A good friend from Provence is coming to stay with us for about a week in early February. She is in her mid 30's, fluent in English. I consider her a "street smart" person, and she's traveled a lot in the USA. She comes over most years in the off season and travels all over the place visiting friends and seeing sights. She's seen many parts of the USA that many Americans have never seen.

She has written to say that she will be arriving here by Greyhound bus. This kind of took us aback, since we really don't know anyone who would travel by Greyhound bus. (The only time I did was back when I was in college and I still have weird memories of the Greyhound bus station in Orlando on spring break.) She writes that this will be a 19 hour trip from the NY Port Authority to Knoxville, leaving NY at 10:45 pm. The ticket is only $23. We had suggested a flight down here (there are direct flights from Newark), but that was 251 euro, she said, and involved lots of hassles.

I'm not totally sure of the bus route to east Tennessee, but there would definitely be some beautiful countryside to see during the daylight hours.

We know she is very accustomed to traveling by bus and train in Europe. But does anyone have any thoughts about Greyhound bus travel these days? Is it safe? It certainly is economical, and since she's in the US for a month or so, she doesn't seem worried about the time involved.

Kathy

Geez, kathy, I don't have any personal experience either. But if you google Greyhound Bus and safety, you will find some very negative stuff. As you and your friend probably know already, Amtrak takes longer and is much, much more expensive.

How has she travelled in the US in the past? Isn't there a flight that's cheaper than 251 Euro?

Marian, I checked the one-way flights and they are expensive. Unfortunately, we don't have a budget airline serving Knoxville from the northeast and so it is expensive to fly in and out of here. I did see a one-way flight for $205 from JFK but it required two changes and would involve eight hours or so.

Our own reaction about taking a Greyhound bus was similar to yours, but I wondered if anyone had different input or experience. She's traveled a lot in the US, maybe even by bus.

Kathy

Kaydee, out of curiosity, I did an ITA search within 100 miles of Knoxville, and see very reasonable flights to Chattanooga, on US Air and Delta. Don't know if this helps.

Kaydee,

Your friend sounds adventurous and traveling by bus could be a great option.

Knowing what I found out about traveling on Amtrak last year, because of the lower fares, you don't normally get the upper crust of travelers on a bus or train (Amtrak also doesn't go to Knoxville). However, she could meet some very nice people; just 'down to earth' Americans who are traveling for one reason or another.

Your friend is young enough to enjoy the adventure and when's the last time you heard about somebody getting mugged, robbed or beaten up on a Greyhound bus?

Only issue they'll have is the weather in February. If it's good, the sailing's smooth; if it's bad, it'll be a slow trip.

It is an experience most of us don't think about. I say give it a go and we might all learn something.

Several years ago, my neice met a Japanese graduate student who was traveling around the country by bus. She was taking her Christmas from her university in Oregon and had gotten to Nashville where my niece met her. She had Christmas dinner with us at my sister's house. She had no complaints about her travel around the country by bus.

quote:

when's the last time you heard about somebody getting mugged, robbed or beaten up on a Greyhound bus?

Hate to bring it up, but remember the guy who was beheaded on a Greyhound bus last year?

Moving on!

As a 20-something neophyte traveler, my cousin Adam rode buses solo across the US from Northern California - Denver, New Orleans, Boston, Chicago - without any problems. This was just a few years ago. Your friend sounds like a savvy traveler, and I'll bet she'll do just fine.

Kathy,

First, does she already have her ticket? The $23. OW fare seemed very low to me, so I checked the Greyhound site and, when I put in a February date (as opposed to one in April), I did, indeed, find a 10-day advance purchase fare at that price, but it indicates, as expected, that the availability of this rate is limited. A 7-day advance fare (OW) is $75.

We have a young friend - a former student of Doyle's from Kansas City, who has taken Greyhound several times to visit us here in N.C., both before and after we moved here full-time. The last time she came, this past spring, we convinced here to fly Jet Blue to Charlotte, where we met her.

She's a rather adventurous young woman, and she said she enjoyed traveling by bus. (Of course, it is much cheaper than plane or train.) She liked meeting all sorts of people and easily engaged them in conversation.

However - as you say, the ride is very long - over 19 hours, and a bus is much less comfortable than a train. Also, according to our friend, the toilets can become unusable on long trips. In addition, I see that the route between NY and Knoxville requires at least one transfer. Two of these are in Richmond during the middle of the night; the other is in Winston-Salem around noon, which, of course, is much better.

