How reliable - or not - is Greyhound?

[TheVig]

This was posted to You Tube 2 weeks ago

I saw that video when he released it. I hate that the full trip didn’t work out for him. Hopefully he attempts it again.

 

[Trollopian]

It took you 30 minutes to get to Somerset from Pittsburgh?!! Wow, that's 72 miles. I know people speed on the Turnpike, but that's something else.

Might've been New Stanton (which is indeed about 30 minutes), might've been Somerset, the next plaza; so I apologize for possibly flawed memory. All I can remember is thinking "What the %$#!! We just left Pittsburgh and we're having a 'rest stop?' "

I miss when Howard Johnson's ran all the PA Turnpike rest stops: Howard Johnson's - Roadside Fans. Yeah, I'm showing my age.

Chugging out on the Capitol Limited, by contrast, means seeing the misty dawn over the Monongahela's "decayed industrial grandeur" (a phrase borrowed from another thread) in comfort. In fact the scenery for the entire trip is enthralling. The winner. No contest.

(And yes, MARC, I love your city, but going from Pittsburgh to DC via Baltimore is insane.)

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Here's a Greyhound story that is a fact. In 2008 in Manitoba? Canada a passenger beheaded another passenger and tried to eat the guy.! He finally came off the bus carrying the guys head. He spent a year in psch/evaluation and was released back out into the public. YIKES!!! to the o.p. the plane will be going with or without you and will put out the same emissions. If it were me I'd fly.

This event occurred more than a decade ago, in a different country, where Greyhound no longer exists. The trial and custody period lasted seven years, which is still too short, but if you're going to claim you're posting facts maybe at least that get much right. If we take this reasoning to its logical conclusion the OP should not be flying either because sometimes planes are hijacked by crazy people.

 

[MARC Rider]

I miss when Howard Johnson's ran all the PA Turnpike rest stops: Howard Johnson's - Roadside Fans. Yeah, I'm showing my age.

Chugging out on the Capitol Limited, by contrast, means seeing the misty dawn over the Monongahela's "decayed industrial grandeur" (a phrase borrowed from another thread) in comfort. In fact the scenery for the entire trip is enthralling. The winner. No contest.

(And yes, MARC, I love your city, but going from Pittsburgh to DC via Baltimore is insane.)

I miss the Howard Johnson's, too. The service was slow as anything, but it still brings back memories of family vacation road trips.

As for the routing, while you're right that going from Pittsburgh to DC via Baltimore is nuts, be aware that when I want to ride the train from Baltimore to Pittsburgh, I have to transfer at either DC or Philadelphia. But it is odd that they don't have both Pittsburgh-Baltimore direct buses and Pittsburgh-DC direct buses.

 

[rwb1122]

Greyhound is grim. Avoid it if you can possibly do so.

 

[hlcteacher]

A few years ago I took Greyhound from Pittsburgh to Washington. I can't remember exactly why; either the Capitol Limited was briefly suspended, or was going through one of its stretches of colossal delays (probably in the cursed Chicago-South Bend corridor), but for whatever reason, I took Greyhound. Mind you, in Pittsburgh, the Greyhound and Amtrak stations are across the street from each other and mere minutes from my apartment.

The Greyhound driver didn't even begin boarding us passengers until the scheduled departure time.

About 30 minutes after we finally departed, we had a "rest stop" on the turnpike near Somerset, PA. (Not Breezewood, which at least would've been about midway.) That was the sole rest stop. Huh?

The bus then chugged on its way without incident.

Next stop was Frederick, MD, I don't begrudge bus service to Frederick. It's a good-sized town and deserves bus service. So getting off and then back on the interstate was a bore, but okay.

Then we headed to Baltimore. WHO THE HECK DECIDED TO ROUTE A BUS FROM PITTSBURGH TO WASHINGTON VIA BALTIMORE? Look at a map. That adds 1.5 to 2 hours to travel time.

