, and the old Brasil seats didn't sag like the new seats in the D4505 or X3-45, those sagging seats require you to sit on a pillow or deal with hip pain. I would like to say that the biggest impression left on me by this Blue G ride was the legroom, I could not have asked for any more legroom because I could fully stretch out my legs with my feet on the footrest.

Notes
Seats are heavily padded, about 8 inches for the seat back, 12 inches for the seat bottom. No sagging seat bottoms like the newer seats.

Lots of legroom, but that is not created by seat pitch, which is about 36". It is created by seat elevation. It feels like 50" of pitch because of how much the seats were elevated.

Big windows are not obstructed by the parcel racks hanging down from the roof.

No speakers every seat pair, they are placed every two seat pairs, along the outboard side of the parcel racks, facing the windows. Weird design, I know.

Lavatory door replaced and lavatory refurbished. No more leaking lav.

Reading lights were smaller than the other Greyhound coaches. Air vents were the same as the other MCI coaches.


Photo links below.
Blue G #7029 in between two DL3's at Denver:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/14818892157/. 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/14670239978/. 
The seats: https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/14616932479/. 
The interior: https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/14798081385/. 
The legroom: https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/15004646326/. 
The vents and outlets: https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/14851590940/
The lavatory: https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/14675260150/. 
The coach at Frisco: https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/14793811003/. 
The (very clean) rear end: https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/14868239563/. 

Go Greyhound and safe travels, everyone!


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## Bob Dylan (Aug 29, 2014)

You're a better man than me Gunga Din! I'll stick to the Zephyr on this Route and limit my bus rides to Day Trips and Local transportation! To each his own!


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## Swadian Hardcore (Aug 29, 2014)

This was just a hop compared to that Reno-Denver round-trip which were both on new buses with sagging seats.


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