Has anyone traveled by Greyhound just recently?

It’s been more than a year since I travelled by Greyhound but I don’t suppose things have changed much. I liked travelling by Greyhound, you get to see the country and you will meet interesting people. I never travelled more than one day at a time but I never found it boring or tedious and there are rest breaks where you can get off the bus and grab something to eat.

The buses I travelled in were pleasant enough inside, bright and clean with big picture windows. You do encounter some characters for example I met a guy released from jail who was travelling home and one guy who thought he was a dog but I never saw the slightest sign of trouble.

The drivers keep a pretty close eye on things and will throw anybody off if they cause trouble. On one bus I was on a very old very frail lady who was travelling on her own and needed assistance to get on and off the bus was very well looked after by the driver and the other passengers.

I never encountered any searches or pat downs.

I have not traveled by greyhound in many years. I used to enjoy it. I look forward to reading other answers to your question.

What is Greyhound?

Years ago I did TV commercials for Greyhound and I have a rather soft spot in my heart for them, but I haven’t ridden one in years. Hey, why don’t you take a short “test trip” to see how you like it?

The trips that I have taken between Boston and NYC have been pretty uneventful. Some of the buses are very new and modern, and others are older, but still in decent condition. For this route, though, I usually prefer to ride their affiliated company, Bolt Bus, because the buses are all new, prices are often lower, and you are assured a seat on the bus that you bought a ticket for, as long as you show up on time. (With Greyhound, they sometimes oversell and you then have to wait for the next bus if the one you wanted gets full. They do have a program on certain routes where you can pay extra to have an actual reservation, though.)

Also, I wasn’t traveling for days at a time. I think the longest Greyhound trip I ever took was Boston to Montreal (10 hours?) and that was long enough, thank you. It costs more, but I would recommend Amtrak if you want to be able to look out the window and see things and travel for longer periods, because it is more comfortable.

@tups Greyhound is a bus and transit line that goes city to city in several areas of USA, Canada and Mexico. Many years since I “traveled by the dog”, use to travel from central Connecticut to Vermont and New Hampshire.

I took Greyhound two years ago between Montreal and Vermont. It was fine. I wouldn’t want to be on a bus for days though, I would much rather take the train if possible for some or part of the trip if flying is out of the question. I would say certain routes are better than others probably. Better in terms of bus condition and who is on the bus. What cities are you traveling between?

No searches were done by the bus company. I travelled across the border, so there was a delay for a few passengers who had further questioning than typical by immigration and customs. But, it did not dely us from arriving on time to our destination.

Yes, this past March. I would never take Greyhound again. No searches, felt safe, nice buses (outlets by the seats), cheap. It could have been a nice experience.

The first thing that happened, and I know this was my own stupid fault, was I bought my ticket for the wrong day. I realized this and called customer service hoping to get it transferred, and they said there was nothing they could do, I had to buy another ticket for the right day. Fuuuuu…

I was traveling from NYC to my hometown with a layover in Philly, and when I handed them my ticket in NYC, they said, “Uh, you realize you’re not going to be able to get to [my hometown] today right?” There was a snowstorm forecast and they had cancelled all routes west of Philly. I asked what my options were, and she said, “Leave and get a hotel in New York, or go to Philly and get a hotel in Philly.” No refund either. So basically I’m a broke college student just trying to get home for spring break and I’ve paid double what I should have to get this ticket, and it’s only going to take me halfway home, and I’m going to have to get a hotel. Again, FUUUUU…

I decide to get on the bus and go to Philly. I spent the whole ride on their website tracking their cancellations. There was a page that said buses west of Philly were cancelled, but over the course of the ride, this warning went away. I thought maybe they had been un-cancelled so I called customer service to confirm. The woman I got said “Gee I dunno, let me call the Philly station and ask.” After being put on hold for quite a while, she came back and said “I couldn’t get ahold of them, let me give you the number to call them directly and maybe you’ll have better luck.” I called that number and got that irritating three tone beep and the robotic voice saying “I’m sorry, your call could not be completed…” Meanwhile I’d been emailing with my parents because we were trying to figure out how to get me home, and my mom also called the number and apparently got through. And she was told that rides west of Philly were still cancelled.

I arrived in Philly and asked someone at the Greyhound info desk what the situation was. I was told that buses to my hometown would resume at 10PM, so at that point I planned to arrive home in the wee hours of the morning.

Then the most competent person of this whole tale arrived, and it was not a Greyhound employee but a fellow passenger who was attempting to also get to my hometown. He overheard my struggles, tapped my shoulder and said, “Uh, I’m not sure about what’s going on, but there’s a bus outside that claims to be going to [my hometown], wanna check it out?” And long story short, we ended up being able to board that bus and go home, thankfully. But all the employees I spoke with apparently were wrongly informed about what was going on, and were it not for another passenger helping me out, I would have been stranded in Philly.

Anyway sorry for the rant, it was a very stressful experience and I won’t be riding Greyhound again. If you’re careful when you buy your ticket and you ride during good weather and you never ever require help from any customer service people, you might have a better time then I had.

I would recommend looking carefully at the ticket prices before purchasing. The last couple of times that I booked online, they had multiple prices for the same journey, and the price that was advertised as a “deal” (it might have been described as a student or economy rate, can’t remember) was more expensive than the other options. When I called to confirm that this was true, I got a “yeah, who cares?” kind of attitude.

Also, they overbook, so get there early enough to make sure you get the seat you paid for.

And they do bag searches, but only in certain cities. I’ve never seen a pat-down. The insides of the bus were cheap, but clean. I’ve never felt in any danger – but then, I tend to sit right up front, so that I can debark quickly.

Sometimes their bathrooms are unusable. I learned to carry a bottle of cleaner and used their paper towels to clean it up before I used the toilet. Once I had to clean the ENTIRE bathroom, and even then it still smelled. I think a drunk went in there and forgot where the hole was. That was about 2001. I doubt that part has improved much.

Going to the bathroom on a bus is probably never pleasant. When possible, try to hold it until a stop.