Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
Greyhound gets a makeover
Greyhound buses and major terminals are getting updated, and my response to that news is "thank goodness!" It seems that every experience I've had with Greyhound involved scuttling cockroaches and pee-splattered toilets. There always seems to be a buzzing florescent light flickering in every dirty, gray waiting area. But the company reports that it spent $60 million to "freshen up 1250 of its buses and its largest terminals." Updates include new seats, paint jobs, refurbished restrooms, and plasma-screen TVs in waiting areas. Next, Greyhound plans to launch an ad campaign aimed both at bringing back old customers and attracting new riders between the ages of 18 and 24.
While I don't anticipate that I'll be riding around like a rajah anytime soon, new seats, new paint, and refurbished bathrooms just might entice this former customer to give the company another shot. What about you?
Filed under: North America, United States, Transportation, Budget Travel
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
Patrick Nov 19th 2007 4:11AM
A few issues here, but keep in mind: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR. Dirt Cheap=Dirt Service. Nonetheless, I concur what many of already said:
1. Employees treat customers like CATTLE-they really don't give a sh## about you. I saw one agent refer to customers in line as "You People"...anywhere else, you'd get FIRED for calling your customers that.
2. Overbooked busses. They don't care if you have to LIVE for a day in a terminal waiting for a bus with an available seat as long as they sell you a ticket.
3. They don't double or triple up on busses on busy schedules...so passengers waiting in the smaller cities in the middle of a route get SCREWED.
4. Uninformed employees-when you can catch one even AWAKE
5. Lets not forget the Drivers Credo: "Greyhound:We open the door 2 minutes before the bus is scheduled to leave, and then depart the terminal whenever the h#ll we're damn good and ready".
I can give a rip less about new seats and nice bathrooms...and even plasma TV's!!! Asthetics do nothing! Greyhound is still a drag and I cringe at the thought of having to travel by it! Until they FUNDAMENTALLY change the way they do business, I'll continue to utilize Amtrak instead!
P.S: the lack of civility at Greyhound has crossed racial lines. I've seen black, white, and hispanic employees treat passengers like trash...BUT on a few occasion...I've seen passengers of all races return the attitude. I CAN GIVE A LICK LESS IF I'M THE ONLY ONE ON THE BUS THAT SPEAKS ENGLISH...JUST GET ME WHERE I'M GOING!!!!!!
hardrider Nov 19th 2007 6:07AM
Hey Boris, a little class conscious are we? My, my, and a racist to boot. Maybe hell for you will be riding perpetually under just such conditions you describe, you fascist bozo.
As far as Greyhound is concerned, they need more than a cosmetic improvement, they need a foundational service reorganization, better schedules, nicer drivers, more helpful service personnel, and a general attitude adjustment informing the fact that the people on board are not something under their feet. Then, after this, maybe they can say they have improved, but not before!
Curt Nov 19th 2007 4:49AM
I was pleasantly surprised when I went to the Indianapolis bus terminal to meet a friend. It was like an airport in the old days. The people there were relaxed and friendly, lines were short, and I was not treated like a criminal, as I would be at an airport. I am very tempted to try the bus on my next trip, provided I can find a direct route. The airlines have completely alienated their customers, and had better watch out.
Kevin Nov 19th 2007 5:49AM
I have rode the bus ! Spent over six hours stuck waiting for the next mornings bus .Because bus driver went off route RENT A CAR ONLY A FEW DOLLARS MORE AND A BETTER RIDE You have leg room you can use your cell phone
Chachacha Nov 19th 2007 6:07AM
Nov 18th 2007 @ 10:56PM
rusty said...
no thanks greydog. i would rather crawl than take yo bus ..bussess are for people with low i.q. and low income.. always have been, always will be...
well while you are crawling..want learn how to spell. High IQ obviously doesn't mean you know how to write coherent, correctly spelled posts.
Steve L. Nov 19th 2007 6:14AM
I worked with Greyhound for 38 years and I've seen the best and the worse. It took a really devoted and loyal individual to drive for Greyhound, at least the OLD Greyhound. For years Greyound was the largest and best ground transportation in the world, this is fact, not fiction. Drivers took pride in there work and passengers were a lot better class of people when the "old"Greyhound was still around. The employees took a lot of pride at being the best. Then in 1983 an outsider, John Teets, who didn't know a bus from an ant hill, took over and from there it was down hill. He hated the union and caused a 47 day strike in 1983, when employees took big pay and benefit cuts to settle the strike. The idea was we take the cuts, make improvements and keep from raiseing fares. B/S..They raised fares in louisiana, where I worked more than 100% in the first year and chased off most of the decent passengers. Three years later. 1986, he wanted to do the same thing and the employees said forget it. He threatened to sell the company if we didn't give in and low and behold the stike votes were counted and the next morning the company was sold, overnight. The new owner and union buster, Fred G. Curry said take my contract with massive pay cuts, by then about 33% overall since '83, or you won't have a job here. After several months of negotiating he stood fast and we had to bite the bullet or shut down Greyhound. He led everyone to believe if we did this he would boost us back up if the company started making money again. (Fact: Greyhound allways made money, they just groosly inflated projected profit and then claimed to loose lost Money when they didn't get there. In June 1987 the company bought Continental Trailways and it really hit the fan when Curry said he would give the new employees there full seniority from Trailways, something he said he would never do if a new company was accuired. Needless to say he was pitting the Greyhound and Trailways people against one another. The excuse was that we had picked up soo much more work that it wouldn't make that much of a difference. (now he thinks we're nothing but a bunch of dumb ass bus drivers). Arbitration went on for months and the master arbitrated rule that only so much of the seniority from Triailways could be used. Many Of the old ,reliable and loyal, Greyhound drivers were affected, in essence they worked all those year to get to the top and then get kicked in the butt. Well