Most of these stations are not places I'd want to hang around for any amount of time, especially at night. I'm just being realistic.

As an alternative, I checked to see if she could combine a train with a bus, by say, taking the Crescent from Penn Station to Greensboro or Charlotte. The fares weren't bad, but the schedule was. They didn't mesh at all.

Another alternative would be to fly from LGA to Greensboro/High Point (Piedmont Triad), and then take the bus from there. There's an express bus that goes directly from the airport to the Greyhound Terminal in Greensboro, and both Delta and US Airways have OW non-stops for about $100 that take about 2 hours. The 10-day advance bus fare from G'boro to Knoxville is $15., and a non-stop takes about 6 hrs. The problem would be meshing all three schedules.

Ann

Just for the heck of it, I just checked the Chattanooga option on Kayak.com. Delta has a number of 1-stop flights to Lovell Field for $117. If you didn't want to drive there, Greyhound has connections to Knoxville, which are less than 2 hours. The 10-day and 7-day advance OW fares are $5.50 and $15.00, respectively, and the Greyhound terminal is right by the airport. Not bad as an alternative. I'd take it!

Ann

Thanks everyone for the input, and Marian and especially Ann for doing some extra research. I did not even think of Chattanooga-- it's about an hour and a half from our house and we would be happy to pick her up there.

Anyway, I've e-mailed our friend to suggest Chattanooga as an option for flying with a much more reasonable fare. I did tell her we were nervous about her taking such a long bus trip and changing buses.

I guess lots of people must still travel by Greyhound bus. It certainly sounds economical.

Kathy

Just saw this. I often travel by bus between Boston and NYC, very comfortably and happily. My parents make the trip this way as well; and I've even put my 17 year old son on the bus to be picked up by his grandfather. Most people settle in with their ipods, books or laptops, and I've met some interesting people to chat with. Really, a large number of people travel this way, and I see no reason for hesitation. That said, I would not want to continue the trip for such a huge distance, largely because of the already-discussed bathroom situation (yup, it can get ripe) and changing buses in the middle of the night. If a lower airfare to a nearby or midway city can be found, or the trip broken up in some way, I'd encourage that routing.

I too have a lot of the native American bias against travelling by Greyhound. I think it is a combination of the obvious issues with undesirable locations in big cities of bus terminals and the reality of the size of the country itself. If you have only a week of vacation, and you want to go from Chicago to Orlando, you don't want to spend four days of that week getting to and from.

Two summers ago, we had friends from England visiting us. They were on a year long around the world tour. They did all of the North American portion by train and bus.

We picked them up at the downtown St. Louis Amtrak station and dropped them off at the downtown St. Louis Greyhound terminal. The train station felt safe if not particularly comfortable. The bus terminal was just plain gross.

Just a comment, Amy.

I think bus travel between East Coast cities, as Boston-NY, or NY-Philly is much different from long-distance Greyhound travel. In a prior life, I used to take the bus from Phila. to NY often and didn't think twice about it. Even now, I think those routes serve quite a different purpose than the cross-country ones, and most of the former are not Greyhound. In fact, I think they are quite reasonable alternatives to the train.

They're more like the variety of other mid-distance buses that come and go from the Port Authority Terminal (where I once worked during the summer while in college) and generally serve a different clientele. I don't say this to be snobbish, just descriptive. For instance, the people I've seen at Greyhound only terminals are not too likely to have iPods or laptops with them.

Ann

I have taken the Greyhound from Vancouver, BC to Seattle and Portland several times, and it was no big deal.

The beheading incident was actually in Canada and was an extremely freak occurrence. I suspect that statistically that Greyhound travel is safer than car travel, either in respect to traffic accidents or violent incidents. (After all, you can be driving along, get bumped by a criminal, and then robbed, raped, and murdered. That's far more common than beheading on a Greyhound.)

I have noticed that when you take public transit in some American cities, that you do encounter many people who are not affluent. But I would not let that scare anyone off.

While I was in college I interned for the South Carolina Department of Corrections and I was in charge of inmate furloughs.

Greyhound bus is how every prison system in the US transports their inmates around unless the person has money to fly (never).

I highly suggest you insist your friend uses another form of transportation.

I would never ever ride the bus.