Greyhound seats and fleet questions

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Since I didn't want to take your other thread too far off track… I'll say this here:

All in all, I think the news that overbooking has been largely eliminated is great news and goes a long way towards addressing a major complaint of customers. In my opinion, the only major thing left for the company to tackle is real-time bus tracking. Customers deserve to be able to get up-to-the-minute arrival information on their smartphones. Relying on bus drivers to call in to the next station is unreliable and it doesn't help customers who are catching the bus at an unstaffed stop.
 
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I agree, it's now up to Dave Leach to do that. Will he do that? I think he will, sooner or later, but he should be careful in this time when Greyhound still has 200,000 publicized haters on the internet.

I think the immediate next step for Greyhound should be to introduce more Limited services which have proven very popular, then tackle the communications problem. Maybe some more buses here and there but no major order. Greyhound is still pressing White G's into service during the summer schedules.
 
*looks at those two pictures* oooh, and I'm having to bus home from Atlanta, so it's possible I could get to ride this specific bus... :3
 
Misty. said:
*looks at those two pictures* oooh, and I'm having to bus home from Atlanta, so it's possible I could get to ride this specific bus... :3
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Don't let looks deceive you, the J is known for HVAC problems, but it's indeed been the best-seller for ten years running. So it can't be too bad even though drivers don't like them. I think they run out of Dallas Garage, not Atlanta Garage. Here's one in Dallas: https://www.flickr.com/photos/51819203@N06/9206334776/sizes/h/.

The J4500 sure looks great in Greyhound Neoclassic, really amazing how Neoclassic looks great on any coach. But it appears they used the wrong point on the J painting, because a lot of them have chipped white spots in the paint despite being recently painted.

If you're riding ATD-STD, starts at $59 bucks, runs 2x Daily. But please ride the daytime 4502 instead of overnight 4700. What type of bus? I don't really know, please take photos so that we could see.

Nobody knows what the inside of Greyhound's J-units look like right now, but they are just your standard charter buses except looking different in the blue livery. Standard interior: https://www.flickr.com/photos/busdudedotcom/9198634782/sizes/l. Show interior: https://www.flickr.com/photos/crown426/7578100572/sizes/l.

Edit: Show interior link doesn't work.
 
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Still, I'd like a ride in that one just to know I have :) As far as scheduling... I have to take the overnight one, as a compromise between wanting as much of Friday in Atlanta as possible without having to deal with TSfail combined with still getting back to STL and making my way from the station to my work by 8:00 am on Saturday. Yes, I will be existing on caffeine heavily Saturday (and yes, I'm working on a 2 liter of Mtn Dew right now to help me stay awake till 22 time. It's doing well so far, no more than 9 minutes late at any stop :3).

EDIT: *goes back to her confirmation email* $91.80 plus will call fee (what, if i have to pay that fee regardless, i might as well make them print it for me :/) Still, I booked that ticket July 22nd, so I at least know I paid less than I probably would have to, say, if I booked it today.
 
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Well uh, 4700 overnight gets into STD at 12:05 PM, too late for you to make work. So I don't see what you are trying to do. Are you trying to 1192 to Nashville transfer to 1162 and continue to Saint Louis? In that case, be careful since 1162 is a Tallahasse-Saint Louis. Get to that Nashville gate early or else you might get a bad seat even though that route doesn't have interlining so no overbooking.

I know they have a nice new terminal in Nashville now.

In that case I hope you ride a DL3 or Blue G since those have the best seats for sleeping. Blue G has the same interior as the J but wider seats. The J is built for charters and Greyhound's are second-hand, so they probably have narrow seats. I really like the Blue G though, tons of legroom: https://www.flickr.com/photos/95851032@N07/15004646326/.

And looks nice too: https://www.flickr.com/photos/95851032@N07/14603667207/.
 
Yup, 1192 to 1162 is what I'm doing. Hmm, how recently was Nashville's terminal redone? (I was there in July of 2011, when I did 4711 St Louis to Atlanta to meet and hang out with some people).

I'm expecting sleep to be rubbish at best, especially with the transfer, heh.
 
