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It was nearing midnight when a sleek coach adorned with galloping canines inched through the new Greyhound terminal in Washington. The 45-foot-long vehicle rolled past a glass-enclosed ticket counter emitting a warm glow, a wood-paneled waiting room and me sitting on a bench, watching for the 12:01 bus to Chicago.
The driver pulled into a spot and hopped out, dressed in the same shades of blue as his charge. Despite the hour and the long road ahead, he was a ball of energy.
I have never ridden a Greyhound in my life. I either fly or drive. A bus doesn't make sense when I own a car.
Lots of people don't own a car and many do not want to fly anymore or never liked it in the first place. Add the fact the train can't go everywhere a bus goes plus it's cheaper and I see how it makes sense to many people.
I own a car and I ride intercity bus services like Megabus and Jefferson Lines when they make sense. Megabus offers a lot of great fares between Chicago and Minneapolis and Chicago and Nashville, some as low as $1. That is substantially cheaper than driving and a lot more relaxing as I can work on my laptop while the driver can worry about the traffic.
To bring this back to topic, I do NOT take Greyhound as nearly all my experiences on that line have been memorable ... in the wrong way. I remember the pimps and hookers working the Dayton terminal, the fight outside the Cleveland but my favorite was the glue sniffer in the back seat that was dropped off along the side of the road in Cincinnati.
Interesting read, but I still have not felt Greyhound's transcendence up here in Canada. It is still not much more than the cheapest, grubbiest option available. I'm waiting - well, hoping - for one of these cheap, couple-of-dollars bus lines to blow up in these parts. They seem like the new trend.
I once took Greyhound over 2500 miles from Talahasee FL to San Jose CA because I had no car and I didn't have the money to fly (1-way). It was a very long ride and hard to sleep at all, but it was fun when passengers started visiting and playing cards, etc. because we were all basically trapped together. I wouldn't do it again unless I had to because it makes no economic sense when you factor in your time. But at age 19 with no real job, sitting in a seat for a couple days seemed like a great way to save a few bucks. I didn't read the whole article because it was poorly written, but Greyhound is fooling themselves if they think they're going to attract many people besides broke kids, migrant workers and destitutes on any of those longer runs.
Interesting read, but I still have not felt Greyhound's transcendence up here in Canada. It is still not much more than the cheapest, grubbiest option available. I'm waiting - well, hoping - for one of these cheap, couple-of-dollars bus lines to blow up in these parts. They seem like the new trend.
Megabus has made it to Montreal and Toronto. Coach Canada also has some service in SW Ontario.
I liked the Voyageur Bus Lines years ago but they have been absorbed by Greyhound, I believe.
I rode Greyhound a few years back from New York to Atlantic City. Not bottom of the barrel travelers. There used to be a company called Trailways. I rode that decades ago and the bus broke down.
I took greyhound once. Never again. If I didn't own a car, I'd just rent. Anything of decent distance, I'd fly.
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