What are the connotations of a greyhound bus?
Posted by UwUnabomber_@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 193 comments
I see them in movies and songs, are they generally used to cross state lines? Cheaper than other busses or just the most common one?
PossibilityOk782@reddit
It's just the opposite of flying which is preferable but much more expensive
Doldrum0@reddit
I can't drive for medical reasons so I use the Greyhound quite a bit if I'm doing some traveling that would be an expensive plane ticket or the distance not TOO far. It's horribly uncomfortable after a while but affordable. It's definitely more for solo travel or small group, in my experience
ssk7882@reddit
I haven't taken Greyhound since the '80s, but back then you could always count on the bus having a group of young military guys sitting towards the back. They always had the greatest stories, which was good, because Greyhound took forever to get anywhere even when it was on schedule, which was never.
Sabertooth767@reddit
The connotation is that you are broke as fuck.
cyber_deity@reddit
Which is hilarious because anytime I've considered taking one instead of flying it's about the same price and 3x longer of a trip.
Wessssss21@reddit
Trains are the same. Looked up an AmTrack once. It was like a 12 hour ride from Chicago to Seattle for like $400.
Could catch a 4 hour flight for the same price.
WowsrsBowsrsTrousrs@reddit
On Amtrak you get a fully reclining full size armchair, and a dining car that serves real food. And it's cheaper than paying for first class/business class on an airplane to get a comfortable seat.
pinniped90@reddit
Long haul Amtrak is more for train aficionados than anything. It's expensive and slow, but you get to chill and enjoy scenery. I know retired people who do it for fun. Just head out west for a few weeks...
Short haul Amtrak on the East Coast is more designed for commuters and is usually priced a little better...plus the convenience of not having to deal with LaGuardia and whatever other airport you'd be dealing with.
Cerebral-Knievel-1@reddit
My 80 year old mother takes Amtrak from Virginia to West Palm Beach florida to visit her sister. She hates flying, is afraid TSA is gonna frisk her up.
It's around $400 and 19 hours.
TubaJesus@reddit
Theres no C in Amtrak
Ponklemoose@reddit
The C is for connivence.
ReferenceCreative510@reddit
When you're not on the Northeast Corridor or out west on the Capital Corridor in California.
getElephantById@reddit
12 hours? Try 48 hours.
On the other hand, it's an enjoyable trip if you get a private room.
Educational-Bad4992@reddit
Private room? Aaaaand your ticket just went from $400 to $4,000
clearliquidclearjar@reddit
When I used to ride the dog a lot in the late 90s/early 2000s it would be under $50 to go from Florida to California. No ID needed. A flight would be much, much more. But that was a long time ago.
Can_I_Read@reddit
It’s been awhile, but I used to take Megabus in Canada, which I believe is similar to Greyhound. They’d advertise a $1 special, but it was only if you depart at a crazy hour on Wednesday night or something like that. I think rates were much higher on the weekends and holidays, when people might actually want to travel.
CommercialWorried319@reddit
Megabus took over at least parts of Greyhound down here
Majestic_Hawk_1335@reddit
I needed to go to Albuquerque New Meixco from Fairbanks AK. It was $149 to fly to Las Vegas and $66 for the greyhound to NM, or it was $590 for a flight to Albuquerque
CIAMom420@reddit
And probably on drugs or have mental health issues.
Exciting_Vast7739@reddit
...or undeterred by sitting next to someone who is.
RelevantJackWhite@reddit
sometimes, you gotta do what you gotta do
Exciting_Vast7739@reddit
My last greyhound trip I stopped at the overnight spot for a snack and got the chicken tenders since I figured "it's fried, it has to be food safe."
It was still frozen in the middle. 😃
Got me to NYC for way cheaper than a flight.
drowevil2@reddit
Or running from something.
PacificIsMyHome@reddit
"Shame train"
GoldenMonkeyRedux@reddit
Loser cruiser
okeverythingsok@reddit
Generally speaking, it’s cheapest form of long-distance travel. Before budget airlines became a thing, they were extremely common ways to go moderate to long distances across the US (think anywhere from 5-20+ hours). In recent decades their reputation became a little grimier because middle class people started just flying instead. Also, they are really romanticized because they represent freedom, getting away, wide open spaces, and glamorize poverty a little bit.
PacSan300@reddit
Greyhound has also gotten a reputation of having a rather spotty safety record.
Asleep-Assistant-269@reddit
I would add that I'm 49 and I'd say it hasn't been common in at least 30 years, probably longer. I grew up in a fairly typical middle class family and I didn't know anyone who used Greyhound buses for travel.
Far-Lecture-4905@reddit
This depends on the region. I grew up in the Northeast and I'm a bit younger than you and we used Greyhound-type longer distance buses regularly to get to NYC (3-4 hour ride) or some other places in the region. Parking in NYC is so expensive, as was the Amtrak, and the bus went direct from our area, so it just made more sense. Most middle class folks I knew growing up would have taken the bus to NYC at least once or twice in their lifetime. We also took the bus to DC once and up to Montreal. Basically....if you wanted to go to big cities where parking/driving might be a pain, the long distance bus was a good option in the 80s,90s and 00s.
WowsrsBowsrsTrousrs@reddit
I went to college in Boston, and used Greyhound to get back to NY for holidays, LIRR to get back out to Levittown. Not only cheaper than air fare, almost as fast given gettingvto the airport, checking in, waiting for boarding, waiting for luggage at the other end, and then having to get from the airport to the LIRR. I think those of us from the northeast are just far more used to everybody using mass transit, regardless of economic class. (I lived on the same trolley line that Mike Dukakis used to get to his office when governor!)
Asleep-Assistant-269@reddit
I coincidentally grew up in the NYC suburbs before moving to the SE. Everyone I knew used the trains to get into the city or travel around the NE - it's really the only region of the country that you could do that. When I was in college in the 90s, it wasn't really used by the broke college kids I knew. On rare occasion, sure, but far from common.
codenameajax67@reddit
Because it wouldn't be a family using them.
