How icky is Greyhound?
 

We are having many travel snafus revolving around Thanksgiving, long drives in multiple cars, football games that must be attended, people wanting to branch off to different far-off destinations after dinner, sold-out flights and rental cars, bla bla bla. BUT there is an overnight Greyhound that seems to solve our most pressing problem. And it would be my son who takes it, LOL. It sounds tortuous to me, anybody have recent overnight experience on a bus (9PM to 6AM.)
(And yes, I remember the recent beheading on a Canadian Greyhound, yikes.)

Not recently, but I have taken overnight buses a few times when I was younger (and poorer). Let's just say that 9 hours on the bus overnight is probably the only thing that can be worse than 9 hours riding a bus during daytime.

Another thing you have to remember ( I learned this from many greyhound travels in my college years) the schedule is only a very loose guideling, actually guideline isn't even the word, its a lie. 9PM-6AM means only that he will be leaving no earlier than 9 PM and could arrive within a few hours of 6 AM, or a day or two later, or be rerouted entirely. You would be better off having him hitchhike to his destination.

In most cities in America, it would be a good move to just go and visit the mere Greyhound station on your end... and if you can stand the crowd/people there, then the bus will prooooooobably be slightly better than the surroundings at the station.

In truth, it depends on which area of the country you're in as to whether the ride should be expected to go on time and without a hitch.

Unfortunately with the price of gas and the aggravation of air travel these days, Greyhound has taken on more of the dregs of the dregs. And surely THAT is who your son would be sitting beside.

On a positive note, that crazy thing in Canada was truly an isolated incident and shouldn't be feared.

Consider it at least...

Our son took an overnight Greyhound about 6 or 8 years ago coming from the south and ending up at Boston's South Station around 5am. He was supposed to change buses there for the final trip home but we drove down to "rescue" him. We figured we could survive driving into Boston at that hour of the day. He wasn't happy about the trip. It was long and tedious and not as easy as flying. But, the time it took about 14 hours to fly home thanks to ice storms was worse for him, I think, because he didn't know if he was ever going to get home. It was almost midnight on Dec 23. He had been willing to take any flight that ended up someplace in New England.
Your son will survive. Maybe he'll learn something from the trip. Maybe an entertaining story he can tell his friends later on. I recently took a 2 hour bus trip filled mostly with commuters. Very surprised that cell phones weren't allowed. The bus driver reprimanded someone who used their phone. You might want to tell your son to check.

suppposedly having bought a ticket for a bus does not guarantee you a seat fro that bus, at lest that is what happended a few years ago on my only experience.

i had a ticket, and a seat, but at one of the stops, some people outside of chicago were not going to be let on the bus, because suddenly they were overbooked.

no seat, but they had bought tickets for that bus. they were told to wait for the next bus instead.

since one was going to the airport and going to miss a flight, he STOOD UP the next 2 hours all the way to chicago.

check it out. not sure if it is the same policy now or not.

In my limited experience are only able to keep a passenger roster of those that purchase a ticket in advance... so in the event of an "incident" they have no real passenger list.

I would not entrust my child to their care.

Give us your dates and destinations and maybe someone will think of something else. Anything else.

My rather soft 21-year-old nephew recently took a bus trip, though not overnight. I believe it was Boston - Buffalo with a change. Not sure if Greyhound (sorry for the vagueness).

He said the other passengers were "interesting", the stations not to his cleanliness standards, the bus ran late, and it was boring. But he survived just fine.

Since then he did some hosteling in Europe and made some of the same comments.

If your son is a college student, have him check the ride boards at his school. There may be someone going roughly the same direction looking for passengers.

Just a thought... when I lived on the TX/OK border, I used to take the bus back to my hometown pretty regularly.
There was a huge military post nearby and the bus was always full of teenage soldiers visiting home for the weekend.
I made lots of penpals on those trips and it made me want to join the military... which made me visit the Army recruiting station, which is when/where I met my husband.
So maybe those bus trips were my destiny :)
I got on near that post and got off before the big city, so I only stopped at rural stations, which were mostly gas stations.
It really depends on your start and stop point.
Also, is it near a military installation? If so, there will be soldiers in transit, I can guarantee it!

