Talk:Greyhound Lines/Archives/2013

Article needs route map

I'd like to see a route map. If Greyhound says that getting from point A to point B requires one change of bus, I'd like to know what the actual route is, where I change buses. Their site has no map of their routes (that I can find). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.91.173.36 (talk) 16:47, 22 May 2008 (UTC)

The only such problem is that such a map would probably be too unwieldy for Wikipedia and Wikimedia users.--AEMoreira042281 (talk) 13:34, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Greyhound has a route map on their Extranet, but you cannot access it from the official website. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.80.210.43 (talk) 05:07, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

TMC not MCI for MC-n models? and other buses

I think it's incorrect to list the models as made by Motor Coach Industries (MCI). Some or all were made by Transportation Manufacturing (TMC). The difference, according to a driver, is that TMC's were cheaper but offered fewer options while MCI's had more options but cost more; Greyhound owned both makers but customers were mainly Greyhound for TMC and others for MCI.

Partial source: http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/t/tmc/tmc.htm as accessed in the last two hours.

The MC-5A was unofficially nicknamed the ice cream truck. I don't remember which model was unofficially nicknamed the humpback.

Greyhound used to operate many double-decker GMC buses. I was told by a driver that they had many service problems leading to a lawsuit and to Greyhound acquiring MCI and hiring many GMC engineers.

One day I saw a Greyhound bus of a size for about 20 passengers, maybe in the 1990s.

I was told in the 1970s-1980s by a driver they had a prisoner bus for prison charters.

I don't have published sources for the latter.

Nick Levinson (talk) 17:47, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

You may be thinking about Greyhound Canada. Greyhound Lines owned MCI for a long period of time and rarely bought from anyone else until the Prevost order.

The humpback was probably the MC-7 or PD-4107. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.80.210.43 (talk) 05:12, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

Any information on bus maintenance?

I have taken Greyhound on more than one occasion and the bus broke down each time. Other passengers reported they were on other buses that broke down on enroute. Once the replacement bus arrived at it's destination, (late of course), the policy of Greyhound towards travelers who had to make connecting buses was they would have to wait for the next bus, no matter how long that wait was. Also, if bad weather delayed a bus from arriving on time, the connecting bus would not wait for the delayed passengers, nor would Greyhound send out another bus. Also, the passenger has the responsibility of putting their luggage on the bus, and taking it off, and transferring it if they are changing buses. Greyhound will issue luggage tickets to go on the baggage, but, the passenger has to make sure it gets on and off the bus. It is not like checking luggage on to a train or plane, where the carrier has the responsibilty for the luggage, once the passenger gets their seating ticket and their luggage tickets. All the luggage tickets do is show that a person had a certain number of pieces of luggage stored under the bus.204.80.61.10 15:59, 4 December 2006 (UTC)Bennett Turk

Stuff like this cries out for a separate criticism section, which Greyhound certainly deserves; riding the Greyhound isn't for amateurs, and there's certainly an art to minimizing the issues that you can control and being patient through the ones you can't (although expressing this without fear of turning Wikipedia into some kind of travelogue or handbook to Greyhound travel would be tricky). About the only good piece of official Greyhound advice is "show up an hour early" (although on some routes during seasonal travel, two hours is a better bet). There are so many caveats to riding Greyhound that you just have to learn with experience, and first-time travelers can get doubly frustrated. Jogging down to the airport for a lovely flight it's not, and you find people every day who expect that and are incensed when it's more analogous to riding the subway. The problem here is that there just aren't enough formal references about the trials and tribulations of Greyhound travel. You hear about the odd accident or two, but that's about it. I'm sure half of us could write a whole OR-sourced article that was pretty darned conclusive, but that doesn't help anyone. The Greyhound experience also seems to be significantly different from region to region, and is like an entirely different service once you get on a bus operated by Greyhound Canada.

As an aside, either I've been extremely lucky, or you've had an awful string of bad luck; I've never been in the middle of a breakdown, although I've certainly had my share of delayed routes as a result waiting for a broken-down connecting bus. The longest I've ever had to wait is five hours in Atlanta (arguably one of the worst terminals ever, especially when it's crowded) due to a combination of holiday crunch and weather-related air travel overflow. Gnu 08:19, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Greyhound maintainence has gotten better with the new management. If your bus is still breaking down, it is probably one of those G4500 models that have design flaws and poor construction. They are being retired from service. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.80.210.43 (talk) 05:05, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

"Greyhound Lines is the largest inter-city common carrier of passengers by bus in North America"

Only if you don't consider Mexico as being part of North America. Grupo Estrella Blanca easily blows away Greyhound in terms of passenger miles carried. 67.176.196.10 08:10, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Regarding "citation needed," this statement is the very first sentence on the Greyhound website homepage, www.greyhound.com I'm not disputing the Grupo Estrella Blanca assertion, I just happened to be researching bus fares and noticed the "citation needed" caption when the Wikipedia article popped up in my Google search. I don't know how to enter citations.

If we can document Grupo Estrella Blanca figures, I think we may have to categorize the Greyhound website source as "sales puffery", or alternatively, more graciously attribute the claim as someone as inferred earlier to the common problem of failing to consider Mexico as part of North America. Often, it seems NA is thought of as only including Canada and the U.S. 49 continental states. Vaoverland 23:27, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

I do not know who owns Grupo Estrella Blanca but Crucero and Americanos, both Mexican carriers with substantial miles in both Mexico and the United States, are wholely owned subsidiaries of Greyhound Lines, Inc. So the Greyhound website may not be "sales puffery" after all.