It would be the 18 year old who is running away to chase their dreams, the soldier saving money during base move, the grandma who can't drive.
PaleontologistKey885@reddit
Yeah definitely a young dude thing. I once rode a Greyhound from Chicago to LA, about 2 1/2 days journey. I'm glad I've done it, but you'd have to put a gun to my head to do it again lol.
CobandCoffee@reddit
You made me curious enough to look up the difference. If you booked now, a one-way flight from ORD to LAX on July 7th would be $75. It's a 4.5 hour flight. The same trip on Greyhound would be $170 and take like 3 days.
amazingtaters@reddit
Frontier though, so you'd better be packing real light (14x18x8 personal item only) and be cool with sitting in the lav to actually get that $75 fare.
CobandCoffee@reddit
Sure. But even riding in the cargo hold of a frontier flight would be superior to Greyhound.
amazingtaters@reddit
True. Just pointing out that the Frontier fare is (intentionally) a bit deceptive since most people don't travel with just a briefcase sized bag.
codenameajax67@reddit
The frontier price doesn't include bags.
Which pushes the price up.
codenameajax67@reddit
Sure. But there's a couple issues, 1. That isn't where I went from and to. 2. That only counts the cost of getting you from one airport to another.
The cheapest flight I can find for July 7th to include the bags I had, is $250 and takes 10 hours. Travel to and from wouldn't be bad in Florida costing around $25-50 for an uber. But since the nearest major airport is 90 minutes away from my destination... Thar would cost another $200 or more.
The greyhound would be just over $200. But the bus was within walking distance of where I was living before and where I would be living after. So that's the total cost.
codenameajax67@reddit
Rode it from south Florida to Oregon in my youth. Was given a travel reimbursement per mile to rebase, could have spent it all on a flight instead I banked $500 and too a $50 bus ride.
Only time I've been to Idaho, or Denver.
Head_Razzmatazz7174@reddit
In my case, we only had one car, and if one of us wanted to visit someone for a few days, we took the bus so the other person still had the car to get to work.
SnooChipmunks2079@reddit
I’m 57. The only time anyone took the bus was each summer, my mom would take us to NE PA to see her parents and extended family, and she’d take a bus to NYC for most of a week to see Broadway shows while we stayed there.
FoggyGoodwin@reddit
I used to regularly take a bus from the southwest to the northeast to visit family because it was (then) cheaper than flying especially when making last minute travel plans. I can't say if it was Greyhound; I think it was Continental Trailways (run by Greyhound?). I stopped at least 20 years ago when Mom died, long enuf ago that I can't recall anything about other passengers.
whitemike40@reddit
also, the boarding process isn’t as stringent as airlines, so it has become a way to move contraband across distances
Eric848448@reddit
Or to travel if you don’t have any ID.
NiteTiger@reddit
Still need a Gov ID for bus, at least according to the website last night.
noneyanoseybidness@reddit
Didn’t used to have ID. Anyone, including minors, could buy a ticket to anywhere. It was also pretty much untraceable.
DudleyAndStephens@reddit
When I took Greyhound in the early 2000s I think I recall them asking for an ID to buy a ticket.
Eric848448@reddit
They don’t actually check. Neither does Amtrak, even though they’re technically supposed to.
Daddysheremyluv@reddit
I've been on Greyhound that was boarded by Border Patrol in the Great Lakes. I noticed they are routinely near that station
Disc0rdium@reddit
A buddy of mine lived for a few years on a small island off the east coast. He worked at a restaurant where it was an open secret the cooks were the weed dealers for the whole town. One day he asked them how they got weed to the island. This was their process:
1) go to NYC and buy at least a pound of weed
2) put it in baggies
3) wrap the baggies in duct tape
4) put it in a duffel bag
5) get on the bus
6) get on the ferry
Repeat once a month
Different_Mud_1283@reddit
Sounds like some Block Island type shit
the_real_JFK_killer@reddit
Budget airlines really did a number on the long distance bus industry
TheScalemanCometh@reddit
I would also add that they are frequently used in film and media to convey the idea that a character is starting over with nothing, or next to nothing except for what they carry.
cannibalparrot@reddit
It’s a super cheap way to go long distances, but it kind of sucks to do.
It’s definitely the opposite of glamorous.
cannibalparrot@reddit
Or at least it used to be super cheap. Not sure about lately.
bhoose19@reddit
City to city bus line. If you were taking the bus from New York to Washington DC, you might take Greyhound.
Cautious_General_177@reddit
I recommend Amtrak
New_York_or_nowhere@reddit
Amtrak is better but the bus is a great backup if Amtrak has technical issues and your train is canceled. (This happened to me last week.) The bus is also a cheaper last minute alternative
DudleyAndStephens@reddit
The bus is much cheaper last minute. Amtrak has great deals if you buy far in advance but on short notice they are $$$.
macoafi@reddit
Next up, explaining Chinatown buses.
Maxpowr9@reddit
RIP Fung Wah. Used to go to/from Boston-NYC Chinatowns.
DudleyAndStephens@reddit
They are (or were, haven't ridden one in years) the biggest bus network by far and yes, they're normally the cheapest way to get between cities and towns. Nowadays budget airlines have probably largely replaced them for longer distance travels between larger cities, but if you're going somewhere that doesn't have a major airport it's still probably the most economical choice.
Greyhound also has a reputation for being unpleasant to travel on because, well, it is. The stations are usually crappy, rundown and in bad parts of town, the busses are old and clapped out, your fellow passengers can be a bit rough around the edges.
I did some traveling on Greyhound in college. I'm glad I had the experience but I have no desire to do it ever again.
boodler88@reddit
🎶I’m gonna get out of here if I’ve gotta ride a Greyhound bussssss music
MrsNoodleMcDoodle@reddit
The Greyhound bus station is the sketchiest public place in most US cities. The McDonalds next to the Greyhound station in my city was infamous for decades until closed.
