I’ve ridden the Short Line bus from NYC to the Catskill Mountains, and around the Catskills, plenty of times, no complaints there.
I’ve only twice ridden a Greyhound, that was from Yuma, AZ to a small town called Tacna, about 40 miles east of there, and also from Phoenix to Tacna (this would be going about 120 miles west). I didn’t have any complaints about the buses or the company then either, and I am extremely thankful that some form of transportation was available to that podunk town at all.
I rode the bus to and fro from college plenty and thought it was just fine. The trip only took a little longer than driving, and it was comfortable. Some weird people, and yes, the bus station is kind of in a skeevy portion of Albany, but people are always knocking bus travel. It’s not good for really long trips but it’s not as bad as people say it is.
My only intercity bus trip ever was from Tijuana, Mexico to Rosarita Beach Mexico (1990). It was nothing special, but I’d do it again. Never tried it in the States.
Coaches from continental European countries that I’ve seen here seem nicer than Irish ones. They’re often double decker with a four seats/table arrangement like a train and seem to have more space for passengers. Irish coaches are okay and my main complaint would be that many of them that are advertised as express aren’t. I did a 150 mile journey the other day from one of Ireland’s main cities to one of the main cities in Northern Ireland. It took 5hrs 25 minutes because the coaches stopped in every local town along the route. There was no express alternative. It’s a nice enough way of seeing a bit of the country though.
Coach fares here have recently gone down because of increased private competition with the state coach company and I’d imagine competition from cheap flights.
Greyhound USA’s standard bus service doesn’t offer TVs, but a subsidiary of theirs, NeonBus, does as part of an upscale, reimaged bus service. They also have power outlets and wi-fi.
I think the perception that the intercity buses suck is just a relative judgment because of awareness of better alternatives. What makes travel pleasant or unpleasant is also pretty subjective. I have a particular disdain for most forms of public transportation because they are slow, cramped, uncomfortable and offer very little control to the passenger. Buses, trains, planes are all pretty awful and I don’t see the promotional media described by the OP as painting a picture any better than it is now.
It’d be more accurate to say zero control is left to the passenger, since I’m not aware of any way a passenger in any of those modes of public transportation can legally attempt to alter the route taken, intermediate stops, and final destination. It’s understandable that people don’t like it, and I’ve heard that this is a contributing factor to fear of flying in some instances. I’m all in favor of public transportation, and I take the bus all the time for local errands, or to return from one or two Starbuck’s that I go to. (I walk there, but unless I’m at the closest one I usually don’t feel like walking home.) Buses are well suited to that. But for anything longer, just about any kind of public transit is, in the end, slow. A drive in my car across town, in the worst L.A. traffic, is still quicker than the bus, and it is often quicker than a subway ride from the outer boroughs in to Manhattan, based on the information that I have. Even air travel can, in the end, be slow, if we’re talking about puddle-jumps of a few hundred miles.
But as for that promotional material, you must not have seen what I have. I don’t have it immediately at hand, but I promise to dig around later and “get right back to ya!”.
Well, some modes of transportation have controllable air vents, seat inclination, window shades and lights. Some provide the ability to stop quickly in an emergency. Some provide the ability to get off at the next stop. Some do not have assigned seating. I would say that all those things are related to the control of the passenger. One of my least favorite routes in the world is transpacific economy aisle seat on an ANA 777 – no personal air vent, no window shade, no stops, assigned to a seat – I can recline and turn the light on and off – it’s maddening after 10-11 hours.
No how could they. I have such fond memories in the 80s of travelling down from Chihuahua overnight by train with sewerage slopping all over the floor under our seats from the overflowing toilets. Not that the bus was necessary any better. More than once my seat back was held in place by a piece of rope so that it wobbled around alarmingly.
I’m surprised I missed that. We took the CHEPE from Los Mochis to Creel and back, back in 2005. It was definitely a good experience, and way the hell better than a US Greyhound.
There’s also the Tequila Express. While not really a passenger service train, it is a passenger train.
As promised–now tell me that the inside of the Scenicruiser, as illustrated at the bottom of this ad, doesn’t look extremely comfortable. Of course, we don’t know for sure that she wasn’t actually a midget and only three feet tall.
I’ve often wondered why bus travel has such a bad reputation in the USA. Is it simply that only the dregs of society travel by bus? I’ve travelled by intercity bus in Mexico a few times and found it to be very pleasant - comfortable, clean air-conditioned buses, and very low fares. Here in England, too, the National Express coaches are an economical, if slow, way of getting round the country, and I’ve never found them to be unpleasant or threatening.
I know we don’t really do “Long-distance” on our little island, but I’ve also taken Eurolines buses across Europe and they’ve been about as pleasant and comfortable as sitting on a bus for 24 hours can be.
The best bus I have ever been on was in China. Huge seats, only three across, two on one side of the aisle and one on the other, a uniformed attendant like on an airplane, immaculately clean, etc. Extraordinary. And the price of the ticket was ridiculously low.
As far as I can see, the biggest problem with bus travel in the US is transportation within (and around) the destination city. In most cities, you need a car once you’re there. The choice is between driving your own car vs. taking a bus there and then renting a car. The bus option isn’t very economical.
Also gas was ridiculously cheap until recently, and freeways are, well, free. These factors also favor personal cars over buses.
So the end result seems to be that buses are mostly used by people who can’t even afford to own a car.
I think people who take the bus are mostly people who are unable to drive (for driving distances) or fly (for flying distances) due to psychological, physiological or legal reason. I doubt the majority of people taking the bus can’t afford to own a car.
And here’s another from a 1973 edition of Die Zeit. That’s a fair an indication of how scarce this stuff is on the Internet; there was only a meager few Google hits, and the only top-down description I could find was in German. The others are either the badly done websites I mentioned, or require a login and paid membership. In a feature article about life in the U.S., the article says:
Did she have a heart of gold?
Anyway, my bus experience betwixt Kent, Ohio and Dayton, Ohio in college was great. I sat in the back with my girlfriend (we were visiting her family for Tahnksgiving) and read comic books while she knitted.
The main reason to prefer the train over the bus I believe is this.
*warning it’s “safe” for work but slightly eyebrow-raising.