Of course, this was on a bus, with no option to move around, and most seats filled, and dull dull dull scenery.

(There are now two "direct" Greyhounds from Pittsburgh to Washington DC. One goes via Frederick and Baltimore, as I described, the other goes via Harrisburg and Baltimore, which is equally circuitous.)

I will never, ever, choose to take Greyhound again. If the Capitol Limited is unavailable for some reason I'll head out to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, hike my skirt like Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night, and see what happens.

have been both those routes, had no problem and no complaints

 

[Fenway]

Greyhound is grim. Avoid it if you can possibly do so.

Greyhound is terrible but this was really grim



Foolishly I took a couple of other Chinese buses 10-15 years ago.

New York City to Greenville SC - 11 hours - but it had wifi - Somewhere in Virginia the driver pulled into a motel and woke up his replacement.

Chicago to New York - 14 hours of torture

The Chicago 'terminal' was the Three Happiness Restaurant across from a 'L station - There were 6 of us waiting and no bus and finally a van showed up and driver said he would take us to the bus. Van then drove us to a truck stop in Youngstown, Ohio and said the bus is coming and it finally arrived.

The trip was to cost $60 - none of us were charged

 

[west point]

Where are all the surplus buses parled? Or are they already sold?

 

[wildchicken13]

Chicago to New York - 14 hours of torture

The Chicago 'terminal' was the Three Happiness Restaurant across from a 'L station - There were 6 of us waiting and no bus and finally a van showed up and driver said he would take us to the bus. Van then drove us to a truck stop in Youngstown, Ohio and said the bus is coming and it finally arrived.

The trip was to cost $60 - none of us were charged

If someone pulled up in a van in Chinatown and told me to get on, I'm not sure I would…

 

[TheVig]

We used to have a couple of asian bus operators here in Charlotte. $25 to NYC was a common price. After one of them had a horrible accident in Richmond VA, that was the end of that. If I understood correctly, the state of NC passed some legislation. No more telling customers to meet the bus in some random parking lot. Also the motorcoach operators had to start running their businesses out of legit store fronts. With overhead requirements like that, it made selling low ball tickets impossible. That particular bus had numerous safety citations, and drivers were found to have cooking the books on driver logs too.

I don't think any of these fly by night bus companies operate out of Charlotte anymore. Besides the feds, NC really took it to their backsides with surprise inspections and pull-overs. Basically ran them out of town.

I'm sure Greyhound appreciated the competition elimination.

 

[west point]

I support intercity bus inspections. The buses should have to go thru the weigh stations like the trucks. After seeing 2 private motor homes on the side of the road with broken axels maybe they should have to go thru weight inspections as well.

 

[Fenway]

The Chinese buses were 'interesting' and on the Boston/NY run were known to use city streets in the Bronx and Queens to make up time.

Megabus certainly was interesting as well. Back in 2009, I went to both Kansas City and Minneapolis from Chicago for $2 RT.

50+ years ago or so

 

[Bonser]

I saw that video when he released it. I hate that the full trip didn’t work out for him. Hopefully he attempts it again.

He has the camera on himself too much and he talks about himself way too much. He has a good idea for a video but doesn't let the trip speak for itself. It all has a woe is me feel to it.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

If someone pulled up in a van in Chinatown and told me to get on, I'm not sure I would…

 

[SanDiegan]

Sounds like Canada is the place to commit a crime.

Sounds like something that would happen in California

 

[MARC Rider]

Greyhound is terrible but this was really grim

View attachment 27562

Foolishly I took a couple of other Chinese buses 10-15 years ago.

New York City to Greenville SC - 11 hours - but it had wifi - Somewhere in Virginia the driver pulled into a motel and woke up his replacement.

