Greyhound seats and fleet questions

[Swadian Hardcore]

Aha, both ways you're taking long-distance schedules. 1651 is a New York City-Kansas City. 1679 is a Saint Louis-New York City. Probably DL3 or Blue G. Good thing they aren't stuck in turn-and-burn, the units are cleaned at Pittsburgh. There's lots of X3-45s in the East but they don't often go to Saint Louis or Kansas City.

Everything's so different in the West. Once you get past Denver or Dallas, it's just greatly increasing amounts of D4505s. Well there's Blue G's out of Denver but you get past Reno and Las Vegas and it's pretty much all D4505. A model quite rare in the East, but in the West there's so many of them you get their image and their smell imprinted in your brain, from the chubby nose to the round black fenders to the black stripe at the top to the flat smooth rear. They have a thick flowery smell. I wish we got more variety, but that's the way it is. Oh yeah, the windows, the seats, the parcel racks, the sound too, the deep Cummins or the smoother Detroit powerplant. And the slow acceleration, stiff handling, even the passengers can feel it, it's the same every time.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

Lol. That sounds soon familiar. Reminds me of the way capital trailways of pa used to be. Only with our the flowery smell.

I really wish greyhound serviced Hazleton instead of Susquehanna and Fullington. Or at least where the two offered better schedules here. Maybe next year when I get vacation time again I'll have to take a longer trip. I'd have a full week. This was spur of the moment when my boss told me I had a rare weekend off.

Will definitely let you guys know what I get for buses and what ones are in the areas. Hopefully can upload pics too.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

If you look at this map you'll see Greyhound never served Hazelton: http://www.chicagorailfan.com/greyhrpa.html.

But Trailways always had a big presence in Pennsylvania. They've served Hazelton for a long time. Closest Greyhound got was Berwick on the Harrisburg-Binghamton segment. Not sure if that was its own independent route or if it was part of some longer route. That was before I-81, and it ran on US 11.

With bus prices rising, a lot of the smaller operators are really having to shell out a large amount of their cash reserves to buy equipment. Prices for the stock D4505 have now gone up to $545,000.

Fullington got a grant to buy a new 2010 D4505, which has Amaya Torino Standard seats with seat belts: http://media.pennlive.com/midstate_impact/photo/fullington-trailways2jpg-bdddbab05225e5c4.jpg. At the time, a D4505 cost only $500,000. Fullington received $400,000 in a grant for the D4505.

I went to Fullington's website multiple times and found it virtually unusable. It was very confusing to navigate. Fullington has a bad reputation and their fleet of early J4500s is among the worst as far as "true" MCIs go. Susquehanna seems to do it better, but they're a tiny operator strapped of cash and unable to expand. Greyhound could expand on rural routes using their new Greyhound Connect fleet of GCA cutaways. They refuse to use full-size motorcoaches on these "tiny" routes anymore.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

I know what you mean about Fullington' s website. That's a co that could take lessons from gli when it comes to maintenance. Many times we've had. One if their buses broke down at out station for days at a time. The last time we had a hard time squeezing around as we came from the other side of the station. Trailways shares our new station with us from public transit.

We had better service before capital went under.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

Ok, so what exactly is a gca cutaway

 

[mightyjoe1201]

Oh, I almost forgot. Had a rare sight today. There was a charter co from somewhere in New York that came thru town with an old greyhound mc12. Unfortunately I couldn't get the fleet number written down and don't remember it. It looked like a gli fleet number too. Knew for sure was a former dog cause of the blue stripe above the Windows. It was in good shape too.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I'm actually not exactly sure what a GCA cutaway is except it's basically a little shuttle van on a light truck chassis. Like this: http://transitzac.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/connect-cutaway.jpg.

Could not find a better shot, so, yeah. Never seen one in Greyhound service but I know they're on the roster and running some Greyhound Connect routes, basically rural connectors.

Greyhound's weird when it comes to maintenance. The actually mechanics are well-trained and maintain the buses properly, keep them nice and clean and operational. The problem is when short-distance buses get stuck in turn-and-burn. That's when Greyhound maintenance gets in trouble. It's not so much the maintenance department, it's the dispatchers locking units in turn-and-burn for as much as three months, but then again, given Greyhound's fleet shortage, do you run a good bus through the ground or relieve it with a bad bus like a White G? Even worse, driver complaints about a coach stuck in turn-and-burn can be ignored unless it's a serious safety issue like "soft" brakes.

So now it's time for Greyhound to buy even more units, though not in as large numbers as last time.

MC-12s can't run scheduled service anymore except for really small operators. Otherwise, they can only run charters. No wheelchair lift.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Greyhound Canada faces unexpected student anger at normal Thanksgiving fare hikes: http://www.citynews.ca/2014/10/10/greyhound-ticket-price-jump-leaves-students-fuming/.

It should be noted that Greyhound seems to be encouraging people with cars to ride them as an alternative rather than people without cars to ride them because they have nothing else to ride. Thus, Greyhound ostracizes students in cities like Reno, where students have gone to cheap, "hip" transport like Megabus, while Greyhound sees a popularity boost with families.

Note the X3-45 with replaced window, the plain-white DL3, and the blue DL3 pulling a new blue trailer.

Greyhound Canada is currently in financial difficulty after inability to make profits in Eastern Canada with too many unprofitable QuickLink commuter routes and too many individual variations of each route. More problems probably come from turn-and-burn. Profits seem to be better in Western Canada.

 

[railiner]

Re: Hazleton....