we, employees) tried to make the best of it for the betterment of the company. Now the good part..In 1990 our contract came up for negotation and Fred Curry pulls the same thing, take it or leave it. Well you don't kick a man when he's down a third time and a 90%+ strike vote came in. We worked or got replaced. We didn't work and we couldn't be replaced. Out of some 3,000 drivers, only 400 stayed in to work. It gets deeper now. He told the former Trailways drivers (most of the 400) he would give them there full seniority if they came back to work ove rthe Greyhound drivers. At last unity, we all still stayed out. Now mthe replacements..Curry tried to hire anybody with driving experience and train new hires as fast as he could. In come the truckers,he promised them seniority based on their experience, screw the Trailways drivers that did not strike. In come the new hires, no experience and fed a real line of crap about how much money they would make, a lot more than I ever made!Many buses didn't run and most that did were lost all the time and ran late by hours. Regular riders even came ou to the picket line and ask the strikers to please go back to work because it was so bad. One thing that hit the hardest was that the truck drivers were just that, they didn't know how to deal with the traveling public and could have cared less, they just drove period. The new hires didn't or couldn't put up with the hours needed to work and never knew where they would wind up or how long they'd be gone. Some of the most shocking things to happen was when a scab in Denver crushed a striking driver trying to leave the terminal and didn't eveen stop until the police caught up with him (this scab was later found to have had his license suspended several times for reckless and DUI before he was hired). Something that never happened in the history of Greyhound, several driver were arrested for DUI while working, one even ran a Mississippi state trooper into a ditch and a half empty whiskey bottle was found under the drivers seat, imagine how the passengers felt. Well Greyhound was forced into bankruptcy, the judge force the two top officials out of the company knowing no settlement would ever be reached as long as they were there, of course the got their perverable gloden parachute s and lived happily ever after. It took just over five years before the strike was settled, by then most of the old employees did not come back and those that did couldn't believe how bad it was. By this time I was embarassed to let anyone know I worked for Greyhound. Gone was the camaraderie that existed before the stike, you went to work, got it over with and went home. After a couple of years, things got a little better but nowhere like it once was. Todya the NEW greyhound no longer serves all the small towns, they only want the high road, abandoning thousands of people with no public transportation. As for me, I retired early, I brought myself to realize I couldn't put myself or my family through the lifestyle necessary to keep driving for the lack of wages and benefits, not to mention the treatment received by both company and the new clientel we were hauling. Most people think that the driver does nothing but drive the bus, guess again, we had to wear many hats. We did everything from loading freight, dealing with prejudice, irate and even violent passengers. I wish the present employees the best of luck and hope that MABYE one day Greyhound will regain it's ststus as the best and biggest............
Cathy Nov 19th 2007 6:24AM
You think Bus stations are bad, try the Train.
curtis mayfield Nov 19th 2007 6:39AM
the last time i rode "the dog", it was packed with mexicans..when i got off at my final stop, i thought i was in tiawanna..but really i was in salinas, mexifornia..never again. the looozer next to me was drunk,smelled like he pissed his pants, and kept barfing up on the floor..looking at the other riders on the bus, i thought maybe they had a mass early release from san quentin..
Sue Nov 19th 2007 6:41AM
Hey Boris, glad you have lots of money to fly with. I have been on buses in the past more times than I care to mention, but is still the cheapest way to travel! And believe you me, anyone can be just a day away from having to ride on the bus.
It's time for a make over and good for Greyhound! Sorry Boris, but it's like judging all people who live in trailer parks! Not Fair!!!
henry green Nov 19th 2007 7:27AM
I have used Greyhound for many years taking my children, and my grandchildren on many trips, mainly because it was cheaper to go this way. I'm not a poor person, but going any other way would have made me that way o.k.? Improving the service is a good thing, but the people also need to improve stop messing the public bathrooms up with that nasty junk you be doing, act like you at home, stop throwing your trash on the floor of the bus , there are trash bags on all buses. Improve your manners while sitting next to others, you don't know who's mom or dad you are disrespecting. Yes the bus drivers and workers at the terminals need lots of training most are not people fixed yet. having a bad day? TRAVEL TOMORROW. put GOD in your heart and prayers, stop hating on races of people who ride the bus we all do for money sake. lean back and leave the driving to Greyhound
Laura Hudson Nov 20th 2007 12:12PM
I rode on a greyhound last summer it was the pits! It was not very comfortable at all! We were at the Atlanta terminal there was so much confusion trying to figure out what bus was going my way! My brother lives in Villa Rica,Ga. I was upset and left at a bus station that was closed and bad part of town I heard later on from my sister-in-law! My brother came and got me I was pretty upset and miserable! I will never agian ride a greyhound bus it was a terrible experience!
Jamie Nov 22nd 2007 2:46PM
I've had problems with passengers, but overall I'm usually happy with Greyhound - could be cleaner but couldn't be cheaper!
Grant Dec 4th 2007 6:07PM
Honestly, I don't care about the quality of the bus station. But not having to wait 3 hours for my bus to leave and not having it break down at 11pm for 3 hours outside of a Taco Bell that closed at midnight while we're 30 minutes away from our destination would probably get me to use them more. The money should have been spent on logistics and buses.
Lee Jan 14th 2008 7:11PM
I think that alot of readers post info about Mexicans to illustrate the criminal nature of greyhound customers. There are 12 million illegal Mexicans in the US, if they are willing to break the law every day whats to stop them pick pocketing you while you sleep on the bus? I will tell you one thing I sure am more afraid of what a person with a fake id or no id will do than someone who has an identity.