Would you take a 56-hour bus trip to shrink your carbon footprint?

[TinCan782]

Only rail-related because the chart includes trains with buses and other modes of transportation...

http://io9.com/would-you-take-a-56-hour-bus-trip-to-shrink-your-carbon-1516532375

 

[Ryan]

I would have thought the train would fare better on the emissions part.

 

[TinCan782]

I would have thought the train would fare better on the emissions part.

Yes, same here!

 

[Nathanael]

His numbers are no good.

The problem is as follows:

- You can figure out the *added* carbon emissions from your travel. In this case, the airplane, bus, and train all have close to zero emissions because they were running anyway. (Unless you were the only ticketed passenger and they would cancel the flight without you -- I actually had this happen on a few "puddle jumper" airplane flights.)

- You can figure out the *total* carbon emissions of the vehicle. But this artificially advantages vehicles with fewer people in them, and gives ludicrous results, claiming that an automobile is more efficient than a train (true if each has only one passenger!)

- You can figure out the *average* carbon emissions *per passenger*. This is probably what he did.

But then the number is completely dominated by how full the vehicle is. Which means that his "better" number for buses is entirely due to the buses running more full than the train.

He might as well take the train. If they're both full, the train is more carbon-efficient.

 

[SarahZ]

I can't even handle coach on a train overnight. No way am I sitting on a bus for 56 hours.

 

[TinCan782]

I can't even handle coach on a train overnight. No way am I sitting on a bus for 56 hours.

LOL...same here!

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Well, I sat in a bus for 41 hours, and it was not bad. But maybe it's because that was on my favourite bus of all time.

I don't understand why the heck he takes 56 hours to get from "Wisconsin" to Atlanta. A Greyhound trip from Madison to Atlanta is only 22 hours, and that's with a 2-hour layover in Chicago. Even if you go from Eau Claire, it's 24 hours, and from Green Bay, 23 hours.

And he posts the interior of a transit bus instead of the actual interior for the equipment on this route: https://www.flickr.com/photos/koyah7d/6794537825/in/photostream/.

BTW, the longest Greyhound schedule in the US is New York-Denver 1683 at 45 hours and in Canada is Toronto-Calgary 5601 at 56 hours.

Due to glaring errors, please take this article with a grain of salt at all aspects!

 

[Blackwolf]

In the words of Lana on the television show Archer: "NOOOOOOOOOOOPE!!" Like, not just no, or hell no, but F**K NO would I willingly be on a bus more than about 4 hours maximum.

Swadian, you'd be happy to know I've actually convinced a friend of mine to ride the Dog for a round-trip between Sacramento and Redding. But only because it's less than 4 hours, and the calling times for the Starlight on this same route are obscene. ^_^

 

[railiner]

56 hours on a bus?

Awwww, that's just a 'shuttle-hop'....

compared to my 5 day trip from New York to Fairbanks back in 1970, that is........

Of course I was just a 'skosh' younger then....and I did make an overnite stop in beautiful, downtown, Butte, Montana enroute....

But that was nothing, compared to my 'marathon' thirty day ride on Amtrak back in around 1979 with a USARailPass......

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

In the words of Lana on the television show Archer: "NOOOOOOOOOOOPE!!" Like, not just no, or hell no, but F**K NO would I willingly be on a bus more than about 4 hours maximum.

Swadian, you'd be happy to know I've actually convinced a friend of mine to ride the Dog for a round-trip between Sacramento and Redding. But only because it's less than 4 hours, and the calling times for the Starlight on this same route are obscene. ^_^

WAIT, NO! BAD IDEA! Sacramento-Redding is operated with Greyhound's worst equipment! Don't do it! 1 hour on one of those is more hell compared to 50 hours on a good bus!

 

[Blackwolf]

In the words of Lana on the television show Archer: "NOOOOOOOOOOOPE!!" Like, not just no, or hell no, but F**K NO would I willingly be on a bus more than about 4 hours maximum.

Swadian, you'd be happy to know I've actually convinced a friend of mine to ride the Dog for a round-trip between Sacramento and Redding. But only because it's less than 4 hours, and the calling times for the Starlight on this same route are obscene. ^_^

WAIT, NO! BAD IDEA! Sacramento-Redding is operated with Greyhound's worst equipment! Don't do it! 1 hour on one of those is more hell compared to 50 hours on a good bus!