Swadian's correct...Greyhound never served Hazleton, but Continental Trailways did from the time they acquired Edwards Motor Transit Company (Lakes-To Sea System), until their end. They had extensive east-west service thru Hazleton on routes from New York and Philadelphia to Williamsport, and on to Dubois and Cleveland. Connections north and south at both Williamsport and Dubois. They basically purchased Edwards's to have local 'rights' along the newly built Interstate 80 across Pennsylvania, and rerouted their New York - Chicago (and beyond) thru services that way. Greyhound also ran I-80, but basically closed doors from Stroudsburg to Youngstown

Capitol Trailways ran north and south thru Hazleton on their Binghamton-Scranton-Harrisburg-Washington route. Greyhound, as mentioned, ran US-11 thru Berwick and Sunbury.

Greyhound operated its express runs via the Turnpike Extension. Capitol ran I-81 when it was built....

Susquehanna has a weak shadow of the extensive service that Hazleton once enjoyed....

 

[mightyjoe1201]

Yes. Greyhound never served Hazleton. But not too long ago we had much better service here. Susquehanna has much better schedules thru Hazleton them what Fullington has. Fullington had actually cur schedule because they felt Hazleton was too small for more then the few times they come thru.

I've noticed Susquehanna has been doing pretty good lately. Enough so that they have been buying some new buses again. Yesterday they had a brand new D4505 sitting at out station headed to Philly.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

Just starting my trip to Pittsburgh. I got lucky and got 102dl3 number 52672. Its a beautiful bus. I think the newer seats in it are wider then the last time I was on one. Didn't count seats but I do know they kept all three seats next to the restroom. That's where I'm sitting right now. Only complaint is that inside is kinda nasty. Hope Pittsburgh cleans it.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

Wow. Cool bus driver. During his announcement he explained where all the emergency exits are and how to operate them. Never had a driver do that before. I got lucky, its an express between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh with only a short rest stop. No other stops.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

Can anyone tell me how to upload a picture? I can't figure out how to do it. Thanks.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

Ok,finally figured out how to post a picture. Will hopefully have more later and tomorrow. This is inside of bus 52672

 

[railiner]

Thanks for taking us along for the 'virtual ride'.....

 

[mightyjoe1201]

Your welcome. Here's a picture of some damage on that bus. Other then that was a ok ride. Seats all the way in the back area bit uncomfortable

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Wow, you rode #52672? I rode that one last year on Reno-Salt Lake City Schedule 1314. Rode at the front, it was smooth and quiet. I remember the old driver managed to pass three trucks in a row on Golconda. It must be an All 48-States unit then, likely based from Denver. One time it was spotted on New York City-Indianapolis.

Last time I rode it, it was clean. They'll probably clean it in Pittsburgh. Which part is the nasty part?

This is a rare unit. It was leased to Golden State Lines of Los Angeles. When that line was shut down due to "trafficking", the vehicles were returned to Greyhound. Greyhound numbered them with the serial number instead of their own DL3 numbering series. So #52672 is the last five digits of the VIN, 1M8PDMRA7YP052672. It didn't have a wheelchair lift until Greyhound rebuilt it. Only 4 are in Greyhound's fleet.

Here's the exterior photo I got when I rode it: https://www.flickr.com/photos/95851032@N07/9944534005/sizes/l.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

It was nasty around where I say in the very back. I think my seat mate may have been to blame. Looked like he threw his trash all over the floor.

I wad wondering why it had a strange bus number. Lol. Thanks for the info on it.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Looks like it hit something. Don't know how they can fix that without body shop repairs at Richmond or maybe Dallas. Seems like lots of DL3s take damaged at the right rear portion of the wheelbase. Perhaps drivers have a tendency to bump that part in some kind of maneuver.

Seats at the very back are always uncomfortable. They get squished in against the slope where the top of the engine compartment meets the cabin. Then you have reduced recline as well.

Yeah, I hope your seat mate got off at Pittsburgh so that the janitor could clean the floor without it immediately getting dirty again, LOL. I hope they fix that DL3 as well. Still tougher than the X3-45 that had a flood of rain or fender flares falling off. A recent photo showed one that had lost its headlight casing as well. ^_^

 

[mightyjoe1201]

Looks like a driver probably hit a high curb somewhere. It happens a lot. Outside of that damage it was in great shape.

The back seats didn't even have any recline. They also felt hard as a rock. Don't know if I'm just remembering wrong but the other seats seemed wider then last time I road a greyhound. Aisle deemed narrower too.

Yeah, my seat mate got off along with everyone else. He didn't have a choice cause they were supposed to clean and service it before the next driver took off.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

My seat mate was going to Cincinnati so I'm not sure if he was staying with that schedule or transferring

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

He would've gotten back on and ridden #52672 until Columbus, transfer point for Cincinnati. Oh great.

How's Pittsburgh? I heard Greyhound refurbished the terminal there.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

They did. This is my second time at it. Really nice inside and easy to move around and find the gate the bus is at. Some of the workers have an attitude but I put that to it being a big city.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

Just saw this piece of junk leaving bus station in Pittsburgh, Pa. Unfortunately I didn't get the bus number or destination in time. I looked u and snapped the picture as it was turning. This is a white G isn't it?

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Yep, that's a White G. I'm glad its tag axle didn't just pop right off or one of the windows falling off. Or the bus catching on fire.

One time I rode White G #7104, and the tag axle made a grinding sound every time the driver turned. The same coach also smelled like burning plastic, was covered in graffiti, and the lavatory door was broken, it would slide around all the time.

I also heard of an incident when a passenger vomited in a White G that already smelled like burning plastic. The passenger had vomited in the lavatory, but the door was broken. So the other passengers were all driven to near-vomiting while the driver fell into despair.

I've seen so many horrible White G's, aw man, multiple ones with holes, cracks, bumper lights punched out, hatches warped/dislodged, holes on the INSIDE, ugh!