Efficient-Panic3506@reddit
zylpher@reddit
You could probably take a Greyhound from Key West Florida to Anchorage Alaska for a couple hundred bucks. It will just take you forever.
I used to take one from the military academy I went to back home for vacations. Driving the trip was about 4 hours. But the bus cost my parents something like $40 at the time. But it took me 10+ hours to get home. They stop at every little Podunk town along the way. And have hubs like you do the airport where you may have a layover or need to change busses.
False-Cookie3379@reddit
So I was just curious about how long it would be, the farthest I could find from Key West is Vancouver, it’s $260 and takes 4 days.
AtWorkCurrently@reddit
Welcome to my hell.
Dazzling-Low8570@reddit
It's just a bus ride through Canada, nothing to lost your head over.
zylpher@reddit
I recently drove from Reno to Central VA. And probably spent $200 in gas on the first day of the drive. Maybe a bit less.
And my dumbass left on a Saturday, so my hotel room for the first night was I think $200+ as well.
If I could have dealt with the bus I may have taken it had I thought about it.
Accomplished_Key_171@reddit
Do they switch drivers so it's a continuous drive? Or does the bus stop at local hotels?
CobandCoffee@reddit
They switch out drivers and busses. Usually it'll be multiple bus transfers at various hubs.
174853@reddit
You have connections like on a flight. It’s not one single long bus ride.
Rude_Vermicelli2268@reddit
In 2026 traveling by Greyhound connotes poverty - most people would fly of they can afford it or needing to travel with no id - whether for legal or nefarious reasons.
The bus depots are usually in a seedy area of the downtown.
My college aged son had to take it to go back to school when he came home once and lost his wallet so he couldn’t fly back to school because they aren’t rigid about id like flights are. He really enjoyed the trip which he described as feeling like being in a whodunnit but isn’t in a hurry to repeat it.
AlgaeWafers@reddit
I’ve been on them several times. Cheap and ghetto. But it gets the job done
FewRecognition1788@reddit
Greyhound has been the only nationwide bus service for a very, very long time. There are municipal and private transit services that may incorporate busses and cross state lines within a certain major metro region (like around New York City or Washington DC).
But if you want to go from, say, California to Indiana, and you don't have a driver's license or TSA-compliant ID, you're riding Greyhound.
Loisgrand6@reddit
In my area, Greyhound and Trailways were the long distance bus systems used. Trailways left years ago. Families used to use them. They don’t stop for long when they stop to pick up or drop off passengers during the route and you have to be quick during the rest stops
boringcranberry@reddit
By me, they're basically for super budget travel and those that want to travel anonymously. So criminals etc.
I took a bus from NYC to DC when I was in college about 25 years ago.
The first stop we made in Jersey the cops go on and had to take someone off the bus because he ODed or something.
On the way home, the guy next to me wanted to chat. He told me he ate an entire package of hot dogs a day. He is definitely dead by now.
Caverjen@reddit
They're the only major American long-distance bus company that I'm aware of. Most major cities have local bus service, but if you want to go from city to city by bus, aside from a specialty service, then you're looking at taking a greyhound. The connotation is that they're dirty, smelly and slow, and only poor people use them.
When I was a broke college student I'd take the bus home sometimes. There was an Amtrak train that could get me partway, but I had to switch to a bus to get to my hometown. It wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't as terrible as its reputation. This was many years ago, so IDK how they are now.
schmatteganai@reddit
Some other long distance bus lines: Trailways, Peter Pan, Megabus.....
ruinrunner@reddit
Nobody here is answering the question. Greyhound IS used for long distance road travel, but it absolutely has a reputation for being sketchy, for people on the run, criminals trying to avoid detection, people who can’t fly for legal reasons, or who can’t afford to fly. It is a VERY rough crowd. I’ve taken it 3-4 times and 2 of those times the police were called (one because someone was threatening the driver, the other because of something to do with a passenger’s bag that they searched, although I never found out the outcome). Everyone here saying it’s just for travel is either completely ignorant of this or are being completely disingenuous.
Icy-Whale-2253@reddit
The furthest I’m willing to go with them is within a 4 hour radius. No way in hell I’m doing long distance travel on a goddamn Greyhound.
schmatteganai@reddit
It's not any rougher a crowd than people who can only afford Greyhound and live in a city are generally used to, but it can be a culture shock to people from a small town, because everyone rides Greyhound. Poor people, people who can't drive and need to get to/from towns without airports, young people, people who had to leave with short notice, homeless people, people without the right kind of ID to fly, people on no-fly lists, people who were just released from prison and are trying to get home, people with baggage they can't take on a plane....
It's the nearly-lowest-barrier long distance travel option, so you get more people with issues than you would on other forms of transportation. There are some cheaper coach lines in specific regions that can be specific flavors of sketchier than Greyhound.
It's the Waffle House of long-distance travel.
ForestOranges@reddit
I’ve taken the Greyhound more times than I can count. I’ve definitely seen sketchy people on the bus but I’ve also never seen the cops called. Also, in some parts of the country it’s more normal than other areas. Like some routes are popular for college kids going home to visit family.
FauxmingAtTheMouth@reddit
Agreed, you want to travel long distances with drugs or guns and want to pay cash without an id check? Greyhound. You’re poor and need to get out of town for some reason? Greyhound. You’re a trustafarian and think that tourism is sin but still need to find your spirit animal at the rainbow family gathering? Greyhound.
zpierson79@reddit
I’ve taken a Greyhound 3 times in my life. (And my brother used to take them home to see us when he was in the Marines years ago.)
Yes, there are sketchy people on them.
There are also very interesting people on them - still remember having a long conversation with a really cool young lady coming back home to Ohio after having spent a year in the mountains of Colorado. (Exploding ghost towns, working odd jobs, etc - she had photos of a whole bunch of awesome places she’d been..)
She was extremely outgoing and friendly, and the sort of person who would drop their life and go on an adventure for a year, just because.
It’s really a mix - sketchy people, poor people, college students & people who aren’t in a hurry and want to save a bit of money.