Well, her choices are:

1. Rent a car for one week, just to drive up and back, at a cost of $200 plus fuel and insurance.
2. Take Amtrak, but arrive and depart in the dead of night at an unstaffed station while forcing her host to pick her up and drop her off at those same awful hours. Cost is $58 for coach. Thanks to the brainless law banning Amtrak Thruway services that don't involve a train segment, it's impossible to get between Sacramento and Redding at an hour which does not require you to be a vampire. She's never ridden the train before, and this would not be a good way of introducing it to her.
3. Take Greyhound, which has four round-trips a day, and is only $30 more than Amtrak for a refundable ticket. She can get into Redding, and return to Sacramento all during normal Human business hours. If the route is plagued with poor equipment, there is not much we can do about that.

Are there any other reasonable options I have missed?

 

[jebr]

In the words of Lana on the television show Archer: "NOOOOOOOOOOOPE!!" Like, not just no, or hell no, but F**K NO would I willingly be on a bus more than about 4 hours maximum.

Swadian, you'd be happy to know I've actually convinced a friend of mine to ride the Dog for a round-trip between Sacramento and Redding. But only because it's less than 4 hours, and the calling times for the Starlight on this same route are obscene. ^_^

WAIT, NO! BAD IDEA! Sacramento-Redding is operated with Greyhound's worst equipment! Don't do it! 1 hour on one of those is more hell compared to 50 hours on a good bus!

Well, her choices are:

1. Rent a car for one week, just to drive up and back, at a cost of $200 plus fuel and insurance.
2. Take Amtrak, but arrive and depart in the dead of night at an unstaffed station while forcing her host to pick her up and drop her off at those same awful hours. Cost is $58 for coach. Thanks to the brainless law banning Amtrak Thruway services that don't involve a train segment, it's impossible to get between Sacramento and Redding at an hour which does not require you to be a vampire. She's never ridden the train before, and this would not be a good way of introducing it to her.
3. Take Greyhound, which has four round-trips a day, and is only $30 more than Amtrak for a refundable ticket. She can get into Redding, and return to Sacramento all during normal Human business hours. If the route is plagued with poor equipment, there is not much we can do about that.

Are there any other reasonable options I have missed?

Book a ticket from Davis to Redding on Amtrak + thruway and toss out the Davis to Sacramento portion? Once I figured out that there was a different code for the bus stop, I could book Davis to Redding just fine. I don't think e-ticketing should interfere, either, as the corridor trains are technically unreserved. If you're worried about that, though, just buy multi-city from Sacramento to Redding outgoing and Redding to Davis coming back (that way the one you're skipping is the last one on the journey, and so they shouldn't void it.)

 

[tp49]

In the words of Lana on the television show Archer: "NOOOOOOOOOOOPE!!" Like, not just no, or hell no, but F**K NO would I willingly be on a bus more than about 4 hours maximum.

Swadian, you'd be happy to know I've actually convinced a friend of mine to ride the Dog for a round-trip between Sacramento and Redding. But only because it's less than 4 hours, and the calling times for the Starlight on this same route are obscene. ^_^

WAIT, NO! BAD IDEA! Sacramento-Redding is operated with Greyhound's worst equipment! Don't do it! 1 hour on one of those is more hell compared to 50 hours on a good bus!

Well, her choices are:

1. Rent a car for one week, just to drive up and back, at a cost of $200 plus fuel and insurance.
2. Take Amtrak, but arrive and depart in the dead of night at an unstaffed station while forcing her host to pick her up and drop her off at those same awful hours. Cost is $58 for coach. Thanks to the brainless law banning Amtrak Thruway services that don't involve a train segment, it's impossible to get between Sacramento and Redding at an hour which does not require you to be a vampire. She's never ridden the train before, and this would not be a good way of introducing it to her.
3. Take Greyhound, which has four round-trips a day, and is only $30 more than Amtrak for a refundable ticket. She can get into Redding, and return to Sacramento all during normal Human business hours. If the route is plagued with poor equipment, there is not much we can do about that.

Are there any other reasonable options I have missed?

