There are bustitutions and there are bustitutions. I've done Longview or Marshall to Mineola several times, it's simple. I've also done St Louis to Bloomington when they were doing the high-speed upgrades. That was a little less fun.
I once had to ride a bus (on fairly short notice, flooding) from St Louis to Mineola. That was overnight, it was terrible, and because it was short notice they were basically city buses and were uncomfortable. I was a lot younger then, and I actually drove the 2 1/2 hours home from Mineola after it and then went and taught the next day. Now I'd take the day off and stay overnight at a motel.
The driver also played loud, shoot-em-up movies all night on the tv system in the bus for the passengers, even with earplugs it was miserably loud.