CommercialWorried319@reddit
Typically someone starting over, back in the day it was the cheapest transportation from one place to another and unlike airlines they'd stop in tiny towns.
Mainly they'd be used long distances but places like Chicago there'd be people traveling from towns outside of Chicago and the Greyhound stop was shared by city Transit.
You'd see everyone from college kids, runaways, people getting out of the military, people just out of prison etc.
They still stop at military bases as far as I know but have stopped going to every tiny town, my town lost its stop probably 10 years ago.
Now much of what used to be Greyhound was bought by other companies
Lovebeingadad54321@reddit
Just a generally well known national brand of private transportation. Used by those too poor, or afraid, to travel by plane.
Party-Fault9186@reddit
Or traveling along routes where flying isn’t an option.
bizoticallyyours83@reddit
They're used to travel long distances. Most buses will take you within the confines of a city or town. Something like a greyhound can take you anywhere within the state, or even to a different state.
Suppafly@reddit
They just might only get you to the closest big city in the state, not your actual destination. My kid goes to college in the middle of Missouri and the closest greyhound stop is in St Louis, something like 110 miles away.
Also, they might use local bus or charter services for parts of the route even if they do have a route to where you want to go.
moodeng2u@reddit
Actually used to be anywhere in USA,including east coast to west coast
If you want total misery, try 5 days on buses from Washington state to Florida
AnotherPint@reddit
You can still do coast-to-coast trips but they involve a couple of transfers now. Greyhound does not have through LA-New York express routes any more.
Suppafly@reddit
Sometimes they use random local bus services as part of their routes too. Took one from Florida to Central IL one time when I was a kid and the last leg of it was on a Peoria Coach and Charter bus.
Opposite-Program8490@reddit
Did Arizona to upstate NY once. Would not recommend.
Unusual_Memory3133@reddit
Did California to Texas as a kid. Once. Mom paid extra for air fare in subsequent years.
ggrandmaleo@reddit
In eastern PA, a lot of people that work in NYC take the bus every day. It's basically a commuter line.
WorthConfusion9786@reddit
They aren’t that much cheaper, but easier to travel on if you have outstanding warrants or are on any watchlist.
Outlaw_Josie_Snails@reddit
"Greyhound" is often used generically to mean a bus, but Greyhound is actually the name of a specific bus company. As for the company itself, I have had mostly pleasant rides with them.
Greyhound buses are primarily used for long-distance travel, often interstate or to Canada. Yes, Greyhounds are considered fairly inexpensive for long distance travel.
As far as "connotations" go, buses in general are frequently stigmatized as being dirty or for lower-class travelers. However, this depends greatly on the state, the specific area within the state, economics, and demographics.
The United States is a car-centric nation, so many people who cannot afford a car utilize buses. Alternatively, some people can afford a car but choose to live in a city where public transportation is the norm.
Parking_Champion_740@reddit
I feel like I don’t even see greyhound busses anymore
174853@reddit
When I was 19 I was broke, working a shitty roofing job, and living in a hotel in Augusta, GA and spending most of my money back at the hotel. I decided anything would be better than my current life and I bought a greyhound bus ticket to Maine and spent a few months hitchhiking around New England and Canada and working on random farms. Most of the other passengers were also broke, a lot of them didn’t speak English, and they were elderly. The first time I drank a 40 was outside the bus station in Fayetteville, NC with two random dudes standing outside at about 5 AM. I remember walking around the area by the bus station in Boston and smoking cigarette butts off of the ground with a homeless guy watching like 20 Chinese dudes having a really intense chess tournament in the park. I think Greyhound buses represent freedom and adventure to people who otherwise would have no way to move around. You get a picture of what everyday American life is like for the working class, which isn’t something we really portray in media. I came from a pretty privileged background but that really exposed me to how most people really lived. It smelled like sweat and farts but it was a beautiful slice of life. when i get off of the bus i would see families or lovers reunited or people going to find new opportunities. little old ladies would give me candy from their purse. i think every american should ride a greyhound at least once.
MarcatBeach@reddit
First, almost no matter where you lived in the US you either had a bus stop in your town, or you were one town away from a bus stop.
Second. Passenger train travel crumbled in the US. so it was either flying or bus. Flying was very expensive until the industry was deregulated. There were no budget airlines. So you took a bus long distance cheap. or took a bus to a major city where you could catch a train, if there was train service coverage to the desitnation ( which in many cases was questionable ).
Jaded_Guarantee_2513@reddit
Not that great. Slightly cheaper than the discounted train tickets. Internet but sometimes crowded, delayed by traffic. Sometimes there are issues with inter connecting bus trips and if that happens the bus stations are often in sketchier areas then Amtrak stations. Sometimes horrible stories include being dropped off randomly at meet up points along the highway.
Great for in state or in region travel on the cheap. But still less convenient than rail travel
Queasy-Primary-3438@reddit
They’re ghetto. I’ve taken grey hounds a few times in the last decade and pretty much every bus station that they travel through is in the hood. Aside from that I’ve never had an issue traveling with them outside of small delays. Definitely not worth the longer travel time anymore when I can just buy a frontier ticket (for cheaper) and get to my destination in a few hours instead.
stardustdriveinTN@reddit
Greyhound. The easiest and cheapest way to turn a 2 hour trip into 6 hours.
When my parents got divorced back in the mid 1970's, my dad ended up moving to the other side of the state - about 2 - 2 1/2 hours (car ride) away. When it was time for me to go visit him, he'd send my mom money for either a Greyhound or Trailways bus ticket. I'd pack my old hand-me-down suitcase, load up with snacks and the latest copy of MAD magazine or Skateboarder magazine and she'd drive me in to downtown Nashville to catch the bus. I was 11 years old at the time. That two hour ride would always take at least 6 hours. They usually didn't drive the interstate, but instead drove the old state highways. That bus stopped in every little town along the way.
pinniped90@reddit
Greyhound is definitely associated with being poor.
The US does have some decent buses that connect college towns to large cities, attracting a university clientele, but they tend to be smaller local operators, not the Dog.