Book a ticket from Davis to Redding on Amtrak + thruway and toss out the Davis to Sacramento portion? Once I figured out that there was a different code for the bus stop, I could book Davis to Redding just fine. I don't think e-ticketing should interfere, either, as the corridor trains are technically unreserved. If you're worried about that, though, just buy multi-city from Sacramento to Redding outgoing and Redding to Davis coming back (that way the one you're skipping is the last one on the journey, and so they shouldn't void it.)

This! Then again I'm an avoid Greyhoud at all costs kind of guy.

 

[Blackwolf]

In the words of Lana on the television show Archer: "NOOOOOOOOOOOPE!!" Like, not just no, or hell no, but F**K NO would I willingly be on a bus more than about 4 hours maximum.

Swadian, you'd be happy to know I've actually convinced a friend of mine to ride the Dog for a round-trip between Sacramento and Redding. But only because it's less than 4 hours, and the calling times for the Starlight on this same route are obscene. ^_^

WAIT, NO! BAD IDEA! Sacramento-Redding is operated with Greyhound's worst equipment! Don't do it! 1 hour on one of those is more hell compared to 50 hours on a good bus!

Well, her choices are:

1. Rent a car for one week, just to drive up and back, at a cost of $200 plus fuel and insurance.
2. Take Amtrak, but arrive and depart in the dead of night at an unstaffed station while forcing her host to pick her up and drop her off at those same awful hours. Cost is $58 for coach. Thanks to the brainless law banning Amtrak Thruway services that don't involve a train segment, it's impossible to get between Sacramento and Redding at an hour which does not require you to be a vampire. She's never ridden the train before, and this would not be a good way of introducing it to her.
3. Take Greyhound, which has four round-trips a day, and is only $30 more than Amtrak for a refundable ticket. She can get into Redding, and return to Sacramento all during normal Human business hours. If the route is plagued with poor equipment, there is not much we can do about that.

Are there any other reasonable options I have missed?

Book a ticket from Davis to Redding on Amtrak + thruway and toss out the Davis to Sacramento portion? Once I figured out that there was a different code for the bus stop, I could book Davis to Redding just fine. I don't think e-ticketing should interfere, either, as the corridor trains are technically unreserved. If you're worried about that, though, just buy multi-city from Sacramento to Redding outgoing and Redding to Davis coming back (that way the one you're skipping is the last one on the journey, and so they shouldn't void it.)

This! Then again I'm an avoid Greyhoud at all costs kind of guy.

Alas, I offered that. She balked, and is sticking to her Greyhound option because of the backtracking involved. The prices are the same, and the overall trip is shorter via the Dog.

The correct way to handle this would be to have the law limiting Amtrak California's thruway bus operations repealed. I would argue that it is outdated, and that it gives unfair advantage to other bus operators. Its either this, or we get a San Joaquin extension all the way up to Redding with a middle-of-the-day schedule.

 

[rrdude]

I would not send my ex-wife on a 4-hour bus trip, let alone a 56-hour bus trip.

Wait, maybe I would.....................

 

[SarahZ]

Some of the times really confuse me. 12 hours for a flight from Atlanta to Wisconsin? If you fly from Atlanta to Milwaukee, you're looking at two hours.

So then part of me thought, "Oh, he's calculating round-trip," but then I realized 26 hours by car would be one-way. 70 hours by train makes sense, thanks to the transfer in DC and Chicago. I'm just stuck on that 12-hour flight and 56-hour bus trip.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Blackwolf, please warn your friend that if she takes Greyhound, she might hate the G4500 bus so much as to swear off Greyhound at all costs forever, even though the route is being upgraded later this year and the G4500's are being rebuilt.

"Greyhound" is not the problem, "G4500" is the problem. People keep pointing their finger at Greyhound instead of the G4500. Blame it on Dina, the company that made the G4500.

Some of the times really confuse me. 12 hours for a flight from Atlanta to Wisconsin? If you fly from Atlanta to Milwaukee, you're looking at two hours.

So then part of me thought, "Oh, he's calculating round-trip," but then I realized 26 hours by car would be one-way. 70 hours by train makes sense, thanks to the transfer in DC and Chicago. I'm just stuck on that 12-hour flight and 56-hour bus trip.

