Greyhound seats and fleet questions

[Caesar La Rock]

Greyhound did some contracted bus service for some transit systems before the strike and bankruptcy. I know Samtrans in California, Greyhound operated Flyer D901s, AM General Metropolitans, Neoplan AN460s, New Flyer D60s, and a number of 1984 Gillig Phantoms prior to 1990.

In Miami, MDT leased 40 of it's 1980 GMC RTS buses to Greyhound, who contracted out some routes in 1989. It was a competition sort of to see who could operate the service better.

Greyhound was also given three 1979 35ft. GMC RTS with 8v71s. Needless to say, the service lasted only a year and when Miami got the buses back, they were trashed. The buses from Miami and Samtrans were operated by Greyhound drivers.

Besides SamTrans on the Peninsula routes, Greyhound also operated Golden Gate Transit to Marin County for a while. Both of those were former Greyhound operations before the government authorities took over their operation...Greyhound had a third commuter division as well....from the Transbay Terminal to Contra Costa County. Those routes went to AC Transit. After unloading all of the commuter divisions, Greyhound mainline division still served those areas on long distance routes. There are still a few traces today in GL's route system.....

It's really cool how much Greyhound use to have back then. Nowadays, it's the shell of it's former self and trying to survive in the ever changing intercity bus market.

 

[railiner]

Greyhound ran commuter operations in many other cities across the country....in some places, just a tripper or two on portions of mainline routes....in other places quite an extensive operation akin to San Francisco's....

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I heard New Orleans was one of them. Los Angeles and Miami, too. I'm guessing Omaha had less. Chicago and New York City must have had tons of commuter service, though. I wish Greyhound was still more powerful than New Jersey Transit.

San Francisco apparently had a huge network that extended to Monterey, Stockton, Sacramento, Calistoga, and Santa Rosa.

How was Greyhound's commuter service in Philadelphia?

 

[rickycourtney]

Greyhound still operates its QuickLink commuter service routes.

A Mt. Laurel, NJ – New York, NY route has operated for a number of years now, a Baton Rouge, LA – New Orleans route was added earlier this year and the website promises that a Wilmington, DE route is coming soon.

QuickLink routes were formerly operated from Sacramento, CA – San Francisco Bay Area and Macon, GA to Atlanta.

 

[railiner]

Greyhound was not a major player in New York City for commuter's, like they were (are) for mainline services The Mt. Laurel service Greyhound now operates was inherited from the purchase of Continental Trailways. That service was started by the old Quaker City Bus Company, when the New Jersey Turnpike opened in the early 1950's. At first they ran limited's from Philly, that picked up at Camden, Pennsauken, and Maple Shade before entering the Turnpike at Exit 4. Later on Safeway Trails acquired Quaker City. When the Cherry Hill Mall opened in the early 60's, they added a stop there. Then they relocated their stop at Maple Shade (The Circle Diner), to a new 4 bay terminal built on Holiday Inn property at what was at first called Moorestown, later changed to Mt. Laurel. It features a large park and ride lot, very close to Exit 4.

New Orleans did have Greyhound commuter service on several routes.

Los Angeles is sort of a gray (pardon the pun) area.... Greyhound did run a very extensive local route network around LA, but it was not necessarily geared for commuter's, but rather intercity traveler's. They had a lot of traffic restrictions on their local's to protect the interests of the Pacific Electric System, which ran interurban cars and some buses. Greyhound did have some commuter service out of San Diego to the border at San Ysidro.

Greyhound's only real commuter service on the Northeast Corridor originally, was based in Washington, and Baltimore.

I don't know very much about this relatively recent QuickLink routes.....

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Were there any other large commuter networks back in the day, such as in and around Chicago?

The QuickLink routes were apparently failures and many of them have been discontinued. Greyhound Canada's QuickLink service has failed to compete against transit agencies and GLC is campaigning to get permission to drop those routes. GLC also wishes to cut local stops and return to profitability.

Speaking of which, here's GLC #1147 pulling a new blue trailer: https://www.flickr.com/photos/12343930@N00/17979484342/sizes/o/.

I'm not sure why the photo looks awkward and appears to be too bright, or perhaps has too much sharpness and contrast.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

Hey guys, I just came back from a trip out to Ohio to visit my girlfriend. I passed and was passed by nothing but x3-45s all the way across the pa pike and i70

 

[railiner]

Nothing on the scale of San Francisco....

Ironically, the long time corporate home of Greyhound......Chicago....never had Greyhound commuter service, but did have excellent mainline service in all directions.

As mentioned, many cities across the country had one or two commuter runs.....which I would define as short trips that went into a major city early enough for most day jobs, and returned after work, and only ran weekdays, except holiday's. In addition, some 'mainline' runs ran close enough to those hours that they could conceivably be used for commutation, except for their long distance reliability and capacity limitations.

