Karaoke MTV on the bus? That sounds like a lot of fun.
Greyhound Quits Canada
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I could never understand why people would pay for the privilege of sitting on a bus for 15 hours and pay $129 when you could have flown in 2 hours for $69.
All I could find was this:
https://www.nguoi-viet.com/little-s...su/xe-do-o-little-saigon-lao-dao-vi-covid-19/
There is a very busy corridor from Edmonton to Calgary. Another is up-island to Victoria. The right of way for both routes still exists and should be a priority for a rail link.
In Finland, people put their vehicle on the train and ride in comfort. That must save a huge amount of energy.
Wouldn't it be relaxing to put your vehicle on the train, then sit back and relax (say from Vancouver to Edmonton - otherwise an 11 1/2 hour drive).
Some fares are really cheap though. Megabus of course, but I’ve tried to see what Greyhound fares were and found some advance fares as low as $12.
It isn't always $69 for 2 hours, it could easily be $300 whereas that $129 for 15 hours is probably always $129.
It wouldn't be very cheap to put a vehicle on a train vs people on the train. It might end up cheaper to have a train for passenger then people just uber or rent a car afterward, or just drive.
I was riding the Xe Do Vietnamese bus 15 years ago, it was $50 each way from San Jose to Santa Ana, with a sandwich and MTV.
JHZR2
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At least in the mid Atlantic, there are a lot of busses that younger folks take. NYC-Philly-dc seems popular, always long lines at the pickup points.
Flying is generally cheap, and if not to your destination, then to a hub with cheap rental cars you can drive from.
I always thought the bus woukd be a pretty way to see the country out west, if it was safe and you could get on and off on the right schedule.
Ive taken long distance train in the US, but the only long distance bus I’ve taken has been charter.
Flying is generally cheap, and if not to your destination, then to a hub with cheap rental cars you can drive from.
I always thought the bus woukd be a pretty way to see the country out west, if it was safe and you could get on and off on the right schedule.
Ive taken long distance train in the US, but the only long distance bus I’ve taken has been charter.
Buses often have cheaper promotional and/or advance fares. Also, Megabus is expanding after this announcement.
https://globalnews.ca/news/7863365/megabus-ottawa-toronto-kingston-greyhound-canada/
The only passenger train I know that operates with vehicle service is Amtrak’s Auto Train. It started off as a private business but then got absorbed into Amtrak after the business failed (due to a few derailments that created a financial problem).
They require that all passengers must have a vehicle and hand over the keys. Amtrak workers load the racks and the passengers sit in coach (which are pretty big) or sleeping compartments. It’s supposed to be the best performing (lowest loss) long distance train that Amtrak runs. It only operates between Virginia and Florida with no scheduled stops.
http://blog.amtrak.com/2013/06/auto-train/
The oddest story was about a writer who rented a car at one end with a one way return at the other. They thought that he rolled back the odometer.
Going cross country by bus could mean transferring to multiple buses. The only time I’ve ever ridden on a Greyhound bus was a school trip where it was chartered. I’ve bought tickets but had to scrap the plans. The fare was so low that getting a refund or credit didn't make sense.
Grey Dog was gone from Western Canada years ago. There are some smaller bus lines that service main cities such as the Red Arrow between Calgary and Edmonton. They’re are lots of reasons to use it. Students attending University is one source of customers. It’s clean, there is free wi-fi, and it picks up downtown in a decent section of town with plenty of security. Also, with a sparser population base, we don’t have $69 dollar flights up here. 
Our flights are so expensive largely due to the high fees airlines must pay to airports. No such thing as $69 flights here. It is cheaper for me to fly to Europe or the Caribbean than fly to Edmonton to visit my parents. So now when we want to visit my parents, we just meet them in the Caribbean.Grey Dog was gone from Western Canada years ago. There are some smaller bus lines that service main cities such as the Red Arrow between Calgary and Edmonton. They’re are lots of reasons to use it. Students attending University is one source of customers. It’s clean, there is free wi-fi, and it picks up downtown in a decent section of town with plenty of security. Also, with a sparser population base, we don’t have $69 dollar flights up here.
JHZR2
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To me, the benefit would be to travel during daylight, stop at night, and be able to see the scenery/countryside. So swapping busses, even some excursions, would be ok.
OVERKILL
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I mean, technically we do. I've taken the VIA multiple times as recently as the early 2000's, as it was cheaper than driving down east. Would get on the train in Cobourg, do a switch in Montreal and get picked up by my parents in Sackville.
Is it nice? well, it wasn't bad. It's a longer trip than driving though and clearly much longer than flying, though flying doesn't have the same departure/destination options. If you fly you are going in or out of Toronto Island or YYZ and landing in Moncton or Halifax so you've gotta be able to rent or have somebody pick you up.
As a student in my early 20's, the train was certainly more convenient to orchestrate for pick-up/drop-off. Since, I've always just driven, as I like having my own vehicle available.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
That's not an option up here. The Greyhound was a very cheap way for folks to get to/from the GTA here and back when I lived down east, a very affordable ($38) way to get from Fredericton where I went to school, back home. Most of the people taking it were also students doing much the same, some going much further than I was, as it continued one well into Nova Scotia.
Living in a small town for awhile there was a bus that stopped once a week. No other way to get out of the small town without a car or bicycle or walk. The end of an era. I remember talking to the driver, he said it had over a million miles on it, some kind of GMC. They seemed to run them wide open most of the time through the gears. People needed these bus services. There was Trailways and Greyhound.
I rode the grey dog many times while in college in the 1960's. My 150 mile trip home took about 5 hours because the bus stopped at every little cross roads town. But it was cheap and got me home.
what cheap rental cars these days?
Sounds like that Amtrak Auto Train is better suited for commercial operation for auto transfer than consumer on vacation. Is it making money or at least break even in 2021?
Mostly snowbirds who don’t want to drive all the way. Under private ownership they had a train from Kentucky to Florida and we’re looking to expand to Illinois before their financial difficulties.
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