See? Sarah sees the same confusion that I'm seeing. The author has probably never ridden a Greyhound bus and never checked schedules for such an itinerary. Sounds fake to me.

 

[Ispolkom]

"Greyhound" is not the problem, "G4500" is the problem. People keep pointing their finger at Greyhound instead of the G4500. Blame it on Dina, the company that made the G4500.

If I buy a ticket from Greyhound, their buses are their responsibility. I don't care if they bought them from Dina, Mina, or the Queen of Sheba. My beef is with Greyhound, with whom I have a commercial relationship.

 

[Ispolkom]

Some of the times really confuse me. 12 hours for a flight from Atlanta to Wisconsin? If you fly from Atlanta to Milwaukee, you're looking at two hours.

So then part of me thought, "Oh, he's calculating round-trip," but then I realized 26 hours by car would be one-way. 70 hours by train makes sense, thanks to the transfer in DC and Chicago. I'm just stuck on that 12-hour flight and 56-hour bus trip.

No, they're round trip times. It helps to read the Slate article io9 was paraphrasing. If you plug Madison-Atlanta into Google maps, it gives you a drive time of 12 hours, 48 minutes. No, I didn't believe it was less than 900 miles either, though in my expereince it would require the intervention of God Almighty to get through Chicagoland that fast. On the other hand, if you drove, you'd be going right by Cadiz, Kentucky, where Broadbent's smokes the best bacon in the world.

Six hours each way is reasonable for that city pair, since you're making a connection somewhere (try Kayak).

He went by Megabus, so while Greyhound might have been faster, but I can't personally blame him for avoiding it. He might have gotten a Queen of Sheba GX4650, and had an axle explode.

 

[SarahZ]

Some of the times really confuse me. 12 hours for a flight from Atlanta to Wisconsin? If you fly from Atlanta to Milwaukee, you're looking at two hours.

So then part of me thought, "Oh, he's calculating round-trip," but then I realized 26 hours by car would be one-way. 70 hours by train makes sense, thanks to the transfer in DC and Chicago. I'm just stuck on that 12-hour flight and 56-hour bus trip.

No, they're round trip times. It helps to read the Slate article io9 was paraphrasing. If you plug Madison-Atlanta into Google maps, it gives you a drive time of 12 hours, 48 minutes. No, I didn't believe it was less than 900 miles either, though in my expereince it would require the intervention of God Almighty to get through Chicagoland that fast. On the other hand, if you drove, you'd be going right by Cadiz, Kentucky, where Broadbent's smokes the best bacon in the world.

Six hours each way is reasonable for that city pair, since you're making a connection somewhere (try Kayak).

He went by Megabus, so while Greyhound might have been faster, but I can't personally blame him for avoiding it. He might have gotten a Queen of Sheba GX4650, and had an axle explode.

I did read the article, but it was a few days ago. I must have overestimated Wisconsin to Georgia. It takes about 20-ish hours to drive from southern Michigan to Florida, so I was guesstimating it was about the same for Wisconsin.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

"Greyhound" is not the problem, "G4500" is the problem. People keep pointing their finger at Greyhound instead of the G4500. Blame it on Dina, the company that made the G4500.

If I buy a ticket from Greyhound, their buses are their responsibility. I don't care if they bought them from Dina, Mina, or the Queen of Sheba. My beef is with Greyhound, with whom I have a commercial relationship.

Then you would be extremly glad to know that the G4500 is been rebuilt at top speed to fix their issues. Greyhound rebuilds a batch every three months. Within 2014, all the G4500 will be good reliable blue buses.

Some of the times really confuse me. 12 hours for a flight from Atlanta to Wisconsin? If you fly from Atlanta to Milwaukee, you're looking at two hours.

So then part of me thought, "Oh, he's calculating round-trip," but then I realized 26 hours by car would be one-way. 70 hours by train makes sense, thanks to the transfer in DC and Chicago. I'm just stuck on that 12-hour flight and 56-hour bus trip.

No, they're round trip times. It helps to read the Slate article io9 was paraphrasing. If you plug Madison-Atlanta into Google maps, it gives you a drive time of 12 hours, 48 minutes. No, I didn't believe it was less than 900 miles either, though in my expereince it would require the intervention of God Almighty to get through Chicagoland that fast. On the other hand, if you drove, you'd be going right by Cadiz, Kentucky, where Broadbent's smokes the best bacon in the world.