Probably some of the largest commuter operations outside California, were Cleveland, Buffalo, Charleston, W.Va.,...would have to spend a lot of time poring over old TT's to see....

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Charleston? How did that small town have such a large commuter network?

Didn't realize there were so many X3-45s on I-70. BusTracker shows some DL3s and Blue G's running it too. Only on the runs that continue west of Pittsburgh, though. Where in Ohio were you going, Joe?

 

[mightyjoe1201]

I was out in a town called Cambridge. Its about 75 miles east of Columbus. Both Thursday night when I drove out there and yesterday coming home the only greyhounds I saw were x3s

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Ah, Cambridge! I remember seeing that town on the Rand McNally Road Atlas. Cambridge, Zanesville, Columbus. You could have taken US 22 instead of I-70. I would have taken 22. Tend to prefer the US Highways myself. Did Greyhound ever run US 22 from New York City all the way to Cincinnati?

You know US Route 50? That one's my favorite.

I hope you enjoyed your trip.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

I would have taken 22 but it's quicker to run the interstate. I wanted to have as short of a drive both ways as possible.

Yeah, we both enjoyed it. I can't wait to make the trip to see her again.

I don't know if they ever did run 22. Its possible I guess. Hopefully someone else cab answer that.

I've been on 50. Its fine for a scenic drive but sucks for making time. Too many curves. Lol.

I'll keep u guys posted whenever I make the trip at least to what type of equipment is running. Can't b sure I'll always get bus numbers.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

50 is great in Nevada. It's the "Loneliest Road in America" as is a fast dash across the desert. Speed limit is 70 mph, but of course no one really cares if you go faster, and the road can certainly take it.

Another one I like is US 40 between Salt Lake City and Denver.

I was looking through bus seat models again and found that National's flagship 4210SB10 product lacks center armsrests and thus has 19" seat width. I remember from a previous inquiry that the recline can be increased to 8'. Its main competitors, the FAINSA/Amaya VIPs and Kiel Avance 1010/1020, both have a center armrest option and so have narrower seats.

Would you prefer a wider seat with no center armrest or a narrower seat with a center armrest?

 

[mightyjoe1201]

Yeah, 50 out in Nevada is a great road to drive. Wish it was better out east here, especially in w.v. I've driven quite a few of the u.s. routes. My favorite was probably u.s. 1 up in main.

As for bus seats, it's a catch 22 for me. I like harbingers arm rest to put my arm on but would also like the wider seats given my size. It also depends on if I have to sit with someone too. I'm not fond of sitting next to strangers so there I want the dark rest between us.

 

[mightyjoe1201]

Oh, I looked into taking greyhound to go visit my girlfriend at times but the timetables don't give me much time to spend with her. It would take me close to 12 or more hours to get there compared to 6 hours of driving.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I understand. Probably shouldn't take Greyhound anyway due to the sagging Painful Premiers that you will find on the X3-45s. Very painful indeed.

Don't know whether I'd prefer having a center armrest or not. I'm a thin guy, but I still like putting my forearm on it. OTOH, a wider seat might help sleeping. So, at night, I'd take the National, while by day, I'd probably prefer Amaya or Kiel. Still, it's a tough choice. What if I have a suspicious seatmate?

Here's a picture I snapped of GLI DL3 #6925's driver position; this is the one that bottomed out and is equipped with a ZF AsTronic 12-speed: https://www.flickr.com/photos/95851032@N07/20506878540/.

Alex R. blocked me on Flickr but I can still view his photos, so here's one of an old MC-6 in GLC service:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/8982627@N05/2419599277/sizes/l.

Then we have some DL3s pulling trailers:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/8982627@N05/2160943572/sizes/l

https://www.flickr.com/photos/8982627@N05/9219050752/sizes/l

https://www.flickr.com/photos/8982627@N05/2354812926/sizes/l.

And some more GLC ones:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/8982627@N05/9302294425/sizes/l

https://www.flickr.com/photos/8982627@N05/18486458398/sizes/l.

Does anyone know why GLC has the two extra yellow turn signals on the nose? Those aren't on the GLI-spec units. Isn't it very difficult to drive a DL3 pulling a trailer?

 

[railiner]

Charleston? How did that small town have such a large commuter network?

Charleston, West Virginia is the state capital, and was a large hub for the former Atlantic Greyhound Corporation. Besides commuter runs to the city, they had a whole bunch of commuter runs to various coal mines in the region.

 

[railiner]

I was out in a town called Cambridge. Its about 75 miles east of Columbus. Both Thursday night when I drove out there and yesterday coming home the only greyhounds I saw were x3s

Ah, Cambridge! I remember seeing that town on the Rand McNally Road Atlas. Cambridge, Zanesville, Columbus. You could have taken US 22 instead of I-70. I would have taken 22. Tend to prefer the US Highways myself. Did Greyhound ever run US 22 from New York City all the way to Cincinnati?

You know US Route 50? That one's my favorite.