An8thOfFeanor@reddit
Just a well-known bus company, like Delta for air travel
Exciting_Vast7739@reddit
Nah, Delta's nice. That's a charter bus.
PowerfulFunny5@reddit
A lot of charter busses have much more comfortable seats than typical airplane seats
And some airlines sell some short hop bus routes instead of flying https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/when-your-first-class-flight-turns-out-to-be-a-bus-ride/ar-AA1ZrdAF
Maxpowr9@reddit
I figured without opening the article that it would be American. In spite of being a legacy carrier, in terms of flight experience, it's closer to Spirit than it is to Delta.
PowerfulFunny5@reddit
United used Landline busses until last year https://thepointsguy.com/news/united-airlines-landline-bus-flights-colorado/
HeilStary@reddit
Spirit but yeah
aoeuismyhomekeys@reddit
They went out of business as of last month, but for now Frontier is still around
HeilStary@reddit
I know still the best comp
TheWholeMoon@reddit
Since we are such a car-centric society, buses and bus systems are very different here. They largely serve the poorest communities who don’t own cars—and the average US town can be difficult to get around if you don’t have a car. For example, in my neighborhood there are no sidewalks. The road that goes from here to the nearest grocery store is very busy—constant traffic. Also no sidewalk. There is a drainage ditch on either side of the road. It is not safe to walk on the shoulder. This is just how things are unfortunately set up in newer areas where people are expected to drive everywhere.
That being said, Greyhound is the biggest, oldest, most well-known bus service. It is meant to travel distances. If you ride one, you soon find out how slow it is. A trip that might be an hour and a half drive becomes a three hour bus ride. You stop at every small town along the way. The “stops” are often at some random gas station in the “poor” part of town. Anywhere the bus can turn around.
If you ride Greyhound you see many small towns and always the dingiest, grimiest part.
The depots and official stations aren’t much nicer, most of the time.
However, the staff and drivers always seem to be good people! I’ve had nothing but helpful, friendly encounters.
Riding Greyhound with the rest of the non-driving (often down-on-their-luck) passengers can be a lonely, sort of sad experience, hence the songs and/or movie scenes. But if you have the right attitude, aren’t a snob, and know how to take care of yourself, it’s a decent, cheap way to travel.
FWIW, I’ve ridden buses in the UK and it’s a different experience.
Triscuitmeniscus@reddit
In movies and songs they’re romanticized as a symbol of freedom or change as they used to be the cheapest way to travel between cities. In the real world today they’re a not-that-cheap, unreliable and very slow way to travel that is pretty much the last resort for people who have absolutely no better options. Bus stations are frequently in the worst neighborhoods and the modern connotation is that if you had any possible way to avoid taking a Greyhound bus, you would.
Cheap air travel basically made them obsolete for trips over 50-100 miles, which cut into a huge part of their revenue and hastened their decline. In inflation-adjusted dollars it’s cheaper to fly from NY to CA now than it was to take the bus in the 1960’s, and it only takes 5-6 hours instead of 3 days.
throwfar9@reddit
In my childhood there were two majors: Greyhound and Trailways ( officially Continental Trailways.) They used to run TV ad campaigns against each other. The drivers were always middle-aged white guys in trim uniforms—bow-tie, Ike jacket, brimmed cap—and passengers were in coats and ties or dresses and pearls.
The last time I took Greyhound to come home from college there was a filthy guy with a canvas satchel preaching at the top of his lungs from the last row as everyone tried to ignore him. The driver was 300 pounds, polyester slacks and cheat buttoned shirt, smoking a Tiparillo.
After that I use the tide board and paid for gas.
Dazzling-Astronaut88@reddit
I had a friend join me on a cross country road trip once but he had to head back for a family emergency. I dropped him off at the Oakland, CA Greyhound station so they he could take a greyhound all of the way to Miami. 3.5 days. Lives were being lived at the Oakland Greyhound station....
happyfaceowl@reddit
never realized how much american culture ppl get from movies and songs like that
pumainpurple@reddit
Economically challenged ride the dog
1000thusername@reddit
Recently paroled from prison
That’s the connotation that comes to mind first for me.
CobandCoffee@reddit
It's a last ditch option for people who have literally no other choice. They take forever, you're trapped in with a lot of really sketchy people, it frequently run late and strands passengers, and the bus station is guaranteed to be in the absolute worst part of any city you're in. Oh and it's only slightly cheaper than air travel most of the time. Though if you're on the no fly list, don't have an ID, or just can't fathom the idea of cross country travel without your lucky methpipe then it may be the right choice for you.
ForestOranges@reddit
The other week I decided to take the train because I didn’t wanna take the Greyhound. The train was over 3 hours late and the Greyhound was at least on time.
freddbare@reddit
NO
wmass@reddit
They are a company that has buses serving the 48 contiguous states. I don’t know if they are in Alaska. They probably aren’t in Hawaii because they mostly supply bus service between cities. For example between Boston and Washington DC.
Anyone might choose to take a Greyhound bus to go to another city or state but people who own cars would usually choose to drive. If someone needs to go across the country they would choose to take a plane if they could afford it. This means Greyhounds have the connotation of carrying working class or poorer people.
If I go to New York City I usually take a bus from my home 100 miles distant. I could drive but the traffic is awful and parking is expensive. It is easier to take a bus and then take the subway to the places in the city where you want to go, such as museums, theaters and shopping.
ForestOranges@reddit
Exactly, it’s much more urbanized in the Northeast. Also, they serve Mexico and Canada too, but mainly focus on the US. You can get buses to cities like Toronto, Montreal, Tijuana, and Monterrey.
Yuunarichu@reddit
Yes, they are basically the bus version of the Amtrak.
MyUsername2459@reddit
Amtrak is a lot classier than taking Greyhound.
Ok-Equivalent8260@reddit
You’re too poor for air travel.