I've done this at least 2-3 times in the past, but not recently. This was in the early 1990s and I traveled alone from Boston to Toronto (and back).

I survived all the trips, though not something I'd do again since I can afford flying now.

The major things I didn't like were:
1) clientele
2) impossible to sleep
3) using the bathroom on the bus

One time I was taking Greyhound with a friend from Toronto to Boston. It was pouring rain and suddenly the ceiling "exit chute" started leaking and dumped a huge amount of water onto the pax in front of us. The bus was full so there was no space to move him.

Having said that, if I survived this multiple times (I'm female and I was 18-19 at that time), I'm pretty sure your son will survive it too. Can't promise he'll like it.

I doubt Greyhound is any more "icky" now than it was 17 years ago.

For the past couple of years, my daughter would take the Greyhound bus from college to home for the holidays (6-hour trip). I can't remember any time when the bus was late, so reliablity was not a problem on her route. She talked to a few interesting people, but mostly she said it was just boring. (However, she enjoys reading and got a lot of reading done on those trips.)
Also, as someone previously suggested, if you give us the city of origin and destination, we might have some good alternate methods of transportation.

I have ridden the Dog but it has been some years ago. I found some of the people very colourful. I once sat next to an older gentleman that could barely speak English. He had a shopping bag full of food, wine, cheese, crackers and goodies of that nature. He shared and we talked for many hours, me about America, life and things and he talked about the same and Italy. I almost hated to see the trip end when I finally got off the bus in Washington DC and he continued on to Boston.

I agree, the route makes a big difference. On the east coast, public transit is used by a broader segment of the population than in less-populated areas where people use cars whenever possible. On a trip from Boston to NYC via Greyhound last winter, there was nobody on the bus that I wouldn't want to sit next to.

I would never take a greyhound alone, night or day. If somebody's by him/herself, it means any psycho can share the seat.

If 2 people traveling, it's a bit safer, try to seat as close to the front of the bus as you can.

Well, here's my excuse to repeat my tip that appeared in one of Fodors' travel guides: If you're traveling alone, get to the bus stop early, but get in line after about half the passengers have arrived in line. All the people ahead of you who are traveling alone will choose window seats (probably starting from the front, as Faina suggests), and then you can choose which one to sit next to. You can even scope them out while you wait in line.

Faina - Lots of people take the Greyhound alone everyday. Yes, there are psychos out there, but the possibility of sitting next to one on a Greyhound is slim. At least, not enough of a concern for me NOT to take Greyhound by myself.

Apart from the few long-distance Greyhound trips I have taken alone between Boston and Toronto, I also have taken MANY Greyhound trips between Boston and NYC. Probably at least a dozen, in the early 1990s as well. Alone.

Now, I take the Megabus. (Boston-NYC)

I had taken an overnight bus in Spain which was quite pleasant, so when my flight from Atlanta to New Orleans was cancelled I thought I was smart to catch an overnight Grayhound bus. I will not be doing that again! I made the mistake of sitting in the back of the bus where it seems the hooligans like to sit. I got to listen to someone talk about how she was better than her mom because her mom smoked crack but she only smoked weed (her sweet 6 yr old daughter was sitting next to her). Also there was a dude whose feet smelled so bad that people had to spray cologne on him. We stopped at one place that was so frightening even the hardened bus folk were yelling at the driver to "get the f*** outta here!". And at the end of the trip.... my bags weren't on the bus! They did turn up 6 hours later, but that was the last straw.

Lesson learned: European buses are nice, buses in the American southeast - not so much.

sorry if I missed it, but how old is your son?

my advice is to take febreeze,lysol, and earplugs.

