I just got off a Greyhound bus yesterday. It was my New Year's trip to San Francisco. Both ways D4505, first one was 86542 and second was 86521. I measured the seats in these buses, 36" pitch and 18" width. Quite a lot better than airline Economy. Smooth ride, good drivers, and not much suspicious passengers.
After you brought up how Greyhound is supposedly popular with college kids, I took a look at each passenger and I saw some boarding in Sacramento on the outbound leg to SFD. I saw only one college kid that got off in Reno on the return leg, no college kids got on in Reno on the outboud leg. Did see a "young professional" who sat in front of me on the entire outbound leg. He had an interest in trucks and chatted with a friendly trucker seat mate about Kenworth and fifth wheels. It seems that Greyhound is gaining popularity with California college kids but very unpopular with Reno college kids.
Greyhound needs to cut padding on the RNO-SFD. We were early to every station. On the outbound leg, we were 20 minutes early into SAC despite taking an unscheduled 10-minutes smoke break in Colfax. Would've been 30 minutes early if the driver hadn't taken that extra stop.
Both schedules were packed with passengers, but as I said, most passengers were civilized and clean. Restrooms were clean, both buses were very clean. No mechanical problems. Fun downhill and uphill rides at high speed, the drivers always kept it stable. Both drivers were aggressive, passed many cars and semis. I knew the second driver after many ride with him, he didn't both with the outside lane because he was contantly passing everybody, flooring it uphill. Weather was clear and sunny so no safety issues. Ride past Donner Lake at dusk was very nice.
My guests had some suitcases, they all arrived with no issues. They liked the Greyhound and said that they were indeed better than Eurolines (they're from Germany). They were surprised at the very high Amtrak fares I showed them but they said they were happy with Greyhound.
Tried the Greyhound Food Services at SAC since I earned discount on all food purchases with my Road Rewards card. The food was actually pretty good. Freshly prepared at the terminal, I saw them grilling my burger. It's a good deal for the price I got.
I know Greyhound's got a bad reputation, and I know people can say I'm biased because I'm a Greyhound enthusiast. But what have I got to complain about? Sure, the G4500's suck, but they're getting rebuilt fast and they're disappearing. The only complaint I have about this trip is that the schedules had too much padding.
As far as fleet types, I've been seeing huge amounts of D4505's and no 102DL3's at all. A few G4500's mixed in. All the schedules east of Reno that I saw were D4505's. I haven't seen a 'DL3 since summer, where'd they go?
Pictures coming up on my Flickr photostream, check them out as I slowly upload them.
