I wouldn’t call Greyhound public transportation, though. It’s a wholly owned entity of a larger corporation, and has nothing to do with “public” anything.
I’ve not ridden Greyhound since 1990 or so, and it was an unpleasant experience then. Freakshow. On the other hand, I’ve ridden first class bus lines in Mexico that are simply awesome. If Greyhound offered something a little nicer at a premium price, I’d be happy to hop on for trips few than eight hours or so.
San Francisco had Leap Transit for a while filling the “public transit” role for people who didn’t mind paying. They seem to have gone offline recently due to overburdensome regulatory issues. Among the proles, though, there were a lot of hard feelings that this private service would result in two classes of service, which, I think, is the very point.
1981, so very stale info - but I bought a Greyhound Ameripass, started in Minneapolis and went clockwise around the country.
No problems at all. Met some interesting people (and some smelly ones, although I’m certain at some points I was one of the smelly ones). I’d do it again.
I rode it many times as a youngster, mostly in Louisiana/Arkansas/Texas. I didn’t exactly enjoy it, but it’s acceptable cheap transportation, and you’ll see lots of different kinds of people (many of whom will be weird/smelly/creepy and some who might actually be interesting to talk to). Depends on your tolerance for potential close quarters with strangers, stinky and tiny bus bathrooms, and possible motion sickness.
I never found it unsafe at all, even riding alone as a 12-15 year old boy. This was early-to-mid 90s.
I have gone from Boston ,Mass. to Albuquerque , New Mex. . The trip took 4 days . The most trouble I had on the whole trip was in the New York bus station and all that happened there was a huge woman was rushing to get some where and almost ran over everyone in her path , she was dragging a big suit case on wheels and carrying another . So she needed quite a lot of room and like I said she was traveling fast . Myself and another person drove my brothers car from Albuquerque. New Mex. to Boston Mass. that trip also took 4 days . Another time I rode from Albuquerque,.New Mex. to Portland Or. 2 1/2 days and no trouble or problems at all. I’venever had any problems with lost luggage or any kind of crime , petty or otherwise .
Over all , for the price and the fact that your only worry is getting from one bus to another bus , there is no worries about getting lost or having to check a map or worry about keeping the gas tank topped off or checking the tire pressure or any of the dozen of other things while on a long trip . it’s well worth it IMO.
Amtrak is a lot more expensive, often. And it doesn’t go anywhere there’s not rail (obviously).
I took Greyhound plenty. I took it when I was young and pretty and rarely had any problems. Once they lost my luggage and found it again in three days. Occasionally I had guys hitting on me but surprisingly mostly was left alone.
The buses sometimes smell a little but they’re not that bad, really. My biggest issue was how long it took to get anywhere, with all the stops. And you do get some lowest common denominator people…but considering I have taken buses in India, they are still pretty good here.
If you are using Greyhound to travel, spend as little time on the bus as you can. Go somewhere, hang out for a while, then get on the bus to the next somewhere. The train is different because you sometimes want to stay on it for the company – the lounge car can get fun, even the Amish have a good time, dour as the seem.
I don’t make any attempt at knowing Greyhound rates, especially in a foreign country.
But I remembered Greyhound had a promo of that sort, more than once, so it’s logical it might have one again, if only for foreign tourists who buy the tickets in their home countries. And car-hire deals are offered to customers in Europe who plan to visit the U.S. and/or Canada.
Car-rental “deals” are offered tourists in North America heading to European destinations (though they turned out to be more expensive that way, so I ignored them). European train services, inside and outside their home countries, offer them, too.
Thanks everybody for their input! My take from this is that travelling on a Greyhound bus is essentially safe (except in Canada where passengers are decapitated), but all in all not really convenient. I’ll probably give Amtrak a more thorough look. I have actually used Amtrak before and liked it, travelling from Washington, DC to New York City (Penn Station, which was only a few steps away from my hotel).
Say, if you buy two seats and find an empty row, do you have the right to exclude others from your extra purchased seat, even on a full or overbooked bus?
I’ll chime in that I did the Greyhound round the country with a backpack and a bus pass about 30 years ago. I would still have no real concerns with traveling point-to-point anywhere but the problem is, you have to have somewhere to go! Most Greyhound stops are in less affluent areas of town or small towns and hotels aren’t readily available. If you don’t know someone or have a lodging plan it’s pretty stressful. Bus stops aren’t near landmarks (usually) or possibly even taxis or rental cars. So you have to have significant funds and time to do any more than ride from city to city - and it’s usually not the scenic route! My best stops were Carlsbad NM and Yellowstone where - at the time - it was possible to get off in town and take some type of shuttle into the Carlsbad Caverns and Yellowstone National Parks and hotels were available.
Now, with cellular internet technology for mapping I think would rent a car for 2-3 weeks.
Look me give you some advice. This is the U.S., not Europe. The car is king for many very good reasons. There is nothing wrong with taking Amtrak on its more popular routes if you have specific needs and restrictions but even those are very limited in geography and not very cheap. Get yourself a rental car and take it wherever you want to go on your own terms. It will end up being cheaper, nicer, less frustrating and infinitely more flexible than a bus, train or planes. Just look at it as your version of the Great American Road Trip. Everyone should have one of those in their life. Some of my fondest memories are just pointing myself in a general direction and driving until I see something I want to stop for and repeating for days or weeks at a time. It may be a big city or in a desolate town but there is always something and you can’t do that on mass transportation. If you want to do this, do it right.