More Greyhound cutbacks and comparison with airlines

Shop deals on ebay
shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum

Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I too find it very strange that NYT is operating Toronto<>Detroit. They did not even extend their routes from Buffalo to Cleveland when the opportunity came…
 
Sadly Greyhound has been mismanaged for decades. Beholden to unions that kneecapped it's operations. Bad maintenance and horrible drivers like one that likes to run red lights in wheeling west Virginia and clips toenails between buffalo NY and Albany. NY. Or post pandemic restoration of schedules that didn't happen that pushed this guy to give my business to Amtrak.
Lack of upkeep at hub terminal facilities. Poor security. Bad intetline relations with bus companies like Indian trails and lamers here in Wisconsin. Bad loyalty program too.
 
This issue has been going on for years, as Greyhound struggles to compete with low cost "curbside loading" carrier's. Its new owner's, Flixbus, a German multinational, have accelerated the practice, partly due to real estate property was not included in the sale...
 
My last—probably last ever—Greyhound trip was about 5 years ago from Springfield, Va., to Fredericksburg, Va. There was a tiny bus station (locked up) near the Metro station. Amtrak didn't have a train when I wanted to travel, so I rode the bus. I thoroughly shook the rain from my poncho and rolled it up and left it on the seat when I went to use the toilet. When I got back, there was a puddle on the seat, which I thought was my fault. until the bus made a turn and water streamed down from the ceiling. More water came down with every turn.

I used to ride Megabus a few times a year between Washington and Philadelphia because it was so much cheaper than Amtrak. A couple of rollover Megabus accidents changed my mind.
 
railiner said:
Here's a rather bleak, but all too real take on the state of long distance bus travel today.
At least, for now, it is still possible to take such a trip, on the rapidly shrinking 'network'...

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/jul/26/america-roadtrip-greyhound-bus
Click to expand...
I enjoyed reading the article, it seemed to reflect "my style of travelling". :cool:

One thing the author got wrong though was to fail to mention another Greyhound trip book written by a female, in addition to the quoted Simone de Beauvoir one.

Irma Kurtz wrote "The Great American Bus Ride", which I very much enjoyed reading. Sadly, the bus service has deteriorated massively, even since her book, published around 2008.

The Guardian article mentions that the Las Vegas greyhound station has moved location, does anyone know where the "LVS" Amtrak buses from Bakersfield drop off now? (This connection no longer run by Amtrak it seems... )
 
caravanman said:
I enjoyed reading the article, it seemed to reflect "my style of travelling". :cool:

One thing the author got wrong though was to fail to mention another Greyhound trip book written by a female, in addition to the quoted Simone de Beauvoir one.

Irma Kurtz wrote "The Great American Bus Ride", which I very much enjoyed reading. Sadly, the bus service has deteriorated massively, even since her book, published around 2008.

The Guardian article mentions that the Las Vegas greyhound station has moved location, does anyone know where the "LVS" Amtrak buses from Bakersfield drop off now? (This connection no longer run by Amtrak it seems... )
Click to expand...
The LVS location shows in the Amtrak website as:
Tour Bus Loading Zone
624 South 1st Street
Las Vegas, NV 89101-6357

That's adjacent to the Bonneville Transit Center in downtown. Flix has a designated stop in the same block. They serve other points, especially the Strip. Greyhound is out at the South Strip Transit Center, near the airport. The Thruway bus to Kingman continues to operate from the Airport.
 
Last edited:
I lack the expertise of some here regarding the history and demise of the Greyhound system, thinking that it fills a need and should probably be growing instead of shrinking. While there are many factors involved, this article from CNN filled in some details on one issue:

Greyhound bus stops are valuable assets. Here’s who’s cashing in on them

https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/us/g..._&cvid=c918b64130a84d1494285f3632c2df7c&ei=48
 
Flix still uses curbside here in Charlotte instead of using the Greyhound terminal. Why? I don't know. Barons and a few others use the Greyhound terminal.

I see lot of young and clean looking people boarding Flix busses. Drive over to the Greyhound terminal, and it's riff raff boarding.

Megabus uses curbside at one of our light rail stops.

The asian outfits here have been almost non-existent for some years now. After that deadly crash some years back outside of Richmond VA, NC passed some laws that made it inconvenient for those rascals to operate. That bus originated out of Charlotte. Bus had documented safety violations that went uncorrected. Drivers operating without required sleep intervals, and cooked driver log books, etc. No more $25 poverty rides to NYC.

