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I hate falling asleep on the bus at night now, ever since the incident in Manitoba a few years ago where a young kid was decapitated while sleeping by a psycho guy.
Mind you since then they have amped up security before you board the bus, no sharp objects or alcohol allowed on which is a relief for sure
That was my first thought after reading this thread.
Dang near ANYbody can ride a bus (cheap), especially a psycho. You get all kinds.
Planes are a bit different: too expensive for many folks.
I don't even want to ride a train overnight.
Give me a plane ride any day, but not overnight.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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I took two bus rides in 2011 NEVER again... (if I can help it). I think you are safer hitch-hiking, as the guys on the bus may be ex-cons / criminals that can't afford a car. 2 different guys I met were skipping out of their parole state, several were illegals and got apprehended at a spot check. Many families with small kids, who looked like they had been traveling for weeks. Not pretty, but a good REALITY check of how some people are forced to live (next step to homelessness.) Quite sad in USA.
As a fleet manager, I force my drivers to be off the rode from 3AM-6am or sunrise (in summer). Statisitics revealed a much higher risk 2AM - 5AM of fatal accidents. I have attended to many fatal accidents, but fortunatley never been in one... my best friend (driver) traded routes with me one night and a car with 3 teenage drinkers hit him head on. He was 3 hours out in the boonies and he had to listen to them die, one by one as they were stuck under his truck engine. Finally someone came down the road and was able to drive to the nearest town with a pay phone and call for help..
I took two bus rides in 2011 NEVER again... (if I can help it). I think you are safer hitch-hiking, as the guys on the bus may be ex-cons / criminals that can't afford a car. 2 different guys I met were skipping out of their parole state, several were illegals and got apprehended at a spot check. Many families with small kids, who looked like they had been traveling for weeks. Not pretty, but a good REALITY check of how some people are forced to live (next step to homelessness.) Quite sad in USA.
oh yea now it makes sense. I met a guy going from seattle to virginia, and he showed me his ticket, and it was almost 300 bucks. I asked him why he dont take a plane, since it takes 5 hours instead of 5 days, and flying would be cheaper. he told me he dont know where the airport was. I thought he was on drugs, drunk, or just plain stupid.
and also another guy i met on a different day, he was going from seattle to minnapolis, and same thing, it is cheaper and faster for him to fly. He said he doesnt want to pay 30 bucks to take a taxi to the airport.
Im pretty sure both of them were were maybe on a no fly list, has warrants, on the run, transporting drugs/weapons, or maybe scared to fly, but they were tough looking dudes
I would be leery of taking a bus trip that ran through the night. I would be less leery of taking Amtrak, though I don't know why. I've taken lots of red eye flights. From the West Coast, they are really helpful, because you leave at 11pm and arrive in the east (NY, Boston, Atlanta, Toronto) at 6 am the next day. Granted, the next day is generally not too productive. Also, every flight from the US to Europe is generally a red-eye.
Well, I've taken redeyes in planes and on buses and trains and never had a problem. If the OP is really so nervous that every bump gives her a panic, she should get some counseling or Xanax or both. No one should have to live that way.
I've never had an issue with taking any overnight form of transit. I've even done overnight trains in India.
That said, overnight or even long-distance bus routes would scare me the most. Human error is the cause of most accidents (rail, bus, air, etc). The bus routes are more subject to human error than any of the others. Buses have to deal with all of the other traffic on the road as well as manually control every aspect of travel (lanes, speed, direction, etc).
Trains are a little less risky. They operate on tracks so dozing off and "drifting" out of the lane is not an option. They're also generally not surrounded by free-flowing traffic on all sides. Finally, trains are monitored by a central command center and have multiple crew members for redundancy.
Airplanes are probably the safest. They're the most heavily regulated of the three and commercial aircraft have system redundancy like you wouldn't believe. All commercial flights have at least two capable pilots, and are almost entirely operated by autopilot. The autopilot takes care of the heading, speed and altitude. Of course, pilots do monitor and adjust (when necessary) the speed, vertical speed and heading (at least on departure and while being vectored in for approach), but the autopilot does the work. The pilots only manually fly for the first few moments after departure and the last 500 feet or so on approach (and many large airports have Cat III systems which can actually land the plane automatically in poor visibility). There are exceptions (depending on aircraft type, A/P may be disengaged during severe turbulence), but 99% of the flight is generally autopilot.
I wouldn't worry about any of those, but I would pick a reliable bus company if you were going on a late night bus trip. I know here, anyway, the "Chinatown" operators tend to have a bad reputation.
95% of the flight anyway is done via autopilot. The only 5% that isn't is done on takeoff and landing. As people have already mentioned, the Colgan crash had nothing to do with flying at night. The pilots had poor skills and even worse training by Colgan. Most of the pilots in the US and the world in general (except maybe Africa and the middle east), were flying military fighters/planes in their countries army, so everyone flying a major airline and most in general are VERY expierenced.
Along with the autopilot we have TCAS (the crash avoidance system), and ATC to keep planes a safe distance apart from one another. At night on the busses theirs no person whispering in the driver's ear that there's traffic merging on the right.
I agree that taking a flight at night is completely different than taking a bus at night. As mentioned most of the flying is done using an autopilot and there are 2 pilots in the aircraft with only one pilot flying at a time (meaning having 2 pilots meaning you have a back-up pilot!). So flying at night is not really any more dangerous than flying during the day. Taking a bus at night is probably more dangerous than during the day as the driver may be tired and there is not usually a back-up driver. Also with the high security at the airports as well as the expense of flying the likelihood of being with dangerous characters on the plane is much lower than on a bus.
95% of the flight anyway is done via autopilot. The only 5% that isn't is done on takeoff and landing. As people have already mentioned, the Colgan crash had nothing to do with flying at night. The pilots had poor skills and even worse training by Colgan. Most of the pilots in the US and the world in general (except maybe Africa and the middle east), were flying military fighters/planes in their countries army, so everyone flying a major airline and most in general are VERY expierenced.
Along with the autopilot we have TCAS (the crash avoidance system), and ATC to keep planes a safe distance apart from one another. At night on the busses theirs no person whispering in the driver's ear that there's traffic merging on the right.
Well some landings are done with autopilot too. Also airline pilots coming from the military is no longer the norm. There are still plenty out there but these days most airline pilots did not fly in the military. Does not really make a difference too much, the training at U.S. airlines is top notch and we have the safety record to prove it.
I most often travel by bus during trips to Mexico. Hundreds of people die in bus crashes each year in Mexico. And, almost without exception ... the crashes occur on busses traveling the overnight hours. So, because of my concern for that ... and because these same busses tend to be frigd cold overnight and people cough, children cry and the driver plays music loudly ... I have trouble sleeping on the overnight busses. Some people take this type of bus to save money by not having to rent a hotel room for the night. To me, it's penny wise and dollar foolish. Why? Because when I get to my destination I'm tired, cranky .. and go to bed in my hotel for a half-day to recover. So, what have I gained by traveling overnight? Nothing.
I do travel overnight on long-distance flights to Asia or Europe. Not often an option available. It just works better for me in the long run. I don't often sleep well/comfortably on such flights ... but I endure it. For the love of the trip, in its entirety!
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