never riding the bus again - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!



Go Back   TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards! > Members Lounge > Budget Travel Community > General Discussions

General Discussions ANYTHING GOES HERE, BABY! Woot! Woot! Need I say more?!

BOOYAHKASHAA!

Raileurope.com: See Europe by train
Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 12-17-2008, 07:00 PM   #1
c0urt
TPunk Recognized
 
c0urt's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Fairfield, Ca
Posts: 1,103
Thanks: 1
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Send a message via AIM to c0urt Send a message via MSN to c0urt Send a message via Yahoo to c0urt
Default never riding the bus again

My original intent was to ride my bicycle back to Birmingham from Atlanta. Not that far of a trip, and not all that difficult. There is a paved bicycle trail that leads three quarters of the way between both cities. Normally, when I have somewhere to go that I need to go to that I can’t ride my bike (which aren’t many places) or drive to, I fly or ride the train. I had never ridden the bus before, and never intend on riding it again. The reason I took the bus tonight was I the fact I was in a hurry, that’s always why people make poor choices, and I didn’t feel like being up at 5:00 am to catch the train.

“I figured it couldn’t be that bad, people ride the train all the time.“ ”There must be a reason people ride the train all the time.“ I hate when I’m wrong. It was a lot more crowded in the bus station and it felt dirty. A lot more so than the train probably due to the fact a train is actually about an hour slower than the bus going the same distance. But it is a crowded, cramped bus compared to a quiet train with wide seats, I think next time the choice has been made for me next time. I don’t think people realize that you can move around a lot more and there is usually a Dining car on the train. Another perk being most trains have plugs for nerds to plug in their electronics.

I have learned the most important lesson. It cost $40 dollars to travel with a bicycle on the bus, $20 to travel with a bicycle on the train, $60 to ship one. and for what it cost to fly with one, you might as well just ride it. This is all in addition to the ticket. It also takes effort to have worse customer service than All of the airports I have been to, but they managed to do it. I also couldn’t get a band-aid when I asked for one, after cutting myself back open in their work area. I debated bleeding on their stuff. But that seemed like a good way to get an infection or two. I almost didn’t get onto bus for my sewing needles either.
__________________
ok screw the blog go to my website instead

the new and improved stupidhurts.org
c0urt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-18-2008, 05:13 AM   #2
mbo108
TPunk. Recognize.
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 1,177
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

I feel your pain. I've had some truly awful experiences on buses. A random good (or at least neutral) one here or there, but mostly bad.

Last edited by mbo108; 12-22-2008 at 04:29 AM.
mbo108 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-18-2008, 04:32 PM   #3
mish99
TPunk Moderator
 
mish99's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Posts: 634
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Send a message via Skype™ to mish99
Default

Thanks for this, I have to catch the bus on my trip to the states on a few occasions....but then again I doubt it can be worse than South African buses...could it?
__________________
Ive been to: England, France, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, UAE, USA - 14 states inc Hawaii, Vatican City

Currently Working in England

After:Jan 5 - South Africa. Sometime 2012 - Canada!
mish99 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-18-2008, 04:45 PM   #4
space virgin
Yoda
 
space virgin's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Hell
Posts: 5,506
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

Buses in the US are the pits, especially compared to the nice coaches in Europe AND even the overnight sleeper coaches in India. (I say that even taking into account the statistic that a traveler in India is more likely to die on a bus than in any other way. )

Granted the long-haul buses here aren't nearly as dangerous as the ones in India, but for sheer cleanliness, ease and price of ticketing and chance of being seated next to a complete psychopath (US: 70%, India: 5%), it's pretty sad that our system is so much shittier than a "third-world" country.
__________________
Various bloggings (Version 2.0)
space virgin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-18-2008, 05:18 PM   #5
Dig
TPunk Moderator
 
Dig's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Austin Texas
Posts: 666
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

I have had decent to okay experiences with greyhound. I did wind up stranded for way to long on I-20 due to an engine failure. It happens. That is why a train ticket of the same distance is equal to or more costly then a bus. However, buses can get you to a lot of places (especially in the U.S.) that trains cannot.

I agree with you court, trains are better. Our system needs some serious federal funding. Give it the attention that it needs.

Court, at least try a bus if you are in Europe. It is unfortunate that you had such a bad first ride.
__________________
Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary FALL 2012!!!
Dig is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-19-2008, 09:35 AM   #6
c0urt
TPunk Recognized
 
c0urt's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Fairfield, Ca
Posts: 1,103
Thanks: 1
Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post
Send a message via AIM to c0urt Send a message via MSN to c0urt Send a message via Yahoo to c0urt
Default

taking my bike next time if i dont have to be there in a hurry.
__________________
ok screw the blog go to my website instead

the new and improved stupidhurts.org
c0urt is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-19-2008, 11:23 AM   #7
Elizabeth
TPunk Moderator
 
Elizabeth's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: USA
Posts: 1,401
Thanks: 0
Thanked 3 Times in 2 Posts
Default

i agree the bus sucks sooooo bad

its not nice to generalize okay but from my own bus riding experience (greyhound and city bus) 90% of people who ride the bus are trashy or a complete psychopath as SV said
Elizabeth is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-20-2008, 01:07 PM   #8
wong name
Members
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 720
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default

ya, i have only bad bus experiences
__________________
whats another word for thesaurus---steven wright
wong name is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-21-2008, 02:25 AM   #9
NoDirectionHome
Members
 
Join Date: May 2008
Location: chicagoland
Posts: 8
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Default greyhound

Greyhound is like whitetrash central lol. I've seen the most unimaginabley bad tattoos on their and dealt with soe weirdos wen you get to wyoming its like no teeth allowed. The service is terrible and they intentionally overbook the busses which means dont count on being there on can taketime someone else can take your seat . I got my seat taken in denver and had to rerout to vegas, LA then to oakland. Ive seen cockroaches on the buses and the shithole bathrooms almost always reek. Trains are always cleaner and usually better tho sometime u can get conductors that are complete assholes where as the bus drivers have to focus on operating the vehicle.
NoDirectionHome is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 12-21-2008, 02:38 AM   #10
mish99
TPunk Moderator
 
mish99's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Posts: 634
Thanks: 0
Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Send a message via Skype™ to mish99
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by NoDirectionHome View Post
wen you get to wyoming its like no teeth allowed.

__________________
Ive been to: England, France, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, UAE, USA - 14 states inc Hawaii, Vatican City

Currently Working in England

After:Jan 5 - South Africa. Sometime 2012 - Canada!
mish99 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply






Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 06:10 AM.



 

Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.2.0 (Unregistered)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121