Bus Riding Review

I think I’ve been pretty honest with my assessment of busses in my posts about this journey, but perhaps I’ve come across too negative. So, let me be clear: Riding the busses was actually one of the best parts of this trip, and I’ll definitely add bussing into the mix when deciding how to get somewhere here in the US.

But that doesn’t mean everything about it is great, so let’s detail some specifics:

Why Riding The Bus Is Great

• Booking is easy — you just always use greyhound.com & they ticket you with the local provider. I used that site for all my bookings, and only actually rode a Greyhound twice.
• Bussing is cheap — mine averaged about $14 per riding hour
• The bus stations are conveniently located — with a few exceptions out west, most bus stations are located near the main downtown area & walkable to the big hotels
• The stations are safe — there’s lots of security, and they keep out the riff-raff
• There are no lines — you can arrive 15 min before your departure & be totally fine
• Luggage is essentially free & unlimited (Caveat: when booking they do tell you there are limits, but I never once saw this enforced)
• Busses are safe — I never once felt threatened nor unsafe, and I saw many, many females traveling alone on them
• They’re pretty much mostly always on time — they’re especially dependable when departing from an actual bus station
• Most of the busses are very clean & nice inside
• The seats are comfortable with lots of legroom
• They’re not that crowded — I only had to share a seat row once
• They have a large bathroom — and every one I was in was very clean
• People are friendly — I wasn’t ever really annoyed with a fellow passenger (vs. very often being annoyed with at least one passenger on every flight I’ve been on)
• About every two hours the bus stops for a 15 min break — these stops allow you to walk around, get some fresh air, and the opportunity to see how you can justify eating some more fast food
• Being able to look at the window at the scenery is interesting, mesmerizing, and never got old for me. Truly — one of the highlights of this trip

Why Riding The Bus Isn’t Always Great

• In most places, there aren’t that many busses per day, so you need to fit your schedule to them (which sometimes means your bus leaves @ 2am)
• Some of the stations are located in areas of town that aren’t that nice
• Riff-raff definitely hang out around some stations (but they’re not allowed inside)
• Some of the stations aren’t that clean inside
• Sometimes there’s no bus station, it’s just a stop
• A small percentage of busses are past their prime
• Every bus boarding process was kinda different, and slightly chaotic
• Some of your drivers are quite eccentric, but always in a humorous way (Ex: One of my bus driver’s electronic ticket scanner wasn’t working 100%, and he would just audibly say “beep” when he was able to successfully scan your QR code, which was your signal to get on the bus)
• Some of your fellow passengers are quite eccentric
• Some of your fellow passengers have definitely had a tougher time in life
• People live out loud on the bus — you’ll definitely want to bring some good noise-cancelling headphones
• You will not feel healthy after all the fast food you’ve justified eating at the rest stops

So, in summary, if you have a trip of 4-5 hours of driving or less, consider taking the bus!