My main experience with a last minute bustitution was about a decade ago. I do not consider scheduled Thruway bus or van services to be "bustitutions" since the service is supposed to be a bus, a bus is not being substituted. The Starlight was bustituted between Klamath Falls and Portland due to a tunnel fire. The problem was known the previous day and I was hoping for an Inside Gateway detour, and stayed awake out of Sac to see if we stayed on the former WP at Binney Jct, but no such luck.
It was okay.
The loading onto multiple buses at Klamath Falls was pretty chaotic. The through buses to Portland versus the ones making intermediate stops weren't marked. You had find a bus with room and ask the driver.
We stopped in the parking lot of a truck stop north of Eugene to pick up box lunches. It was done by everyone piling off the buses and crowding around the back of a pickup where they were handing them out. The scene had kind of a refugee camp vibe, but everyone got their lunch.
Coming into Portland, the driver did not know where Union Station was and where to exit I 5. A couple of passengers stood near the driver, giving him directions.
The train waiting for us in Portland was open for boarding as soon as we got there, so we could board and settle back in immediately. Overall, it was fine but kind of goofy in some respects.
Another bustitution had a bit more warning, they bustituted the morning Cascades to Vancouver one of the times I took it from Everett. I don't think a mud slide (the usual reason) was the cause, I think it was something else as they gave me a few days notice. Nothing really to note on that one, it was just a normal bus ride.
Another one was not what I consider a true bustitution. After COVID I was booked on the Cascades to Vancouver. They'd have the train in the reservations system but then did serial cancellations of it because it took a long time (and Senator Maria Cantwell calling Stephen Gartner into her office for a spanking) to actually restart it. In any case, they cancelled the train, which I pretty much expected, but they did not cancel my reservation, rebook me, or email me. The reservation just showed on the app with a problem indicator of some kind. Ultimately I called in and had them modify the reservation to a Cantrail Thruway bus from Seattle (which does not stop in Everett or US stops other than Seattle). Since I wound up having to handle rebooking myself and used a scheduled Thruway service, I kind of don't consider that a bustitution.