That's the new Nashville terminal: http://transitzac.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/nashville-greyhound-station.jpg.

Yeah, sleep will be rubbish, especially since the stops are off the hypnogram: http://healthysleep.med.harvard.edu/interactive/sleep_lab.

If possible, try to avoid waking up at the stops, when the interior lights have to turn on. Plug your ears and cover your eyes with eye shades. On a run like this, you'll be glad you did! And bring a pillow to sit on in case you get a new bus with sagging seats. When the seats sag, you get severe hip pain, and you have to counter the sagging by sitting on a pillow. No problem if it's an old bus. At least even that J is old second-hand so no sagging seats.
 
Ooh, nice. But yeah, I've got a pair of promotional sunglasses I can swap out for my prescription glasses on the bus to help block out light, and in situations like buses or coach sleep, I listen to music via ear buds, so at least I'm covered on the ear blocking... at least somewhat, I lose or break them often enough that I just stick to the cheapest pair I can find with in line controls. heh
 
I don't think sunglasses will work, I think you need actual eye shades. The white overhead courtesy lighting inside the buses turn on too brightly at stops to avoid waking up, unless you have a completely-opaque eye shade.
 
Eh, I'm also thinking better than nothing when I don't possess the other for normal use, let alone rarer circumstances heh

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Can't you just buy an eye cover at Wal-Mart?

Edit: Oh yeah Ricky, rumors are out that Greyhound leased 25 Van Hool TX45's intending to test them on BoltBus routes out of Seattle. Apparently they were spotted in Idaho headed to the PNW painted for BoltBus.
 
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Swadian Hardcore said:
Can't you just buy an eye cover at Wal-Mart?

Edit: Oh yeah Ricky, rumors are out that Greyhound leased 25 Van Hool TX45's intending to test them on BoltBus routes out of Seattle. Apparently they were spotted in Idaho headed to the PNW painted for BoltBus.
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If true, that would be a surprise, for sure! And the taller TX45's instead of the CX45's? Very surprising....
 
I'll keep my eyes peeled!

It certainly is an interesting choice considering the TX45 is Van Hool's "luxury coach" (like the J4500 and the H3-45).
 
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You can if you get the idea far enough out to plan when you don't drive heh (or at least have semi decent transit coverage/scheduling) heh

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That TX lease is just a rumor. No confirmation, no nothing. Apprently someone said he heard from someone else that had spotted BoltBus TX45's in Idaho headed on delivery to Seattle and said that yet another person from Greyhound had told him they were on lease, 25 units all going to BoltBus Seattle. Mistake, apprently 5 TX45 and 20 CX45 models?

"I don't know how many VanHools Greyhound has but I know of 5 I personally saw in Idaho and Nev on a trip they were the new TX models one nice looking bus with the paint scheme and the dog on the sides here you do see a lot of the new D but not many older one

Well it wasn't my lying eyes I spoke with Mark the TX Vanhools were coming from their FL location on the way to Greyhounds Bolt in Portland where the paint scheme was wrapped with Bolt's colors
Greyhound has a 5 year lease on 25 Vanhools 5 Tx and 20 of the CX models and they are working on another lease order with ABC doing all the maintenance"

Nobody knows what the engine is right now and the units are not on the Greyhound roster being supposedly leased.

If a DD13, that would be a surprise since Van Hool is not part of the Daimler family, but MCI is 10% Daimler. Considering Greyhound's woes with Cummins, I doubt they would actually buy anything with Cummins until the fuel-guzzling problems get fixed.

The TX45 may be Van Hool's luxury model, but since they are cheaper than MCI's in general, probably not more expensive than a D4505 or Prevost's X3-45. Maybe they have Van Hool seating instead of Premier LS.
 
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Interestingly… the standard engine on the TX45 is a Detroit Diesel DD13 (450 HP) with the option to get a Cummins ISX 12.0 (425 HP). I read on CPTDB that Daimler stopped sales of Detroit Diesel engines to other manufacturers in 2010. Obviously exceptions have been made for MCI and Van Hool.