Six hours each way is reasonable for that city pair, since you're making a connection somewhere (try Kayak).

He went by Megabus, so while Greyhound might have been faster, but I can't personally blame him for avoiding it. He might have gotten a Queen of Sheba GX4650, and had an axle explode.

But Chicago-Atlanta gets very good equipment, there is virtually no chance of a G4500 on Chicago-Atlanta because they are not based in the area, they are mostly based in Seattle with some in Los Angeles and Dallas. Greyhound's Chicago-Atlanta is a Limited route, the equipment can kick the arse of anything Megabus has got.

Ispolkom, since you live in Saint Paul, feel free to take a Greyhound ride to Chicago but just avoid peak travel times because when capacity gets dire, Greyhound uses leased buses that are crap. No G4500's in Saint Paul. Do you have a grudge against Greyhound for some reason?

And uh, Blackwolf, you should probably let your friend take a look at this: http://extranet.greyhound.com/revsup/schedules/pdf/600.pdf. All the Sacramento-Redding schedules are actually Sacramento-Portland, this is the longest G4500-exclusive route and has very poor OTP compared to Greyhound's nationwide 90% OTP. If boarding in Redding, don't be surprised if your bus is delayed without explantion, since the G4500 frequently breaks down on the mountains.

Don't want to deal with bad Greyhound buses? Just wait a few months and they'll be cool. Greyhound upgrades their fleet faster than anyone else. Today's Greyhound is better than yesterday's Greyhound, tommorow's will be better than today's.

 

[Ispolkom]

Ispolkom, since you live in Saint Paul, feel free to take a Greyhound ride to Chicago but just avoid peak travel times because when capacity gets dire, Greyhound uses leased buses that are crap. No G4500's in Saint Paul. Do you have a grudge against Greyhound for some reason?

There's no way on God's green earth that I'll voluntarily spend 7 hours on a bus. I especially won't spend 7 hours on a bus to Chicago when I can use miles or points and fly for free in an hour. As for Greyhound, I've tried them, and didn't enjoy the uncomfortable buses or seamy stations. Since, as you write yourself, "Greyhound uses leased buses that are crap," I don't plan to repeat the experience.

 

[Shortline]

Would I take a 56 hour bus ride to lower my carbon footprint?? No. I would personally cut a hole in the ozone and melt the ice caps just to avoid a 56 hour bus trip. I don't even like to ride the bus from the rental car lot to the airport terminal.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Would I take a 56 hour bus ride to lower my carbon footprint?? No. I would personally cut a hole in the ozone and melt the ice caps just to avoid a 56 hour bus trip. I don't even like to ride the bus from the rental car lot to the airport terminal.

LOL, it's not that bad. Ever done it before?

Ispolkom, since you live in Saint Paul, feel free to take a Greyhound ride to Chicago but just avoid peak travel times because when capacity gets dire, Greyhound uses leased buses that are crap. No G4500's in Saint Paul. Do you have a grudge against Greyhound for some reason?

There's no way on God's green earth that I'll voluntarily spend 7 hours on a bus. I especially won't spend 7 hours on a bus to Chicago when I can use miles or points and fly for free in an hour. As for Greyhound, I've tried them, and didn't enjoy the uncomfortable buses or seamy stations. Since, as you write yourself, "Greyhound uses leased buses that are crap," I don't plan to repeat the experience.

Sure the leased buses are crap but Amtrak has some bad equipment too once in a while. Everybody has some bad equipment once you have a huge operation.

If you don't want to ride Greyhound. I'm planning to ride Greyhound to Canada which would mean about 90 hours on the bus total round-trip. I'll have some train rides too. I'm sorry you're missing out on the fun.

 

[jis]

Would I take a 56 hour bus ride to lower my carbon footprint?? No. I would personally cut a hole in the ozone and melt the ice caps just to avoid a 56 hour bus trip. I don't even like to ride the bus from the rental car lot to the airport terminal.

LOL, it's not that bad. Ever done it before?

Yep. I have actually done it before, and no I won't do it again. It took me a week to get my backbone straightened out to a normal state after that. It is really pretty bad. I suppose it is different if you happen to be a bus frother.