However, if you will look on the website of Greyhound's new owners FirstGroup (http://www.firstgroup.com/corpfirst/company.php) you will see that the claim is "Greyhound Lines, Inc. is the only national provider of scheduled intercity bus services in the United States and Canada" It does not say "in North America."Ajh0153 06:47, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

I have deleted this statement, under challenge. If it can be cited, then please restore. --AEMoreira042281 (talk) 22:20, 27 January 2008 (UTC)

Greyhound spin off from parent

There are factual errors in this section. The ICC did not encourage small carriers to create the National Trailways Bus System. That was not their congressional mandate. The carriers themselves created to system to compete with Greyhound. The ICC permitted the coordination that was necessary to effect the coordinated system.

Second, the negotiations with the labor union in 1986 that eventually came to impasse and resulted in the sale of the company to Fred Currey and other Dallas investors began well before the contract to sell the company was executed. In fact if the union and Greyhound had come to terms the company would not have been sold. The labor contract expired Oct 31, 1986. The contract for sale was executed on Dec 23, 1986 and the sale closed on Mar. 17, 1987.

The statement that Greyhound actions forced small operators out of business (in the 1987 to 1990 timeframe)is incorrect as to the time of the situation. From 1987 to 1991 Greyhound actively worked with small carriers to maintain their feed of passengers to and from the Greyhound system. After Frank Schmeider became CEO in 1992 the company adopted policies that were adverse to small carriers. That policy was later reversed in 1994 and Greyhound began actively working with the small carriers again.

Finally, the Greyhound bankruptcy that occurred in 1990 was not a result of labor law violations. The union struck the company on Mar.2, 1990. The bankruptcy occurred because the company tried to operate limited portions of the system with temporary replacement drivers (which strategy is legal under US labor law) but the union response was so challenging that the company had to spend unanticipated millions on security and the passengers stayed away to avoid the conflict.In fact while the union accused the company of illegal conduct, the company countersued the union for RICO violations.

````busexec, Nov. 24, 2007 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Busexec (talk • contribs) 17:22, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Fires

Why was information about Greyhound bus fires which placed passengers in imminent danger and that have occurred over the past few years been removed from the notable incidents section? Additionally, news articles about the incidents have been removed from the internet. As a survivor myself, I posted one that I personally experienced, and I cited articles about it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.209.186.78 (talk) 20:41, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

Probably because there were no fatalities that I know of. Almost all of the fires involved G4500 buses, which are now being retired. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.80.210.43 (talk) 05:14, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

Decapitation murder

The incident on the night of 30 July 2008, wherein Vince Weiguang Li of Edmonton, Alberta, stabbed and hacked fellow passenger Tim McLean of Winnipeg, Manitoba, aboard a bus near near Portage la Prairie, Manitoba happened on a Greyhound Canada bus. Any references to the incident in the Greyhound Lines article, should be deleted. Different company, different article. —Quicksilver<sup>T @</sup> 20:37, 1 August 2008 (UTC)

• If this is the case, why does the article state in the intro that Canadian operations are handled out of Calgary, and why has PR regarding this incident been handled out of Texas? At least be consistent and delete all references to the US company's Canadian operations from the entire article. 206.55.181.130 (talk) 05:52, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
• Agreed, should be consistent. The Canadian operation is a separate company. Presumably the PR has been outsourced. Either way, there shouldn't be similar incident reports on both. Nfitz (talk) 07:03, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
• Agreed; mention it on the Greyhound Canada page. Checking to see if it is there. --AEMoreira042281 (talk) 00:03, 4 August 2008 (UTC)
• Perhaps the solution is a brief one-line mention referring to Greyhound Canada#Incidents Nfitz (talk) 00:07, 4 August 2008 (UTC)
  • Actually, since Greyhound Canada and Greyhound Lines are separate entities, this incident should be noted on the article for the Canadian company, and not the US company, as First has them as two separate companies. --AEMoreira042281 (talk) 00:19, 4 August 2008 (UTC)
  • I agree, and I deleted 3 times yesterday, but IPs kept readding without reading here. When I asked for semi-protection to stop IPs editing for a few days, I was told there must be edit warring, and the page was fully protected. Most in discussion here seems to support this text being there at all - but we can't stop it from coming back? While I don't see the need for any text, I wonder if just a simple redirection might at least stop people needlessly adding lots of details every time it gets wiped. Nfitz (talk) 01:53, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Okay, I've tried something to both respect the belief that it not be on this page and redirect to where it should be. Comments? Nfitz (talk) 23:16, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

• I commented it at the beginning of the section. But another editor apparently didn't get the message. --AEMoreira042281 (talk) 00:07, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

Why was Tim McClean's death removed from the "Notable incidents and accidents" section? That story was so strong in the news at the time, that anytime I think of Greyhound, I automatically think of his death. The other incidents that are listed in that article are of less consequence, because I do not remember any of them in the news. Also, this is the most recent of any of those incidents. The incident should be re-instated in that section. Stopde (talk) 18:51, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

No, it should not be reinstated – because the incident in question occurred aboard a coach of Greyhound Canada, which is a completely separate corporation under separate management.

The subject of this article is the Greyhound Lines, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas, USA.

The decapitation took place aboard a coach of Greyhound Canada, based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Other users have previously made the same statements in slightly different words directly above.

The regrettable homicide should not be attributed to the operating company in the USA.

If you wish, you may feel free to add that item to the article about Greyhound Canada.

DocRushing (talk) 20:55, 22 July 2013 (UTC)