Chicago to New York - 14 hours of torture

The Chicago 'terminal' was the Three Happiness Restaurant across from a 'L station - There were 6 of us waiting and no bus and finally a van showed up and driver said he would take us to the bus. Van then drove us to a truck stop in Youngstown, Ohio and said the bus is coming and it finally arrived.

The trip was to cost $60 - none of us were charged

Here's the Chinatown bus station in Philadelphia -- in Chinatown!



It's on 11th St., right around the corner from the Greyhound station. Note that they have an actual waiting room and ticket office.



Which has easy access to SEPTA's Jefferson regional rail station.

 

[Willbridge]

The Flixbus takeover of Greyhound Lines will have some interesting challenges, given the different contemporary images. This evening I found that Greyhound's I.T. people are experimenting with including Flix trips on their ticket sales website.

 

[bms]

Megabus certainly was interesting as well. Back in 2009, I went to both Kansas City and Minneapolis from Chicago for $2 RT.

I really miss the midnight Megabus from Cleveland to New York. Unlike most cities, it actually stopped in Cleveland at a station with a heated waiting area and bathrooms.

Technically Megabus service in Cleveland was suspended due to the pandemic, but it's been two years. I still use Greyhound/Baron's Bus to travel to Michigan and West Virginia, and their service tends to be pretty reliable on those runs.

 

[CTANut]

I saw a greyhound bus that was delayed 3 hours today.

 

[CTANut]

My first attempt to avoid flying for environmental purposes has been thwarted by Amtrak's service cuts.

I'm considering Greyhound instead of flying. The issue is my trip would be 12 hours Rochester to Boston with two transfers.

Granted, you only hear the horror stories, but I've seen a lot of mentions of Greyhound cancelling buses if they aren't full though. I'm nervous about getting stuck somewhere and really getting in a fix as my return train home starts in Boston. Thoughts?

Make sure you get food at rest stops. It can be 5 hours between bus stops with restaurants.

 

[Willbridge]

Make sure you get food at rest stops. It can be 5 hours between bus stops with restaurants.

Sadly, still superior to Amtrak coach travel.

 

[TheVig]

Here's the Chinatown bus station in Philadelphia -- in Chinatown!

View attachment 27572

It's on 11th St., right around the corner from the Greyhound station. Note that they have an actual waiting room and ticket office.

View attachment 27573

Which has easy access to SEPTA's Jefferson regional rail station.

I've ate a lot of chinese food in that neigborhood.

 

[BCL]

Sounds like Canada is the place to commit a crime.

That was an extremely strange occurrence. The perpetrator suffered from schizophrenia but was not on medication.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4360713/lawsuit-over-greyhound-bus-beheading-in-limbo-10-years-later/​

It’s been a decade since the beheading of a passenger on a Greyhound bus west of Winnipeg, and the fallout over the incident and its subsequent justice system ruling is still a running debate in the country.​

​

Vince Li, who now goes by the name Will Baker, beheaded and cannibalized a fellow passenger, Tim McLean, on a bus just outside Portage la Prairie on July 30, 2008.​

​

Baker sat next to 22-year-old McLean on the ride, which never made it to its final destination.​

​

The violent attack took place after the young man smiled at Baker and asked how he was doing. Baker later said he heard the voice of God telling him to kill the carnival worker or “die immediately.”​

 

[Devil's Advocate]

The perpetrator suffered from schizophrenia but was not on medication.

Yeah, that's when it all goes wrong. In my view people who are prone to react violently in response to voices in their head need to be kept in an institution until such time as they no longer represent a viable threat even if they cease taking medicine or accepting further medical care.

 

[City of Miami]

Rs9 asked about reliability. Greyhound has a functional bus tracker on their website. I have used it to satisfy myself about reliability. First make an online reservation for your proposed trip and note the route number of each leg. Ditch the reservation. Then with those route numbers you can check the bus tracker for how the buses are doing for the day you check as well as previous couple of days. It takes a little practice to get the hang of it, then it's easy to do it often and you get a real sense of your possibilities.