Greyhound seats and fleet questions

[rickycourtney]

Yeah that's insane. Unless you've heard differently, I've always heard that the BoltBus and Greyhound Express routes are very popular and I would assume profitable. I don't know why the company would want to return to operating a bunch of milk-run routes that only appeal to riders who have no other choice in transportation.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I know, that's why I said they were crazy rumors! But anyway, it's not unfathomable that Greyhound might get rid of the "Express" brand if their entire route network gets Express service by 2016. Maybe they could just replace the "Express" brand with something like "Greyhound Blue" or "Greyhound Neoclassic". After all, the "Local" runs already use the exact same equipment and booking system as the "Express" runs.

Found these pics on NYC Transit Forums:
http://www.nyctransitforums.com/forums/topic/46875-greyhound-red-white-and-blues-part-ii/?hl=greyhound.
http://www.nyctransitforums.com/forums/topic/46844-greyhound-red-white-and-blues/?hl=greyhound.

Greyhound hasn't announced a major order for two years. I expect that Greyhound will order some new motorcoaches this year to replace the remaining white G4500s (they're still in service!) and the old Van Hools. There's a lot of Van Hool pics in those links and they all look to be beat up except for the blue ones.

BTW, #MA86575 is no longer Greyhound's newest bus; that title goes to #60420, part of a 20-unit X3-45 batch delivered to Americanos after the latest main Greyhound order had been completed.

 

[Caesar La Rock]

Hey CJ, drivers are rooting for the Blue G4500 now and say that they are better than the D4505, which I would agree with due to the D4505's terrible inconsistency. The White G4500 sucks, of course. Are those J4500s with Lynx yet?

The order for motorcoaches has changed a lot. Right now it's up in limbo at the moment. Until then, we're using 900 series Van Hools from Mears, which just happen to be Mears' oldest buses, which are currently being retired from Mears. It's good to see the G4500s are finally getting some positives after all the craziness I've heard about those buses.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Oh yeah, the G4500s certainly were terrible vehicles. I think they're a lot better now. The D4505 was a major improvement over the white G4500 when they were introduced, but now the D4505 has gotten worse while the G4500 has been improved, so that the blue G4500 can be considered significantly superior in most ways to the D4505 and the white G4500.

Unfortunately, the D4505 has gotten so bad that now they're right about the same as the white G4500s were. The good D4505s are fine just like the good white G4500s were, but the bad D4505s make me want to puke, the same problem that the bad white G4500s had. The D4505 has had its share of fires, a plethora of breakdowns caused by "regen failure", completely unpredictable suspension, poor trim quality (cracking), and the least comfortable seats Greyhound could have ordered with them.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Fleas reported on a Greyhound Van Hool: https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=808868635833092&set=vr.808868635833092&type=3&theater.

Greyhound says the incident involved a Valley Transit Van Hool. The Van Hool appears to be a lightly-refurbished (not remanufactured) C2045 that was then painted blue. It should have FAINSA Gaudi seats. I'm trying to find out the difference between FAINSA Gaudi and FAINSA Brasil.

 

[rickycourtney]

Oh my god. That's absolutely disgusting.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Oh yeah, that is disgusting all right!

I don't know why Greyhound keeps letting this happen. I'm surprised it didn't it the news.

Keeping tabs on Facebook, I found this incident when Greyhound barred some homeless passengers with no ID from buying a ticket: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=420139301482407&set=o.117755058267776&type=3&theater.

Also, DL3 #30990 is currently the Harlem Globetrotters' bus.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

That's disgusting. I understand federal law requires I.d. but greyhound should have still been able to help these people.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I'm not sure if federal law required ID or not. But that's definitely a tough situation. If Greyhound lets one group of homeless without ID get onto the bus, then all the homeless without ID would soon be getting onto the bus. OTOH, if they don't get onto the bus, what are they going to do?

Here's old news from 2013 when Greyhound Canada picked up a handicapped woman from her home in Kenora after her ticketed bus had no wheelchair lift: http://www.kenoradailyminerandnews.com/2013/01/14/greyhound-comes-through-to-make-special-christmas-for-kenora-woman.

Also, here's an old MC-7 going into Reno in a 1974 film: http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_312508-MCI-MC-7.html.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I just found this blog post: http://www.travelgogirl.com/blog/2012/03/13/the-road-rage-and-wonder-of-travel-for-an-ldr/.

Railiner, aren't those the seats in Adirondack's pre-2009 H3-45s?

 

[railiner]

I just found this blog post: http://www.travelgogirl.com/blog/2012/03/13/the-road-rage-and-wonder-of-travel-for-an-ldr/.

Railiner, aren't those the seats in Adirondack's pre-2009 H3-45s?

Sure looks like ours....

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

That looks like an older Prevost to me. It's got that black window escape bar but it isn't perforated. I did a vid search and I think that would make it pre-1998 model year. How do you like that orange-grey interior? I seem to vaguely remember it from my ADI rides. I think the J4500s had/have a different interior.

Here's an article on released inmates taking Greyhound: http://www.norwalkreflector.com/article/6531861.

You know, if those inmates don't have ID, Greyhound could prevent them from boarding.

 

[railiner]

We had that seat color scheme for many years, dating back to our 102C's

We varied it some along the way, and the final year we had it was in our miserable Premier's in 2009. Now we use black 'leather'.....