I imagine the price of a TX45 is very close to the D4505 or X3-45.

I hope that Greyhound didn't insist on installing the Premier LS seats on these buses. The Van Hool body line seats would be a huge improvement. Van Hool also offers the option of Amaya Torino G & A-2TEN seats.
 
Oh my gosh, even look at the dashboard! The TX45 dashboard looks almost the exact same as the H3-45.

TX45: https://www.flickr.com/photos/crown426/10576668915/sizes/l.

H3-45: https://www.flickr.com/photos/crown426/5379574352/sizes/l.

I looked at the spec sheet. The TX45 seems to have tiny parcel racks compared to even the H3-45. Also, the turning circle is much, much less. The overall height is a tiny bit lower.

Notice the TX45 has a "deluxe tour guide seat" as a standard option. If the rumors are true, wonder what Bolt would do with that. Allow on another passenger?

The 48/56 seating of the TX40/45 seems to be the exact same as the H3-41/45, but I believe the TX45 offers extra legroom so maybe Bolt could keep all 56 seats and that tour guide seat, making 57 capacity. Someone else in need of even more capacity could probably get a 60-seat TX45 consider there were 61-seat T2145's.

Man, a TX40 turns in 34'4.8". A Toyota Tundra pickup truck apparently turns in 44'. Now I see why people buy Van Hools, but I still don't think they are better than the proven reliable H3-45.
 
All right, can I just get to Atlanta already? Still, I'll get there a little faster than if I'd been able to consent to a coach seat on 19... Later today. At least I'm currently on my first known H3-45? "Meh" comes to mind but I'm a bit sleep deprived and cranky right now. And between this being (only from my perspective) a Richmond bound bus and my seatmate not being my traveling companion, I'll keep it at that.

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Swadian Hardcore said:
Oh my gosh, even look at the dashboard! The TX45 dashboard looks almost the exact same as the H3-45.

TX45: https://www.flickr.com/photos/crown426/10576668915/sizes/l.

H3-45: https://www.flickr.com/photos/crown426/5379574352/sizes/l.
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The Prevost dashboard looks like it was based on the dashboard of a Volvo truck, which makes since. Really the only similarity between the dashboard on the Van Hool and the Prevost is that they both have a big LCD screen in the middle.

Swadian Hardcore said:
I looked at the spec sheet. The TX45 seems to have tiny parcel racks compared to even the H3-45. Also, the turning circle is much, much less. The overall height is a tiny bit lower.
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I noticed that the parcel racks are small too. But frankly I've found *all* parcel racks on buses to be underused.

Van Hool is measuring turning radius from the outside of the tire... which is a bit misleading.

FWIW, the Tundra's turning radius is measured curb to curb.

Swadian Hardcore said:
Notice the TX45 has a "deluxe tour guide seat" as a standard option. If the rumors are true, wonder what Bolt would do with that. Allow on another passenger?

The 48/56 seating of the TX40/45 seems to be the exact same as the H3-41/45, but I believe the TX45 offers extra legroom so maybe Bolt could keep all 56 seats and that tour guide seat, making 57 capacity. Someone else in need of even more capacity could probably get a 60-seat TX45 consider there were 61-seat T2145's.
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I'm positive that Greyhound would have deleted the tour guide seat if possible and removed it if not. Tour guide seats take up room in the entryway and I doubt they would allow a customer to be sitting forward of the aisle shield.

I still think Greyhound would remove some seats. They market "more legroom" pretty heavily. Also it would be sorta awkward to have a 56 seat bus when every other bus in the fleet has 50 seats.
 
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They are close in appearance....the newer H3 headlight area looks even more like the TX than that Brewster does....

The dashboards are not that alike...the Prevost does have a Volvo truck dashboard.

One thing that I strongly dislike about our CO2045's (similar display to the TX), is that to see the air pressure, you must press a button, and then it only displays for a few seconds.

I am surprised that the DOT allows that setup. The analog dials on the Prevost (and every other bus I have ever driven, are always visible....

The TX may be a copy of the H3, but I'll bet it doesn't ride as well....
 

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