Greyhound Bus Ride - Part 1

Well my associate went to the Net to get my ticket and he told me that the web site was totally archaic as one of the people riding the bus with me described it. Can you imagine a company the size of Greyhound having a web site that could have been better designed by my new seat mate, Michael, who is 12 years old!

I arrived at the Atlanta Greyhound facility at about 9 PM and found it one of the most fascinating people watching times I have experienced! You could have cast a movie from this crowd, However they were VERY courteous and pleasant to converse with for the next five hours. I also found a VERY clean facility that was clean enough to even sit on the floor where I could recharge my cell phone and also the laptop. I sat next to a young soldier playing video games. He was so young to be possibly giving his LIFE for this war in Iraq! There were other male and female soldiers there including one that was beautiful enough to be a run way model.

I also met Billy who was from Georgia going to Pennsylvania to escort his girlfriend back to Georgia who was afraid to travel by herself. He was a 21 year old farmer who is into hydroponics which thrilled me as I'm also into hydroponics.

I soon learned the "ropes" of how to get ready to board your bus. You have to get in line to board your bus two HOURS before it departs. People are jockeying for a place in line upfront. I could not figure out why as I thought like the airlines Greyhound would not sell more tickets than the 55 passengers who were going to be riding. WRONG! I saw people who were at the back of the line having to wait for another bus that might be five HOURS or more! I quickly got in line and just sat my fanny down on that floor!

George told me that in his many years of riding since he was a child that Greyhound has truly sold more tickets than passengers as he was Number 56 and was told he would have to wait another five hours for the next bus. Debbie also said that she had seen people miss their next bus connection. So word to the wise if you are traveling Greyhound: GET IN LINE EARLY!

Willie was a delightful traveling mate who is a retired train mechanic from New Jersey. We had a marvelous times discussing what is happening to the country and the crashing economy. I met a young mother of three EXTREMELY well mannered young boys including my new seat mate Micheal. Shelly, his mother, was traveling to Alexandria where my own mother grew up.

One of the highlights of the trip was our new young rookie driver Danny who according to veteran Greyhound rider, George, was the most courteous driver he had ever encountered. He told me that most of the drivers are rude and treat the passengers as children. Danny is going to be one of the best drivers that Greyhound has!

So we are having a conversation and George says: "Do you smell smoke?" I had thought I was smelling smoke and looked out the window to see smoke coming from under the bus! I immediately jumped up and yelled to the driver that the bus was smoking and appeared to be on fire. He responded by beginning to pull off the side of the road and the passengers were all out of their seats. The smoke began to pour out of the wheel cover area. He jumped out and checked and then told us to get off ASAP! I suggested to the driver that we get the people AWAY from the bus as I have seen cars catch on fire and burn to the ground in less than 30 minutes. He agreed and we got them to move away.

He got on his cell phone and called in the fire. The McLeansville, North Carolina Fire Department responded very quickly and I commended the chief. He informed me that if had been given the CORRECT location of the bus they would have been there even quicker. He said they thought the bus was down the road another three miles. His crew along with a HASMAT unit determined that the fire was the brakes and used foam to correct the situation. Finally he let us back on the bus however it was determined that bus should not got any further.

So now they said that they would have to get a bus from either ATLANTA or RICHMOND which would take another 6 HOURS to get to Raleigh, North Carolina – less than 60 miles from where we were parked! Thank goodness our driver decided that was totally unacceptable and then they found a bus in Durham that came to get us.

Meanwhile another bus came by and picked up 20 people from our bus and took them to Raleigh. We were in the back of the bus and did not get off quick enough. Then we were asked to help the driver UNLOAD our bus of all the luggage that was in the bays even though most of the luggage belonged to the people who had left on the other bus. It was almost 90 degrees out in the heat as we are unloading luggage as PASSENGERS!

The new bus arrived about an hour later but not before passenger Danny on his own walked over two miles to get us water and plastic glasses to drink out much needed water. Thanks Danny! You would think that Greyhound could carry enough water and plastic glasses for emergencies like this one.

Finally we got into Raleigh and I find out that my connection bus had left out of the station about 15 minutes before we arrived. Expecting there would certainly be another bus going to Greenville, North Carolina since it was only 125 miles away, I was in total shock to learn that the next bus was not leaving till 10:40 PM and it was just 3:30PM. Also this bus would take a total of 12 HOURS to get me to my destination since it had to double back! 12 HOURS!

I called Rob and said this was absurd and told me he would drive the 125 miles to pick me up.

I heard story after story in the Raleigh station about double booking of passengers. This results in having people miss their bus and causing them to miss their other connections. The airlines and trains do not double book and Greyhound should not either!

Also they are in the Dark Ages when it comes to handling these type of problems. First, they need to develop a system that does not allow them to book 70 seats on a 55 passenger bus! Second, they need to have a PLAN to handle connection problems when they have a fire or other incident. The supervisor in Raleigh told me that the driver should have checked to see if passengers like me had to make connections. Then they would have held up the bus for me. No procedure was initiated in my case and other ones that I learned about. That would have resulted in me getting to my destination on time and not 19 HOURS later if I had continued on to Greenville, North Carolina.

Congress needs to review this double booking situation with Greyhound executives. Also Greyhound needs to consider installing digital boards in the bus stations like the airlines have so that passengers can know if buses have been delayed and their Estimated Time of Arrival. That means that the buses should be equipped with inboard computers and GPS systems.

In part two of this article, I will discuss the return trip.

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