Emotional_Ad5714@reddit
It has the connotation that you have no other options. Can't afford a flight, don't own a car. It's not a pleasant way to travel. The bus stops at every Podunk town along the way, so it takes forever, you can never get rest because it's always starting and stopping, there is always something talking loud, playing music or being anti-social. The bus is also frequently late. Sometimes you pull up to a gas station in the middle of nowhere and the bus driver just leaves and you might be waiting for 4-5 hours for the new bus driver's shift to start, but have no explanation of what is happening.
You would only take a Greyhound bus if you are very poor. I took a few long trips when I was young, and it was never enjoyable and always frustrating.
helloitsmejenkem@reddit
I got a crazy deal in the early 2000's for round trip from Louisville to Florida and back for like $60. I was on that piece of shit for almost 30 hours 1 way. It stopped at pickups, but then also stopped at scheduled stops, and then also stopped every 2 hours for I guess a break for the driver even if we had just stopped 10 minutes prior, and then it stopped 2 other times to debus everyone and thoroughly clean the bus, and then again because the drivers time ran out and for some reason we had to completely switch busses and redo all our luggage. It was an absolute fucking nightmare from hell, and my seat was right across from the shitter and the door wasnt insulated it was more like a curtain.
AdamOnFirst@reddit
They are for the poor and extremely shabby and trashy.
Fun fact: they’re indeed extremely shabby and trashy and their depots are hellpits. However, it ain’t actually that cheap as people have been saying.
The bigger differentiator IMO is they stop a lot between cities. A route between two major cities 6-8 hours away from each other by boba car ride will take an extra 25-50% to travel because the bus will hit up as many as a half dozen stops on the way, including in some pretty small regional centers. So you can go from pretty rural area to rural area on them. I guess that makes it cheaper than airfare because you don’t need ground transport from their airport, but if you’re going city to city it’s not that cheap.
raisetheavanc@reddit
Sticky.
Impossible_Memory_85@reddit
I did LA to KC once when I was 19 for like $50. Awful experience.
ForestOranges@reddit
With budget airlines existing now it’s usually just cheaper to fly, especially if you can travel light and don’t have a lot of bags
Dave_A480@reddit
In the same sense that the city bus is for poor people and drug users.... But long distance....
ForestOranges@reddit
This is so geographical. In Northeastern cities like Boston, NYC, Philly, DC the city bus is not just for poor people and drug dealers. Taking the Greyhound is also a lot more normalized in these cities.
Then you have huge swaths of the South and Midwest (excluding Chicago) where public transportation is so ass and the cities are big and spaced out so even poorer people have to sacrifice and buy a car. I know a doctor that lives in NYC and takes the subway to work everyday. A doctor living in Indianapolis would probably think it’s absurd to take public transportation to work.
BoysenberryUnhappy29@reddit
Poverty; danger; dirtiness; discomfort.
morosco@reddit
In the bigger northeast cities, at least when I was in college, Greyhound was a fast, cheap, efficient, not comfortable way to get places. I took a ton of Greyhounds between Boston/New York/Worcester/Albany/Providence/Hartford/Syracuse etc. when I was in college, and before I had a car.
They also used to have a place in more rural areas far from major airports, but, that seems to have died down a lot.
SabresBills69@reddit
greyhound buses became popular before airline travel became the norm for going long distances.
today it’s used more for shorter travel where planes or trains might not be an option.
i went away to college and a bus station was near campus so I did the bus home and back for weekrnds.
buses are also common in places like DC to nyc as an alternate to trains/ flying. there's competition in thus area with other companies. between Seattle and Vancouver the train only runs 1-2 times a day, the other times it’s by bus. it can be more efficient than flying
today most airline flights are hub-spoke routes so if you want to get to the city 4 hrs away the bus is faster vs having to fly a connection that will take longer
ForestOranges@reddit
Yeah but people from outside the Northeast forget there’s a whole section of the country where public transportation is more normalized. They’re the ones commenting that the ONLY people who use Greyhound are ex cons, people on drugs, or people who are so broke they don’t have two pennies to rub together. Don’t get me wrong, some of those people do use Greyhound, but regular middle class people like myself have too.
SpinosaurRingTone@reddit
The connotation is that they're for poor people and/or criminals.
Wasn't always this way, but there was a huge wave of crime in the 80s/90s that made the average American associate all forms of public transportation except airplanes that way.
ForestOranges@reddit
Most of my family is from a city but I was raised in a suburb with no public transportation. I feel like there’s a big urban/rural divide on rather people view public transportation as dangerous. Someone who lives in Chicago will probably tell you the subway is fine, just have basic street smarts. But someone from the suburbs who is used to driving everywhere and almost never rides the subway probably views it as this sketchy, crime-ridden place where anything could happen.
_-Cleon-_@reddit
It's the US' largest national bus travel company. If you want to take a bus from City A to City B, whether it's in your state or not, Greyhound is the way to go.
It's cheap but it's not comfortbale.
susanbiddleross@reddit
I’ve taken grey hound. People use black trash bags to pack their belongings. It’s the cheapest possible and least comfortable way of going from one place to another. In movies they use this to show this person is at rock bottom and poor. We have trains, often the trains go where you need to go or other buses that have A/C or movie screens. You take Greyhound because you can’t afford anything else.
ForestOranges@reddit
I grew up in the Northeast and the Amtrak train was pretty clean, comfortable, and reliable. I left the North and had to take Amtrak recently. It wasn’t as clean and it was hours behind. The Northeast Corridor of Amtrak works well but the rest of the lines are trash.
beta_vulgaris@reddit
Most Americans see public transit as something for the poorest of poor people and would rather go deep into debt to own and maintain a car than take public transit. As a result, there is a transit hierarchy: Cars are the ideal, Trains are acceptable, Busses are unacceptable and for the lowest of the lower class only.
This sort of social class sorting means that the majority who hear you are taking “Greyhound” will imagine that your seat mate is some sort of drug addicted murderer, shitting themselves while jerking off, even though every time I have ridden Greyhound it has been peaceful, cheap, and easy.
