[Tactitus]

Originally Posted by pyirt

If First Group are going to run Greyhound like they run buses here in the UK, they`re really going to screw things up.

Greyhound's pretty hosed to begin with, which is probably why they've been in and out of bankrupcy court the past few years. If the new owners can turn the company around then great; although I suspect they bought it mostly for the school bus side of the business (which is probably profitable) rather than the intercity transportation side (which is probably a giant cash-sucking black hole).

Just for giggles, I priced out a round trip from St. Paul to Chicago* (a place I might actually want to go to that's far enough such that driving myself wouldn't be all that desirable but not so far as to make a bus trip completely out of the question). The cheapest round trip airfare I found (in February) is $83 and the trip takes an hour and fifteen minutes (plus figure wasting another hour with security crap at the airport) each way. Greyhound round trip bus fare is $110 and the trip takes nine hours and fifteen minutes each way. Unless I couldn't fly for some reason (phobia), why the hell would I take the bus?

To be fair, there's a lot more variablity in airline fares. For example, for an unscheduled trip (say, a funeral) you might well pay more for airfare than for bus fare. Furthermore, buses can also go to cities that airlines don't service, although the bus companies seem to have eliminated most of those routes too. :/


Note: If you're ever in Hibbing Minnesota (and you won't be unless you're diehard Bob Dylan fan) you can visit the Greyhound bus museum!




*About 380 miles/600 km each way.