Bus Travel (besides Greyhound) (low cost, itinerary, worst, Amtrak)

[jlawrence01]

In the other thread, everybody is posting all of their Greyhound experiences which I must admit are no different than my past experiences with that company. I have to say that Greyhound is my last resort and is just a bit better than walking.

There is a general perception that Greyhound is the ONLY intercity bus line left in the US. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Here are some of the other regional bus lines. Hopefully, others will chip in theirs.

Megabus

Offers regional bus service out of Chicago, New York and Philadelphia. Except in the east, they pick you up at an intersection rather than at a terminal. Serves mostly larger cities and is generally "point to point" with limited stops. Affiliated with CoachUSA.

low cost inter city travel

Jefferson Lines

Offers regional bus service in the midwest and the mountain west with hubs in Kansas City, Omaha, and now, Minneapolis. They generally offer service out of Greyhound terminals.

Jefferson Bus Lines


Bolt Bus

Offers service between Baltimore, DC , Philadelphia, NYC, and Boston. Affiliated with Greyhound.

https://www.boltbus.com/wherewetravel.aspx


Peter Pan Lines

Offers service in most Eastern cities between Washington and Boston. They generally operate their own terminals or utilize the municipal stations

Peter Pan Bus » Bus Terminals, Stations, and Stops

Bonanza Bus Lines

Affiliated with Peter Pan, they also serve smaller communities in New England.

Bonanza Bus Lines

[beenhereandthere]

However for the South and West, Greyhound is still the only mode of bus transport.

[tijlover]

And there's also a myriad number of Latino bus lines. There's three Latino bus stations here in Las Vegas, which will take you just about anywhere, as well as vans.

[missionhome]

Let's see, in Southern California (besides the evil that is Greyhound):

Lux Bus America: Luxury bus service daily among the cities of Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Las Vegas. Excellent service with movies, snacks, drinks, hot towels, leather seats, blankets, pillows, etc...


Chinatown Buses: Operate between Chinatowns or owned by Chinese entrepreneurs on the West Coast. USAsia operates to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Reno, and Las Vegas. Hoang Express operates between Los Angeles and Phoenix. CA Bus operates between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Amtrak California also funds thruway buses from cities not on rail stations. They are operated by individual companies that Cal Trans contracts with to operate the service under the Amtrak California name. (Amtrak California is funded and owned by the state and managed by Cal Trans. Cal Trans owns Amtrak cars and trains operating in California, but Amtrak engineers and employees operate the trains and stations).

[jtur88]

Nearly all bus companies are "affiliated" with Greyhound, in that their schedules and ticketing are done by Greyhound. If you go online and look at Greyhound's routings, you will see an abbreviation after each line of the route that tells which bus company will actually be the carrier for that segment. Greyhound covers nearly all the major links between large cities, but if you're booking to a town off the main routes, you'll probably wind up on a bus with some other name painted on the side.

For example, you can go to Greyhound online, and book a ticket from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to McAllen, Texas, and pay Greyhound the fare. But only the Chicago to Dallas section will be on a Greyhound bus. The part before Chicago will be on Indian Trails, and after Dallas, you'll be on Americanos. If you go to Americanos web portal and click "schedules and fares", you will be linked to the Greyhound search page.

[andrethehun]

Yes, greyhound is the worst of the worst.!

[lrfox]

I love Megabus from Boston-New York. If I book a week or so in advance, I can easily do the round trip for under $20.

[Chatteress]

Originally Posted by missionhome

Let's see, in Southern California (besides the evil that is Greyhound):

Lux Bus America: Luxury bus service daily among the cities of Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Las Vegas. Excellent service with movies, snacks, drinks, hot towels, leather seats, blankets, pillows, etc...


Chinatown Buses: Operate between Chinatowns or owned by Chinese entrepreneurs on the West Coast. USAsia operates to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Reno, and Las Vegas. Hoang Express operates between Los Angeles and Phoenix. CA Bus operates between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Amtrak California also funds thruway buses from cities not on rail stations. They are operated by individual companies that Cal Trans contracts with to operate the service under the Amtrak California name. (Amtrak California is funded and owned by the state and managed by Cal Trans. Cal Trans owns Amtrak cars and trains operating in California, but Amtrak engineers and employees operate the trains and stations).

I'll have to look into the Lux Bus America as I haven't heard of them. Regarding the Amtrak Thru Way buses ... You cannot reserve a ride on one of these without including train travel, which really sucks as you may only need the itinerary that is served by the bus alone.