Well Faina and I are somewhat in the same area and consequently I agree with her comments. When I first moved to the Sacramento Valley a friend that I had made here suggested that we take Greyhound to San Francisco. I wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not. I talked to our local PD and they told me not to take Greyhound as the prisoners that are released from our two local prisons take Greyhound to leave town. But that wouldn't be the situation in most areas of course.

Vivi, one of my stepgrandson's took Greyhound from Sacramento to San Francisco a few years ago and he commented later he would have preferred to thumb a ride, lol.

The young man who is now our son-in-law spent Christmas with us three or four years ago. It took him three days to get from Albuquerque to Missouri due to ice storms, including a night or two on the floor of the Dallas Greyhound station. He never wants to do that again!

However, depending on where you live and where he is coming from, you might not have that problem.

Lee Ann

Wow! I never thought this board would so anti-bus! While I admit that Greyhound is not known for luxury, I have taken the dog many times and been perfectly safe. 97% of the time the bus arrives on schedule. And if you have to sit next to a stranger, it's not worse than the subway! Heaven forbid you actually have to TALK to someone!

Your son will have a fabulous adventure, and will probably come out on the other side more mature.

Go for it!

Well, yes, it's very different from the subway. The ride is longer, there are fewer options to change seats, and if things get really unpleasant, you can't just hop off at the next stop and wait 10 minutes for the next one to come along.

It really depends on where you get on and off.. really.

Last year my daughter took Greyhound Milwaukee to Minneapolis- it was fine. I've done it from Milwaukee - Chicago- fine. Different daughter took it from Milwaukee to Little Rock. Not so fine. Switched busses in Memphis at night and it was scary for her walking through the station with her luggage and hauling it into the restroom etc. On return trip she sat next to a strange guy who proceeded to tell her about his "shiney axe" which he then pulled out of his duffle and showed to her. He reeked of pot and who knows what else and his eyes were quite glazed. I think it really depends on what your starting point and destination are. We seem to do ok if staying closer to home, but no more trips outside of this area.

I've never had an issue, and wouldn't worry about it, but I've only taken it in the Northeast. And yes, the back of the bus can be rowdy. Even in other parts of the country, as long as you would normally describe your son as a sensible adult, it will be fine. My sister (16 or 17 at the time) took it from NY to visit a boyfriend in Va., had to change and got on the wrong bus, and wound up somewhere in the western part of the state, rather than in Richmond. She had to be rescued by the boyfriend (or actually by his mother, I think), and caused my parents a sleepless night (one of many she bestowed on them, I might add), but even that was fine.

Wow, that was an earful, LOL.

The route is from Sacramento to Eugene, OR. The time contraints are tight due to Thanksgiving dinner
(which is on Friday for us) in Sacto and then the Oregon-OSU game on Saturday. Amtrak arrives too late on Saturday, the plane flights are too convoluted (basically a secondary airport to a secondary airport), to rent a car for the one-way trip is about $400.

The frustrating thing is that he can fly free on a Delta pass (and will do that on the return trip.) But the only way that I have found for him to attend the Friday PM family dinner AND the game is via "the dog."

Son is in early 20's and has had many travel adventures, I told him that if he wants to go to the game bad enough that it will probably be by bus!

While I certainly can not figure out all the dinners, games, etc - according to Kayak.com, Alaska Airways has multiple non-stop flights from Sacramento to Portland, which I think is a couple of hours from Eugene, for $126 one-way. Is there some reason this is not an option? There must be a bus from Portland to Eugene that is less torturous than the 9 hour overnight bus.

Gosh, I would not worry about a 20 something year old taking Greyhound from Sacramento to Eugene.

Personally, in this case I would probably rent a car one way.

Or maybe even round-trip. Yes, that's a lot of hours of driving, but we all know that a 2-hour flight is really a 5-hour trip anyway.

Yeah, I may tell him to bite the bullet and rent a one-way car---they are $100 a day (!!!!) because of the interstate drop-fee. But he could eat early PM dinner with the family, then start driving, return it within 24 hours to the EUG airport, and then fly back to LAX free on Delta.

