Amtrak vs Greyhound

Rotku · Post by **Rotku** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:41 am

Just wondering if anyone has any experience with these two (in the USA). Will be in the US for a while, and without access to a car or money to pay for flights, trying to work out the best way to travel around.

I read in a Lonely Planet (I think it was) that Amtrak can be a bit unreliable at times, and of course buses tend to go to more places, however my preference is certainly for trains over buses.

The prices seem fairly similar, so in the end it comes down to the reliability of them, and comfort of travel. If anyone has any thoughts on these, would love to hear

BaalShem · Post by **BaalShem** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:53 am

Greyhound in the western United States is fine, if a bit cramped. The Midwest and Eastern Greyhound routes will almost always land you in the center of a cities urban decay. Expect to be offered drugs, asked to take a walk "over there by that underpass, don't, and never leave your bags unattended.
At least this was my experience when fresh-faced out of high school, I thought a cross-country trip on the bus would be fun. On a positive note I got to see Times Square in it's former seedy glory.

Rotku · Post by **Rotku** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:55 am

Sounds lovely.

Avaz · Post by **Avaz** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:05 am

While I don't have personal experience, I can say that I drive my boss's daughter to the Amtrak station frequently, and she's never had a problem with scheduling or travel occurances. Plus I hear it's quite roomy.

Dragoness · Post by **Dragoness** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:26 pm

I've never ridden a train before in my life (well except the subway in NYC). When I was in college and didn't have a car at the time, I took the Greyhound bus back home to my parents' place. I never really had any problems with the bus; however, yeah you might occasionally find a random crazy person on there. But the ticket prices were reasonable especially for me being a poor college student.

NickD · Post by **NickD** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:19 am

From my little experience, Amtrak is generally slower, usually late (sometimes by hours) and a fair bit more expensive than the Greyhound.

I'd still take Amtrak over the Greyhound any day of the week and twice on Sundays, though. Much more roomy, generally a significantly better class of people and much better stations.