 

[rickycourtney]

In most states when prisoners are released they are either issued an ID card or documents that act as a temporary ID.

Inmate transportation is actually somewhat common on Amtrak too.

When I used to ride the San Joaquin the just released prisoners would frequently board the first southbound train of the day in Corcoran. They were always had identical white t-shirts, grey sweatpants, a plastic bag full of belongings and a small manila envelope with release papers, a state issued ID card and whatever cash they had.

It was my experience that these men were always extremely well behaved (lots of yes sir's and thank you ma'am's) because the last thing they wanted was to get kicked off the train or worse, rearrested.

 

[railiner]

Yeah...we carry them too, on "graduation day", from numerous 'upstate' prisons back to The City....Many of them will leave behind the heavy beige jackets, and other garb that the taxpayer's provide them. They are usually well behaved, but sometimes get rambunctious when the bus finally arrives at The Port. Just happy to be home, I suppose....

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Railiner, I remember the Premiers being OK when they were brand-new. Did you notice them deteriorating rapidly or were they always miserable, from the start?

The released inmates probably do have ID but the article was saying they had no ID. I guess the author didn't do thorough research. Not sure why so many people are afraid of the released inmates on trains and buses. They should certainly behave well or end up back in prison eating soy-meat paste. I think the prison system should do a better job rehabbing them so that they don't end up going back in again. Just my 2c.

At least one guy made it to a halfway house. Good luck to him.

Also on the news is a trial for the 2010 Fresno crash: http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/03/23/4443625_lawyers-trade-accusations-in-greyhound.html?rh=1.

I think it's possible the bus did have bad brakes since Greyhound has a history of deferring maintenance. OTOH, I think Jewett was actually wearing his glasses because I wear glasses and I can't drive without them; everything would be a blur. I don't know his prescription but I think he was wearing glasses and a spare pair could have been in his pocket, though he was probably speeding as well, which is prevalent among night drivers. Don't any passengers remember if he was wearing glasses or not?

 

[rickycourtney]

Speaking of that story... some breaking news just crossing the AP wire this afternoon:

A jury has ruled Greyhound is not at fault in a 2010 deadly crash in Fresno that killed six people.

The Fresno, California, jury ruled 10-2 Tuesday that Greyhound Bus was not responsible in the deaths of three young women who were in an SUV that had overturned on a highway before the bus crashed into it. The bus driver and two passengers were also killed.

The families of the three women sued Greyhound for negligence, contending the driver was speeding in the highway's fast lane and wasn't wearing his eyeglasses when he plowed into the overturned SUV.

Full in depth write up from the Fresno Bee here. I covered this case extensively when I worked in Fresno... and it seemed that the family of Sylvia Garay was really trying to clear her name... seemingly at the expense of the name of the Greyhound driver, James Jewett. They basically argued that while their daughter was drunk, she wasn't behind the wheel and that if the professional Greyhound driver hadn't have made mistakes like not wearing his glasses, and not speeding in a bus with faulty breaks... he would have been able to avoid the crash. Clearly the jury disagreed.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

That's actually good news that greyhound isn't responsible. It may b one of the rare times a professional driver and company aren't help liable for someone else's stupidity.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I'm not surprised considering the SUV was the one that overturned in the first place. Greyhound may have had faulty brakes, but if the SUV hadn't overturned by itself, Greyhound wouldn't have crashed. That being said, I think Jewett could have been speeding and the bus could have had faulty brakes (TNM&O only had a pair of 2006 D4505s), but Jewett probably did have his glasses on. I don't think Jewett could have avoided the crash given the circumstances. Just my 2 cents.

 

[railiner]

Just another example of greedy PI attorney's going after a target with 'deep pockets'....glad to hear they failed in this case.....

 

[railiner]

Railiner, I remember the Premiers being OK when they were brand-new. Did you notice them deteriorating rapidly or were they always miserable, from the start?

I don't think they were ever okay. They were horrible in 2009...they were basically school bus 'containment seats', modified with reclining backs and fancy upholstery. Miserable to sit in. Our commuter's howled against them. Even our charter customer's hated them, and some specifically had instruction's on the charter order not to assign them to their charter...

The owner of our company finally 'heard' the employees and customer's and switched brands....

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

They howled against them? Did they verbally complain to the driver or did they flood the mailbox with complaints?

I hope Mr. Leach sees this soon.

One lawsuit over, and immediately another lawsuit against Greyhound: http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2015/03/wyoming_couple_sues_greyhound.html.

Sued for the accident in Ohio.

 

[Caesar La Rock]

Here is a pair of videos from back in the days of Greyhound. These were taken by Youtube user Jean MIRÉ MAISON. They're not in the best of shape, but the first one you can hear the 6V92TA on the MC-9 as it approaches the Greyhound bus station.



6878 is a 1985 TMC MC-9, 2424 is a 1975 TMC MC-8. Several MC-8s and MC-9s are seen in the second video.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I found more old Greyhound timetables on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/103688802@N02/16946496101/in/album-72157647622207805/.

These are from 1966 and many are from around Reno.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

MCI releases brochure explaining why the J4500 is more economical to operate (aka more profitable) than the H3-45 and C2045: http://www.mcicoach.com/literatureAssets/tco/#1/z.

But there's a glaring error: the J4500 is listed as both 8.7 MPG and 9.16 MPG. What the heck?