The flying schedules just dont mesh within this short time frame. And yes, he investigated flying into PDX but there would still be a rental car involved. (The Hut Shuttle from PDX to EUG is no longer in service.)

THANKS FOR ALL THE REPLIES

<i>Yeah, I may tell him to bite the bullet and rent a one-way car---they are $100 a day (!!!!)</i> Does that take into account that he's under 25 - usually a fairly hefty extra charge?

I am really confused - you say flight schedules do not mesh. There are 12 arrivals within the time period of 7 AM-8PM on Alaska flights into Portland. How could he not have time to fly but have time to drive or bus the entire distance?

I would be more concerned about his safety driving late at night both ways than riding Greyhound.

Hi

I've taken the 'Hound many a time... from Montreal to NYC (numerous times), Montreal to Boston, Pittsburgh to Baltimore/DC, DC to Williamsburg, Miami to Key West, New Orleans to San Antonio. It's mostly, well, uneventful. One could have bad luck and get seated next to someone unpleasant (luckily for me, hasn't happened yet) just like on an airplane (where it has happened to me).

Worst thing so far was one girl on her way to meet her boyfriend yakked for nearly the entire 7 hours from Mtl-Boston to her neighbour her life story (and earplugs didn't seem to filter out the tenor of her voice). My friend &amp; I groaned when we saw that she was on the SAME bus Boston-Mtl, and were soon to learn that she had sadly been jilted by this boyfriend and yakked to her fellow passenger about what had happened/her life story on the way back for close to the entire time. My friend &amp; I felt we knew everything about her(substitute teacher, Indian but adopted by anglophone Quebec family, tried to find her roots but loved her adopted family, etc etc) after that trip. And truly, if some girl yakking for 14 hours is the worst that's happened to me, mostly Greyhound really hasn't been all that bad. And even though she drove us crazy, we felt kind of happy for her in the end, as she exchanged phone numbers with her compassionate, listening, linebacker-size African-American neighbour and give him a big hug at Burlington, VT, where he got off LOL. A new romance seemed a-brewing LOL.

If he chooses the 'Hound, tell him to bring a good page-turning novel. And perhaps toilet paper.

Have fun deciding!

DANIEL

I once rode a (chartered) Greyhound Bus from Montgomery, AL, to the Carter Presidential Center in Atlanta where Jimmy C. gave a reception for us.

The bus drove one hour in circles around the Presidential Center until I unpacked my Atlanta map and directed the driver to the Center where we arrived three minutes later.

I must add that I am not a resident of Atlanta. I am not even American. I am German and since that experience I am wondering about the U.S. education system. (Maybe this is a bit unfair - maybe I should wonder just about Greyhound Inc.).

Definitely not my favorite, I recently took a 3 hour trip and that was way too long on greyhound. It is uncomfortable- the seats are much narrower and tighter than airline seats and do not really recline. Plus the bathroom situation is rough, and the cleanliness of the whole bus is much to be deisired. Plus of course you have &quot;interesting&quot; company. Good luck!

My 18 year old takes Greyhound home from college nearly all the time (7 hours). Does he like it? NO! Do I care? NO!!!

^ I forgot to add that the bus he usually takes leaves at 6:00 pm and gets in here at 2:00 am. He takes no potty stops (good thing he's only 18) and he packs food cause there is no place to get any.

His strategy is to sit on an aisle seat, wear a big hoody, put in his earphones, pull the hoody over his face. Oh well, it might not be polite, but it is his &quot;survival mechanism&quot; (that's what he calls it).

Greyhound runs very on time and they simply haul out extra buses if they are super busy.

My son, who graduated from McGill in May, and his girlfriend regularly took buses between Montreal-Vt-Boston during their college years. Earlier this summer he took an overnight bus from DC to Montreal and thought it was ok-hard to sleep but cheap. No concerns at all about safety