Amtrak, 1; Greyhound, 0

[ziasudra]

Back from (former) Roommate D's wedding. Looking out the window, I see that the sun is rising already. Strangely enough, I don't feel like passing out on my bed at the moment.

Wedding was nice. Wedding was big. Wedding was in the middle of Pennsylvania. I took the Amtrak from NYC to PA, and everything was perfect. Nice roomy seats, train leaving and arriving on time, and there was even a bathroom in the train car in a good enough condition for me to change from jeans to my wedding attire.

Traveling back was not so nice. I'd bought a ticket for the 11:45 p.m. Greyhound bus. Arrived at station early as recommended, just in time to see the last Greyhound staff locking up and leaving her post. Apparently the last bus was scheduled to come later than her shift, so passengers were left on their own to wait for he bus to arrive. Okay, not a problem. Still 20 minutes until the bus arrives. Not too bad, right?

We all waited. And waited. And waited some more. At 12:15 a.m., the station security guard's shift was over and had to herd us outside the building to wait for the now half an hour-delayed bus. Undisclosed city in Pennsylvania apparently didn't want to expand their budget to employ a third shift security guard. According to regulations, the guy had to kick us out of the bus station. Contract requirement, he explained. He looked apologetic. Fair enough, we all headed outside.

At this point the constant drizzle turned into a downpour. The roof extended out long enough to keep all of us dry, but the outdoor seats were all wet. Someone called the Greyhound 800 number and was basically told "the bus was delayed but we don't know by how much, because call center staff can't contact bus drivers". Right. So we waited and waited again, straining our eyes at every hint of a headlight to see if it was the bus or just some late-night partygoers getting lost driving around the city grid.

Clock ticked 1:20, and finally the bus arrived. Yay. Except not quite, because it had already made stops elsewhere so the only available seats were toward the back of the bus, where the lavatory was. I sat close enough to the lavatory to catch a whiff of something here and there. Ew.

Bus dragged along. Bus was slow because of rain. Bus arrived Philadelphia to refuel, two hours later than stated time (which meant we lost another half an hour of travel time due to slow driving). Everyone had to get off the bus, so I took advantage of a real bathroom inside the Philly bus station and freshened up a bit there. Greyhound staff continued to fail by letting new passengers onto the bus before all of us original passengers got back on. We barely realized what they were doing waving unfamiliar faces through the gate when we stopped them and demanded to board first, right before the bus was going to run out of spots.

The good news was that the staff fail meant everybody played musical chairs, and this time I got a seat in the front of the bus, far away from the lavatory. The last leg of the trip went well. I got to sleep some, the rain stopped, and the driver kept time and we arrived NYC two hours later than scheduled time, which meant no time lost from Philly onward.

All in all, both Amtrak and Greyhound got me to where I needed to go. But as far as quality of traveling experience goes, the point definitely goes to Amtrak.

Comments

[codev2k.livejournal.com]

Yikes that's terrible! Although I have found that the train is the most comfortable traveling experience as long as your not going too far. Albany to NYC is also a nice trip if you ever feel the need to get away ;D Buses are not my cup of tea (except strangely in South Korea where certain limousine buses are plushed out to the max!)

[ziasudra.livejournal.com]

I'm taking Amtrak again in ~10 days for a work trip to Schenectady. Between my me and my co-worker who's also going, it was a no brainer which method of travel to take -- Amtrak or Greyhound.

I would've taken a train back if the last one didn't leave at 7:05 -- the wedding reception started serving hors d'oeuvres at 5:30 and didn't have the main ballroom ready until 6:30. So Greyhound won on having buses at odd hours of the night. Except this time they really pushed the odd hours far back into the very odd hours :p

[codev2k.livejournal.com]

Have fun in Schenectady. Are you in Schenectady or the surrounding area. Schenectady is rather depressing, but if your more towards Albany or the Niskyuna area it's much better. Although I hear there is a good Thai place in downtown Schenectady. :B

Ouch that's always a problems with Amtrak if you're not going to D.C., Albany or places in Vermont. There aren't that many trains. :( I was surprised how few trains go to Boston.

[lynkemma.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. Good on you for not panicking, I think I would have done. I agree with the above commenter: trains ftw!

[ziasudra.livejournal.com]

There were strangely a lot of people around waiting for the bus with me (I had expected to be only one of the few who braved the red-eye bus). And they all looked "normal": a pregnant African-American lady with luggage in tow, clearly heading to/from a family trip (she was the one who called Greyhound); a South Asian businessman who was rather pissed at the situation; an East Asian guy who didn't say much but was very polite even to the security guard kicking us out... etc.

I would have taken the Amtrak back if they had one scheduled beyond 7:05 p.m. Roommate D's reception had barely started by 6:30, so it sadly wasn't a viable option for me :\

[lynkemma.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's good, that you had the company. There's nothing worse than waiting and waiting for ages until you begin to worry you're in the wrong spot!

Glad you made it home okay. ^^

[ziasudra.livejournal.com]

Heh, we all thought we were at the wrong place, but the security guard assured us it happens all the time. *eyerolls*

[apricot-tree.livejournal.com]

That sounds like no fun at all. I do not think I'd want to catch a bus.

[ziasudra.livejournal.com]

On the bright side, I did manage to get a lot of sleep despite the constant interruption!

I didn't want to take the bus, but the trains stopped running after 7:05 p.m. in that town, and I knew the wedding reception would be nowhere near finished by the time I would have needed to head out for the train station. Makes me love NYC more, where trains and buses run all night even if you have to wait half an hour for them sometimes.

[apricot-tree.livejournal.com]

You have a much better public transportation system than we do. :)

[ziasudra.livejournal.com]

*points to icon*

:)

[sad1225.livejournal.com]

UGH! That sounds like a nightmare.

---

10 years ago Amtrak was in a really sorry state. It was cheaper to fly from DC to NYC than to take the train...

This year? Even paying $50 for parking, it's cheaper for me to take Amtrak from LA to San Francisco than to drive or fly.

And no mistake, the train is most comfortable.

[ziasudra.livejournal.com]

I was actually half-contemplating flying directly to the wedding, but flights weren't available from NYC to where I needed to go, and the timing wouldn't have worked out.

With current gas prices, I'm sure driving is no longer as cost effective a way to travel as it once was. :\

[so-severus.livejournal.com]

ughhhhhhhh
at least you are back and don't need to deal with bus crap for a long time? :)

[ziasudra.livejournal.com]

LOL. Here's to hoping for buslessness in the near future. Well, interstate ones, at least. I quite like my cross-town MTA buses *g*

[so-severus.livejournal.com]

cross town ones are pretty quick surprisingly!

[verdenia.livejournal.com]

Whee, wedding!

& yeah, amtrak is win. I'm glad I didn't end up having to deal w/ Greyhound. (even though we had to say goodbye to babe's g'ma...but it was for the best, really, she was ready to go.)

*HUGS*