# Greyhound moves to dynamic pricing



## calwatch (May 23, 2013)

Joining Amtrak and the airlines, as well as Megabus and Bolt (a Greyhound subsidiary).

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-20/greyhound-taps-airline-pricing-models-to-boost-profit.html



_FirstGroup Plc (FGP), the U.K. company that owns Greyhound, will spend as much $40 million on computerized yield-management technology to replace Greyhound’s flat-rate charging plan, and has engaged a U.S. [air] carrier to help with the design, Chief Executive Officer Tim O’Toole said._

_“No longer will a trip on Greyhound cost the same on July 17 as the day after Thanksgiving,” O’Toole said in a telephone interview from London. “Pricing will be much more dynamic.”_


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## railiner (May 23, 2013)

Well, I am truly sorry to see this coming. I suppose it was inevitable, considering the recent revelation of the huge profits the airline industry made by charging passenger's "change fees". The passenger's under the yield management system will try to buy travel at a distant date to secure the lowest fare level, but then different family situations will require changes, and then the passenger's get "gouged".

For years, bus ticketing was all so simple....one way good anytime for two months, and round-trips good anytime for a year, with occasional 'specials' thrown in with some restrictions. People took the flexibility and convenience of going anytime on frequent schedules, simply by showing up, for granted.

Now all that is about to change. Already I can see teary eyed young people begging for forgiveness for missing their ticketed trips, and hoping to still use their tickets.

Puts a lot of extra pressure on driver's and terminal employees.


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## Swadian Hardcore (May 24, 2013)

I guess this might not be so bad. It could reduce the suspicious passengers that buy at the last minute and don't have Internet access. The system could allow Greyhound to manage capacity better instead of having some buses packed full and others running with a dozen passengers and the extra money could be used to buy more buses. According to the DOT, Greyhound only has 1323 units compared to the stated 1700, so some extra equipment would definately help.

Note that the article depicts a Ghorthound bus from Elevate Everything but calls it an express bus.


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## guest (May 27, 2013)

You can still buy refundable fares that are good any time, at full price, last minute, with no internet access. Discount advance puchase fare tickets can be exchanged for $20 fee plus difference in price. (City pair can't be changed, only departure time and date.) (Megabus only charges $.50 plus difference in fare to change a reservation, date and/or city pair, if done 24 hours before scheduled departure.)


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## Swadian Hardcore (May 29, 2013)

guest said:


> You can still buy refundable fares that are good any time, at full price, last minute, with no internet access. Discount advance puchase fare tickets can be exchanged for $20 fee plus difference in price. (City pair can't be changed, only departure time and date.) (Megabus only charges $.50 plus difference in fare to change a reservation, date and/or city pair, if done 24 hours before scheduled departure.)


Almost nobody buys a refundable ticket. The exchanging stuff dosen't matter so much as the fact that bus fares will now fluctuate up and down all the time. You can't predict stuff now.


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