Greyhound advice required

[cirdan]

I am looking into taking a Greyhound trip in November.

This will be from Jackson MS to Dallas and I will likely be making stopovers in both Vicksburg MS and Shreveport.

I will be travelling with two friends.

On all my past Greyhound trips I booked on the Internet.

However in this case we think we might need some flexibility as we don't know how long we'll be staying in those intermediate places so it might be better to book on the day or at short notice.

Can I just turn up about half and hour before the bus leaves and buy a ticket? Is the bus likely to be fully booked?

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

That's the Atlanta-Dallas route, which runs 5x daily. Not all buses make all stops. You can buy a walk-up, but it will be extremely expensive.

 

[rickycourtney]

Swad is definitely the expert on this.

My only suggestion would be to make last minute reservations online. It's easy enough to do on a smartphone, if you have one. That will be much cheaper than buying a ticket at the station.

 

[tp49]

But if you do that isn't there the issue of printing it before you get to the station otherwise you pay an additional fee to have them print the ticket? (I remember Swad saying something along those lines.) So if you go that route make sure there's a FedEx Office or a library or someplace open where you can print the ticket before going to the station.

 

[jebr]

Not if you do will call.

Which actually leads to a question I've been meaning to ask: can you print a will call ticket multiple times from a kiosk (or have an agent reprint it if you've already printed a will call ticket), or is it one print only like the Amtrak tickets pre-eTicketing?

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I'm sorry, I'm not sure about Jeb's question. I'm pretty sure you can print out Will Call multiple times from either a kiosk or an agent.

Yeah, Will Call is definitely better than Print at Home. Print at Home is better when there is no Greyhound terminal and the bus only stops at a gas station or curbside stop.

 

[calwatch]

My friend, for some reason, does the Jackson to Dallas thing most weekends. (Jackson is a really boring town for out-of-area millennial.). The trip can be crowded on holiday weekends but usually he is able to have a pair of seats to himself.

 

[tp49]

According to my buddy in Oxford, Jackson is boring for pretty much anyone.

 

[cirdan]

According to my buddy in Oxford, Jackson is boring for pretty much anyone.

That's why we're going there.

We love to explore boring places and look for the positive there.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Generally, Greyhound has gotten rid of routes with low loads. I find it difficult to find an open seat pair when boarding en-route. Try to sit in the front, but beware of reduced-legroom seats.

 

[cirdan]

Generally, Greyhound has gotten rid of routes with low loads. I find it difficult to find an open seat pair when boarding en-route. Try to sit in the front, but beware of reduced-legroom seats.

The online reservation system doesn't actually let you a book a specific seat, does it?

So even if you buy the ticket months in advance, you have no guarantee of any reasonable seat.

Or am I mistaken?

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

It doesn't guarantee you a specific seat, but it does guarantee you a seat on the bus and a early boarding number, or at least that's what Greyhound says. They released an ad that said "Guaranteed Seating on Every Bus".

Booking early gives you an early boarding number, which allows you to get on the bus earlier. But at small stops like Vicksburg, it doesn't matter. It'd only matter in places like Atlanta or Dallas, etc.