5hellback@reddit
The Greyhound is well known. We had a depot in town when I was growing up. I used to see people there with there bags waiting for the bus and wished I knew where they were going. It looked exciting.
The-Almighty-Pizza@reddit
Worst case scenario. Usually reserved for people who are banned from flying, cant fly for some specific reason, or pretty poor people. So basically everyone thay uses them is either a bad crowd or in a bad place, and the company treats them as such. They're horribly managed and the company doesn't care because it sees the customers as sub human pretty much.
They will always run late, can drop off passengers basically wherever they want, or screw them over however they please, and there's no consequences because these people literally have no other options most of the time.
ForestOranges@reddit
This really varies by region. In the Northeast college students used it to travel home and it was a good way to travel between cities in the Northeast corridor if Amtrak was full of expensive.
I also travel a lot. The airport in my city is convenient, but it’s smaller and is sometimes more expensive. I’ll sometimes travel to a city 90 minutes away when I’m flying because sometimes it’s $100-$200 cheaper . Even if you park off-site, airport parking can be expensive. If I’m traveling for more than a few days, it starts making sense to just pay $20-$30 to just take the Greyhound over to that city and another $2 to catch the city bus to the airport.
AnotherPint@reddit
Almost entirely untrue. Only privileged, sheltered people believe bus travel is “reserved for people who are banned from flying … or pretty poor people.” The bus lines are a great way to travel in the Northeast corridor, from Chicago to Midwest destinations, etc. They are also the only public transportation serving hundreds of small American communities.
Retirees, college students, foreign visitors who don’t care to rent a car, etc. all use Greyhound regularly. And there are a lot more well-run long-distance lines, from Peter Pan to Jefferson Lines, that have regular customers up and down the socioeconomic food chain, from regular folks and business travelers to those less privileged.
Reddit commentators, who generally skew more urban, better educated, more privileged, etc., perpetuate a classist anti-bus stigma that is very unfortunate. They recirculate scary, inaccurate stereotypes about the bus being mostly crackheads, violent cons just out of prison, etc. and about the operators themselves as irresponsible, abusive, “always late,” indifferent to riders, and so on. I do not think these views are based on repeat direct observations.
MakeStupidHurtAgain@reddit
Cheap (except it’s not), dirty, possibly dangerous, and full of down-and-outs.
Their reputation is so bad that the company literally started a new brand to try to attract people who wouldn’t be caught dead taking a Greyhound. (Yes. FlixBus and Greyhound are the same company.)
Greyhound stations tend to be in pretty rough areas of towns, far from interesting sites. The one in Las Vegas used to be on a grim stretch of Charleston Boulevard, and the one in Anaheim was two miles from Disneyland in a pretty dangerous area.
FlixBus and their competitor Megabus tried to fix that by going to the parts of town tourists wanted to go to.
I miss the days of Fung Wah buses. They used to carry Chinese restaurants workers from New York and Boston to places all over the eastern U.S., and you could get a ride from, say, New York to Columbus, Ohio for a couple bucks. It was cheaper than Greyhound but cleaner and less dangerous.
CronosWorks@reddit
They’re cheap, but you might get decapitated.
chriswaco@reddit
Greyhound by Harry Chapin sums it up.
ForestOranges@reddit
I’ve ridden them before. They’re considered a cheap way to travel, but honestly since budget airlines became a thing (RIP Spirit) it can sometimes be cheaper to fly with a budget airline like Frontier, Breeze, Avelo, or Allegiant.
The stations are usually in sketchy neighborhoods and you can meet everything from ordinary people, long term travelers, people moving drugs, people on drugs, people experiencing mental health issues, people that are basically homeless and had someone buy them a ticket to somewhere else.
I live 90 minutes away from a major airport and it can be a lot cheaper than flying out of the airport in my own city. I’ll often use the Greyhound to get to the larger airport 90 minutes away so I don’t have to pay for parking during my trip.
ATLien_3000@reddit
It's a cheap way for long distance travel. It used to be significantly less than flying.
That's not a given though these days.
StupidLemonEater@reddit
"Greyhound" has become a genericized trademark like Kleenex or Chapstick. It's technically just one particular company but the name is often used for any intercity bus service.
It's pretty much the cheapest and least glamorous way to travel.
BurritoDespot@reddit
It's the most common one. I believe Greyhound is the only national bus company. Other companies are regional.
Plenty_Vanilla_6947@reddit
They were so grimy that in college my husband would hitchhike home rather than taking the bus.
One of my German friends , living in the USA, was going to book a trip for her children to visit her sister several states away. The reservation agent told her “lady, you don’t want your child traveling with a bunch of ex-cons”. ….
BurritoDespot@reddit
It varies regionally. Greyhound is lot more "normal" in the Northeast and other places where not owning a car is more normal.
jessek@reddit
They're a private bus company that does travel between cities, anything from a trip to the next town over to across the country. They're used mainly by people who don't own a car or can't afford a plane ticket, though it definitely gets to the point where Greyhound isn't cheaper the longer the distance. It's just the most commonly used long distance bus company, the brand has a degree of genericization like Kleenex, where people call all bus companies Greyhound.
sneezhousing@reddit
That you're poor/broke
Sea-Significance8047@reddit
I used to use them to travel between NYC and Philadelphia a lot in my early 20s. They were a cheap, slow form of transportation with minimal comfort and the grimiest terminals. I was sexually assaulted on an overnight bus and never used them again even though the train was more expensive. That story has surprised absolutely no one when I’ve told it in the years since.
longganisafriedrice@reddit
This song sums it up:
America - Simon & Garfunkel
doomgeneration91@reddit
When I think greyhound I think - ugh greyhound is the worst - everytime I’ve taken it there’s been some issue - over booking the bus so people have to just wait around 2 hours for the next one, the person sitting next to me in the cramped over booked bus has a big box of belongings since they just got out of prison, dirty bus stations etc
angrypuggle@reddit
I kind of like the mix of people you meet on a long Greyhound ride and at the stops.
beegeexyz@reddit
Something I haven't seen mentioned here is the ease of location. It is common to not live very close to a train station or an airport. Bus locations are often easier and closer to get to. It can also make a lot more sense if you aren't traveling very far. If your trip would only be approximately 2 or 3 hours of driving, taking a plane or a train, for a higher cost, longer wait times, etc just doesn't make sense.
elphaba00@reddit
I watched a Reel of a British travel vlogger who decided to take on the challenge of a cross-country trip (NYC to LA) on a Greyhound. It was a shit show on wheels. He'd show moments where they were just dropped off in the middle of nowhere because they didn't have a driver to take over the shift.