I don't want to see Greyhound disappear. However, I'm not sure how to fix it. Driver's shortages have been going on now for years. Drivers pay sucks from I keep hearing. The pay for terminal employees sucks too. The stigma of head cases for passengers seems to be unshakable at this point.

On a side note. I would like to take a Megabus from Charlotte to NYC, sitting up front, looking out the big window along the way. But more times than not lately, I've seen the Megabus broke down on the side of I-85.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the YouTube links, Caesar. The decline of the intercity bus industry has actually been going on for a long time and it's a result of several things at once. All of the companies were affected by the market changes. There are references to this in the attached 1975 study. Some handled it better than others. If your time doesn't allow reading the whole thing, just read the "Findings" and the last paragraphs on page 21.

And take a look at the 1975 schedules in the book. It's hard to imagine now, but I made business trips on intercity buses back then. (Oregon prohibited smoking on buses; I might not have done that in states that let smokers puff away.)
 

Attachments

  • Oregon DOT Intercity Bus Study 1975 - OCR.pdf
    9.8 MB · Views: 1
Greyhound has their museum in Hibbing, MN. I have only been able to stop by when they are closed for the winter, so I peered through the chain link fence on snow covered busses as best I could. Be careful not to drive off the cliff into the mines just north of the museum (actually the ghost town and park right north are quite interesting too). No low flying over the mines when they are doing blasting too, watch the TFR's & NOTAMS.
Greyhound Bus Museum 1702931896235.jpeg
1702931858524.jpeg
 
UserNameRequired said:
Greyhound has their museum in Hibbing, MN. I have only been able to stop by when they are closed for the winter, so I peered through the chain link fence on snow covered busses as best I could. Be careful not to drive off the cliff into the mines just north of the museum (actually the ghost town and park right north are quite interesting too). No low flying over the mines when they are doing blasting too, watch the TFR's & NOTAMS.

Greyhound Bus Museum View attachment 34993
View attachment 34992
Click to expand...

Awesome shots, this museum in Hibbing remains, because its not owned by Greyhound. There was another museum owned by Greyhound in LA that was closed last year. The entire collection from the second museum were sold to private collectors and bus museums thankfully. This museum in Hibbing looks incredible, and I've gotta go there one day.

I will make a bit of a note, that bus in the first pic, people call them Decks, Buffalos, GM highway coaches, etc., Greyhound never had 40ft versions of those buses. They only had the 35ft versions, by the time the 40ft versions were available, Greyhound was buying strictly 40ft buses from MCI.

That didn't stop some of their affiliated from getting 40ft GM highway coaches. Just like it didn't stop Trailway's many companies in its system for getting strictly Eagles, there were some Trailways companies that had MCIs.
 
For those that are interested in all sorts of buses, I highly recommend a visit to this museum in Hershey, PA. They have one of the finest collections in the world, and are a part of the Antique Automobile Club of America. Not to be missed is the annual "Spring Fling", where visiting buses from all over also attend.

https://busmuseum.org/
And for those on the West Coast, here's another good one...

https://pacbus.org/
 
railiner said:
For those that are interested in all sorts of buses, I highly recommend a visit to this museum in Hershey, PA. They have one of the finest collections in the world, and are a part of the Antique Automobile Club of America. Not to be missed is the annual "Spring Fling", where visiting buses from all over also attend.

https://busmuseum.org/
...
Click to expand...

The Hershey museum, 9 years ago now:

1703030367076.png

1703030530573.png


1703030680639.png
 
TheVig said:
Like most things........ they don't build'em like the used to. Style and character.
Click to expand...
The baggage compartment of the Scenicruisers leaked. We had damaged shipments for a while, as the Sunday Seattle Times would arrive in Portland with bundles that had been sitting in water. We weren't the only shippers troubled with that. The dailies came on NP408, so at least the problem was limited. Eventually, the problem was corrected.

As a passenger, the Scenicruisers were fine. I last rode them in 1974 between San Francisco and Monterey.
 
Although I hope I am wrong but it appears legacy intercity bus lines will be gone in 3 - 5 years. Then just a disjointed routes will be available. It may be that the POLS will realize that a coordinated effort will be needed in various flyover locations not just the mid west. An operating Amtrak with many thruway connecting bus lines will be needed.
There are now and will be more persons that need the mobility enroute. IMHO the main problem is need to make an immediate bathroom trip. Airplanes big problem and autos still a problem.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top