I was hoping that during the six months I didn't have to travel, the TSA would change its policies and procedures, and I'd be able to do my summer travels to conferences by air. Alas, this hasn't happen (and frankly, though hoped, I never expected it to happen). Too many people just don't care. A friend of mine just came back from her travels, and passed through Philadelphia. She was scanned, and something - probably a smudge - was found in the image, so they searched her manually. She said it was humiliating. "Next time", she said, "I'll be wearing a bikini under my clothes and just strip". It was that unpleasant. So, I headed to a Houston conference on a bus. Is Greyhound the only option? That's the only one that came to mind, after the Chinatown bus turned out to not have any cross country schedules. So Greyhound it was for me. It wasn't a horrible experience. It takes about 24 hours for the bus to travel that distance (including the rest stops and the transfers). Spending 24 hours on a bus is not the most horrible of fates. But it occurred to me that this experience could - and should - be a much more pleasant one. Why? Because it cost just as much, if not more, than a flight.
Indeed. I purchased the ticket 3 weeks in advance, for $199. If you purchase it less than 3 weeks ahead of time, it would cost $333. A flight, for the same dates, would cost $238. This made me wonder why all those people on the bus - it can't be that all of them are as crazy as myself - took the bus in the first place. Some of them were traveling even farther than myself - CA to FL - so they must have paid even more (and to be sure, the flight would have cost more as well). So why spend all this time on an uncomfortable bus when they can get there in a fraction of the duration and not pay that much more (or even less) on a plane? I don't know. I didn't get to ask any of them.
It seems like bus travel is labeled as "the poor people's option". And it definitely seems like Greyhound treats it that way. It's a service for people who don't worth that much, so why should they invest in making it a pleasant experience? Why should they bother explaining what's going on when there are long delays? Why should they bother making it clear which gate you need to board the right bus? Surely they don't need to bother with getting nice buses, with ample leg room, and keeping them that way. Not when they can stuff 50 people who willingly accept it because they think they have no other option. Maybe they really don't, for reasons other than price. Maybe they are just not aware of all the options.
I have traveled by bus in other countries. Some of them were very long rides, equivalent to the ones I traveled here, i.e., 24 hours or more. My favorite was in Chile - they have good buses! Lots of room, one can lower the back of one's seat so far down that - along with the padded leg-rest that one can lower from below the seat ahead - it forms an almost continuous flat, slightly inclined, surface resembling the chair at the dentist's. Very comfortable to sleep on. And it doesn't bother the people in the seats behind you, because they have lots of space too. Curtains are pulled down at night, so no stimuli from the outside would disturb your sleep. In the morning, an attendant serves tea or coffee and a cheese sandwich. There are hardly any stops, but there's a very nice restroom on board. Entertainment includes movies and bingo games. And I recently heard that Mexico has the best buses in the world.
Now, why would such countries have better buses than this glorious, advanced, rich country? One explanation comes to mind - no competition. Mexico and Chile have multiple bus companies. One can choose based on service and price. Here - there's only one option, and it's pricey and lousy.
By the way - for my next trip - to Vancouver, Canada, I will take a train. It will take more than 48 hours. For a following trip - to Amsterdam - I plan to take a bus to Hermosillo, Mexico, and take a flight from there. Quite an endearing option, I think. Are there people other than myself who try to avoid American airports? If so, what do they do? I'd be interested to hear. Also, I'd be interested to hear of other reasons people choose to travel by bus. Thanks.