Greyhound / Trailways travel

[lthanlon]

I'm considering adding a leg of long-distance bus travel to an upcoming Amtrak trip, but I've never been on an intercity motor coach. Picking a milk run route that stops in small towns seems like a great complement to the train. I've heard you meet an interesting cross section of America this way.

 

[The Davy Crockett]

You probably know this, but If you use the Thruway Motorcoaches, they guarantee connections with Amtrak. I've taken the BFD - LVS Thruway Motorcoach before - transferring from/to a San Joaquin at BFD. Though not the train, it was not crowded, so one could spread out across two seats and enjoy watching the scenery roll by. Overall, it was a pleasant experience.

On the other hand I've taken some long distance bus trips that have made me really wish I was almost anywhere but on that particular bus. The seats seem pretty small if you have a large framed person next to you. It can get rather claustrophobic and very sleepless on an overnight run. Personally, I'll stick to rails for long distance ground transportation whenever possible and I've sworn off overnighters on the bus.

 

[fairviewroad]

In the late 90's I rode Greyhound r/t from Louisiana to Idaho and one-way from Louisiana to Pennsylvania. The former involved 2 overnights in each

direction and the latter involved one overnight. Since then, I've only taken a handful of day-only segments. Couple of thoughts:

1. If you want to sleep, bring a small travel pillow, ear plugs, plus sleeping pills if you find them helpful.

2. It is indeed a great way to meet a cross-section of Americans plus a surprising number of Europeans. But the cross

section you'll meet won't include any wealthy retirees or (generally speaking) husband/wife/2 kids type of families. But it

will include a disproportionate number of college students, members of the military, and people who really, really need a

cigarette and will climb over everyone else to get off at the next smoke stop.

3. Greyhound doesn't offer nearly as many milkrun itineraries as they used to. Thanks in part to competition from Megabus, etc,

which offers much faster express services. In fact I'd say that outside of the mountain time zone you'll find few routes that consistently

run off-interstate. If you want the real experience try heading to the inter-mountain west...great vistas, and people in it for the long haul.

4. It is NOT a comfortable way to travel. No two ways about it. Tolerable, perhaps...but the slummiest commuter rail car is going to be

more comfortable than 6+ hours on a Greyhound. Get off and stretch your legs at EVERY available opportunity. But stay CLOSE to the bus.

If the driver says you'll have 15 minutes, assume s/he means 10.

5. If you like healthy food, bring it yourself. Otherwise be content with gas station/vending machine snacks and fast food fare.

 

[lthanlon]

I am indeed looking at routes in the intermountain West. Thanks for the info.

 

[Train2104]

If you don't have it already, here's the Greyhound schedule. It's hard to find, Greyhound doesn't publicize it. Googling "Greyhound timetable" doesn't give you this either. I found it through a link on Wikipedia. Click on "Route Map" in the left sidebar to find which routes travel between the cities you need, then click on the route number in the sidebar. Routes in dotted lines are not available, I don't know where the schedules are found.

http://extranet.greyhound.com/Revsup/schedules/pageset.html

Very limited service in the Empire Builder's territory (hence why the EB is the busiest of all Amtrak transcons). But you can't beat NYP-PHL for $8!

 

[lthanlon]

If you don't have it already, here's the Greyhound schedule. It's hard to find, Greyhound doesn't publicize it. Googling "Greyhound timetable" doesn't give you this either. I found it through a link on Wikipedia. Click on "Route Map" in the left sidebar to find which routes travel between the cities you need, then click on the route number in the sidebar. Routes in dotted lines are not available, I don't know where the schedules are found.

http://extranet.greyhound.com/Revsup/schedules/pageset.html

Very limited service in the Empire Builder's territory (hence why the EB is the busiest of all Amtrak transcons). But you can't beat NYP-PHL for $8!

Thanks!

 

[George Harris]

www.greyhound.com

It is not exactly easy to walk through. I would think they could do much better.

After you get to the site, go to tickets and travel, then to purchase tickets, select a date and enter your to-from points. When this comes up you click on search schedules. When this comes up, click on one and go to scheule details.

Just for laughs, I picked Jackson TN to Mobile AL. Why those? Gulf Mobile and Ohio Railroad, and its bus subsidiarly, Gulf Transport Co. The locations are about 400 miles apart, but if you want to go between them by bus, Greyhound takes 18 hours with two changes, one in Nashville and the other in Montgomery AL.

 

[Shawn Ryu]

You probably know this, but If you use the Thruway Motorcoaches, they guarantee connections with Amtrak. I've taken the BFD - LVS Thruway Motorcoach before - transferring from/to a San Joaquin at BFD. Though not the train, it was not crowded, so one could spread out across two seats and enjoy watching the scenery roll by. Overall, it was a pleasant experience.

On the other hand I've taken some long distance bus trips that have made me really wish I was almost anywhere but on that particular bus. The seats seem pretty small if you have a large framed person next to you. It can get rather claustrophobic and very sleepless on an overnight run. Personally, I'll stick to rails for long distance ground transportation whenever possible and I've sworn off overnighters on the bus.

Same here. Amtrak set up a emergency bus service to New York from Philly when the trains couldnt run because the catenary north of Trenton broke.
It was 2 hour ride but it was very uncomfortable.

 

[Pastor Dave]

My bus experiences have not been very good. I felt cramped in my seat and some of folks on the bus obviously had not bathed in quite awhile. I think if you have the right mindset you can tolerate the trip. But it is tough to say I've enjoyed any of the experiences.

 

[bretton88]

Ive done OMA-MSP on greyhound and trailways. It was actually comfortable! I thought some of the pros where: Wi-fi on the trailways bus, and a decent onboard movie (silver surfer). Large (superliner style) windows to see the (lack of) scenery too. I liked the actual greyhound bus better, because it was configured better for long distance and had more legroom. The cons: don't go to the on board restroom, and the stations are generally below amshack standards.

 

[RRrich]

I was ticketed in Business Class on the Cascades PDX-SEA but there was a mudslide which cancelled the train. Amtrak chartered busses. I am a big guy 6'3" 270 pounds. although the bus was crowdewd no one sat next to me as I was sitting on an angle - I had to put my legs somewhere/1

The trip was terrible - just no room. Naturally no electricity.

I think I am due a refund!

 

[saxman]

I usually don't mind bus rides of two or three hours. I would ride between Dallas and Houston as they make that run fairly often and even offer express services which is nice. Being on a full bus can be miserable though. I once went from Dallas to Grand Forks and back on the bus, and it was not very fun. Interesting though. The trip up took about 26 hours where I changed in Tulsa, Kansas City, and Fargo. We made lots of stops and even got off the interstate to hit the smaller towns.

The way back, it took something like 33 hours. I changed in Fargo, Sioux Falls, KCY, and Oklahoma City that time. As much as I think the bus stops should be in the downtown areas to make it easy to connect to Amtrak trains or other forms of transit, it sure is annoying to have to pull off of the interstate for all those smaller stops.

 

[DET63]

Greyhound stations used to have Post House cafeteria-style restaurants, open to the general public as well as travelers. The food was tolerable (probably fast-food quality, maybe a little better). I don't know if they're still in existence. You may have to settle for vending-machine quality food, or look for good restaurants in towns where there are long layovers.