http://www.consumeraffairs.com/travel/greyhound.html
The reason I am posting it to this list is that if anyone hears people complaining about the poor quality of service of government-owned business (cf. Amtrak) - - you can trump that with the case of privately owned Greyhound that really sucks. It is probably one of the most poorly and unprofessionally run companies - public or private - in the US and arguably, in the developed countries.
Wojtek
___________________________________________________ Enclosure:
I regularly use the Greyhound service between Washington, Baltimore, MD and Harrisburg, PA, and I would like to report the overall poor quality of service, rude, incompetent, and unprofessional staff, general lack of information, poor conditions of the buses, and dilapidated, overcrowded facilities.
Baltimore downtown terminal is particularly bad in all those respects. Buses arrive and leave unannounced - I often witness people missing their connections because the terminal staff did not bother to announce the departure. The staff is poorly informed - they do not know whether a bus is on schedule or when it can be expected to arrive at the station. They seem very unprofessional, working slowly, creating an impression of being bothered by customers, and often rude when passengers complain. The terminal is overcrowded, dirty and in poor repair, the lines to the ticket agents long. Even those passengers who bought their tickets on line and paid extra for that service have to wait in line.
Obtaining ANY information from terminal agents is a challenge - they either do not know or do not bother to pick up the phone. For example, Baltimore terminal is relocating and a sign tells the passengers to ask terminal agents for details. I have been calling the terminal for four days - and all I get is a recording.
Sanitary and technical conditions of the buses leave much to be desired. The interiors are often littered and dirty, lavatories often emit foul odor, cabin lights do not work, seats are broken. Technical conditions of buses seem questionable - in once instance a driver could not close the door, so another person held it by hand; in another instance the bus could not climb a hill because wheels had no traction, on a number of occasions the bus would stop due to a technical malfunction and the driver would "fix" the problem by phone (i.e. calling the base. What is more, some drivers engage in lively conversations with their buddies who ride with them rather than concentrating on driving.
Neither of these situations individually can be described as a "horror story" - the disconcerting thing about them is that they happen regularly and nobody seems to care or make any effort to improve the service. As a result, Greyhound appears to be a poorly run company, with unprofessional, rude staff, and poor quality and unreliable service - one of the worst I have experienced (and I traveled extensively in more than 20 countries). Avoid this company if you can - use Amtrak or even car rental instead.