I hope you enjoyed your trip.

Cambridge, Ohio is at the junction of Interstates 70 and 77. Greyhound built one of their last highway Post House restaurants to serve the NYC-Pittsburgh-Columbus-St.Louis thru route, and the Cleveland-Parkersburg-Winston-Salem route that crossed there.

Greyhound did run the full length of US 22, (also known in Pennsylvania as the William Penn Highway). When the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened, they diverted most thru schedules onto it, but still maintained some local service on Route 22 and US-30.. Later on more new highways on either end of the Turnpike diverted traffic away from 22. Greyhound ran two local routes between Pittsburgh and Columbus.....US 22 via Steubenville, and Dennison; and US-40 via Wheeling and Cambridge. until I-70 superceded US-40..

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I had to go look up this again: http://www.chicagorailfan.com/greyhrwv.html.\

What's Overland Commuter Service, James River, and Bristol Jenkins?

Atlantic Greyhound...wasn't that Arthur Hill's company?

Edit: Thanks for the info. Did Greyhound run on US 22 between Zanesville and Cincinnati, bypassing Columbus? How about US 40 bypassing Pittsburgh?

 

[mightyjoe1201]

railiner, do u know if the post house restaurant is still in Cambridge? Cause if it is I want to take my girlfriend to see it and maybe get something there.

 

[railiner]

Don't know whether I'd prefer having a center armrest or not. I'm a thin guy, but I still like putting my forearm on it. OTOH, a wider seat might help sleeping.

Does anyone know why GLC has the two extra yellow turn signals on the nose? Those aren't on the GLI-spec units. Isn't it very difficult to drive a DL3 pulling a trailer?

I prefer having the center armrest. I fit the seat fine, and like the separation from my seatmate if I have one. And the seat overall is still the same width, isn't it? You just lose a bit of space where the armrest swings down....

I too was curious about the GLC extra front flasher's....I thought that perhaps it was a requirement of some province that GLC operates in, but don't really know...

I thought that I have seen similar on MTA DL's, or if not the same, some other additional lights that the MTA specs in to their orders...

 

[railiner]

railiner, do u know if the post house restaurant is still in Cambridge? Cause if it is I want to take my girlfriend to see it and maybe get something there.

I don't think so...the current agency stop is a Marathon gas station. I believe the Post House was torn down, and the nearby Pilot Truck Stop was built on its site...

 

[railiner]

I had to go look up this again: http://www.chicagorailfan.com/greyhrwv.html.\

What's Overland Commuter Service, James River, and Bristol Jenkins?

Atlantic Greyhound...wasn't that Arthur Hill's company?

Edit: Thanks for the info. Did Greyhound run on US 22 between Zanesville and Cincinnati, bypassing Columbus? How about US 40 bypassing Pittsburgh?

The link didn't work....

Yes, Arthur Hill was CEO of Atlantic Greyhound.

I guess I should look at maps, before I answer questions.....now I see that the local that ran from Pittsburgh to Columbus left 22 at Cadiz, and followed US-36 to Coshocton, thence Ohio 16 to Newark and Columbus....

Apparently, there was no coverage of US 22 from Zanesville direct to Cincinnati, unless there was way, way back...

As for bypassing Pittsburgh on US-40, The locals from Baltimore followed US-40 all the way to Uniontown, Pa., then PA-51 into Pittsburgh. Leaving Pittsburgh on US 19 to Washington, Pa, and resuming US-40 on to Wheeling and points west. So there was a gap from Uniontown to Washington on US-40.

Later on there was a sort of bypass of Pittsburgh to the south when they started running a daily trip from Baltimore or Washington via I-68 to Morgantown, WVa.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Here's the Pilot Travel Center in Cambridge: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9971475,-81.5780409,3a,75y,172.89h,83.64t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s4PdK3hFkAnms6mhYZhu-lg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1.

Does that look like the former location of the Post House? It's at I-70 Exit 178 and is detached from US 22/40.

I wish Greyhound still ran Post Houses. I'm sure the food is much better than the gas station food we get these day when Greyhound takes meal stops. They rarely even stop at McDonald's anymore. Arby's is OK if you get the Grand Turkey Club and Curly Fries. Looks like Greyhound did have a lot of curvy routes back then.

I also fit the seat fine but it seems like National Seating does not offer center armrests and has slightly wider individual seats, though the overall width for the pair is still 40". Nationals' cushions appear to be wider and meet in the middle rather than leaving a gap for the armrest to fold up into.

Oh, and NYCT's DL3s don't have the extra lights: https://www.flickr.com/photos/transitalk/7155928748/sizes/l.

 

[rickycourtney]

I much prefer having a center armrest as it provides a rigid separator between you and the person sitting next to you.

Most bus seat armrests aren't that wide, maybe an inch. I'd much rather lose a little space for some separation.

The only exception is when I travel with my wife. In that case we usually put the armrest up if possible.