I once took a Greyhound just within my own state and ended up at the bus station in Chicago. 0/10, do not recommend. It was the most depressing place I've ever been. I think that's why a lot of people end up taking Peoria Charter.
Rubberbangirl66@reddit
I have taken one, and I am glad I did! Met some interesting people
bmiller218@reddit
I had a great conversation with a WW2 vet on a ride back from Minneapolis in the mid 90's. We went to the same college but at very different times.
ScarletSunder@reddit
What everyone has already said but I also had a middle school/high school band director who would threaten us with go gray hound if we acted up on a band trip. We went to New York for a band trip and we got threatened with if you steal, or break the over night rules we would go gray hound back home. So they’d get us a ticket and then we’d have to explain to our parents why they had to get us from the station. Never actually saw it happen but of course for a teacher that had been there 20 ish years there were stories
BeepCheeper@reddit
You broke as fuck
Can’t afford a car for a road trip, can’t afford a plane ticket
Even rail travel is classier
CobandCoffee@reddit
Hopping a coal train is classier most of the time.
Thauros@reddit
unless you’re on like an organIzed tour group chances are it’s the only long distance bus.
i took one from and back to pittsburgh to baltimore last month because our trains suck and it’s dumb to pay pennsylvania turnpike fares and valet parking when i disnt beed a car there.
while everyone l’s correct as to the connotation the reality is less scary. it was mostly college kids.
not scary but i did regret it on the way home because the bus was in bad shape and took forever with frequent stops.
wish i would’ve flown as crazy as it is to fly somewhere that’s a four hour drive
KenethSargatanas@reddit
The human equivalent to a cattle car. Filthy and packed in like sardines.
cheekmo_52@reddit
Greyhound buses are for longer distance travel (as opposed to public transit which is localized to one city/area.) As far as I am aware, they are the only long distance bus service in the US with regular routes that you can just buy a ticket for, like you would a train.
There are other companies from which you can charter a private bus for a specific trip, but Greyhound buses are on scheduled routes with terminals all over the country.
TheBimpo@reddit
What do you mean are they “generally used to cross state lines”?
There is complete freedom of movement between states, besides California having agricultural checks.
The connotations is that you are living on the fringes of society or completely broke. They are not a common or popular method of travel.
Raddatatta@reddit
Yeah they are generally for distances, but some are regional too and there are a lot of big states so taking one within a single state is not uncommon, but they often cross state lines. And yeah they are one of the cheapest methods of transportation.
Severe_Flan_9729@reddit
Yes, you're able to travel across the country on Greyhound.
The thing is that the connotation is that it's the cheapest way to travel and honestly based on what I've read, is not a pleasant way to travel. Delays and cancellations are common.
tzeentchdusty@reddit
You're asking about something that means a wide variety of things to different Americans, I think what you're getting at is the stereotype that it's a cheap way to travel (it is) and the media depictions that it's an anonymous way for criminals and people who are fleeing various situations to travel (it is also that) but for most people, if there isnt an Amtrack line from where they live to chicago, theyre taking a bus.
A lot of Americans take the greyhound for a lot of reasons, I've done it, there's nothing shady about it (unless there is, like anything else). Great way to travel if you don't have a car, it's safer than the perception of it, but anyone who tells you there isn't a negative and shady connotation is wrong or trying to ragebait. It's just that the connotation and perception itself is incorrect in the face of the reality that it's a cost effective and safe way to get from one place to another place that's far away.
pikkdogs@reddit
Cheaper than other modes of transportation, but if you have one bus that goes in one direction, you probably won’t have two.
Yes, only poor people would usually ride them.
And yes used to go longer distances.
Js987@reddit
They’re just the bus company with the largest network. The connotation is generally you’re broke if you’re doing long distance travel via bus (it’s pretty miserable) or your employer is obnoxiously cheap (my wife used to hire truckers at a company that sent them out to their trucks via Greyhound).
Desperate-Disk2160@reddit
Kicking someone outta town the cheapest way possible
SockSock81219@reddit
Yup, the most common long-distance bus line. There are sometimes other regional bus lines, but if you want to travel far, don't have a car and can't fly or take a train, you're probably on a Greyhound bus.
Difficult_Pause_4350@reddit
They are associated with cheap, long distance travel. This is just a stereotype, of course, but the general idea is that if someone is traveling by greyhound then they don’t own a car and cannot afford to travel by train or plane
RealMoleRodel@reddit
You're poor and you need to leave, now.
byte_handle@reddit
It's a bus company specializing in non-local travel. Greyhound busses cross state lines all the time, but crossing state lines isn't really a big deal unless you're doing it for illegal purposes.
Innuendo64_@reddit
It's really the only bus company that everyone is familiar with. Some people associate Greyhound with old buses because that's what's often seen in movies, but in reality their fleet is almost all modern coach buses
ashesofastroworld@reddit
Its the most common one for intercity and state travel in the US. It's the goto for ex-cons coming out of prison. It used to be cheap but not so much anymore especially after the merger with Flixbus and closing of Megabus.
mythicalwolf00@reddit
Greyhound buses are more for long distance travel. Often trips that will take at least an overnight drive. Like you would take a some trains or even planes, but cheaper.
City/town buses just follow a basic route in town every day.
manicpixidreamgirl04@reddit
They're for long distance trips. Can be across state lines or within the same state. Most people prefer to drive or fly.
No_Report_4781@reddit
Are you trying to ask what people think about the company Greyhound, or their bus service?