Think Twice Before You Leave the Driving to Greyhound

Last weekend, at the spur of the moment, I made the decision to take a trip from Detroit to New York City to see my best friend. Last minute airfare and even train prices were not within my budget, and since my friend only really had one free day on the weekend to see me, I checked out Greyhound. It really wasn't what I considered a cheap ticket, but it was a less expensive alternative to the other choices. Little did I know that I would be sacrificing my emotional well being riding that bus.

Let me say, first of all, that I was privileged to encounter three extremely professional and kind bus drivers during the trip. One on the way to my destination and two on the return. Even when two of the drivers had riders who totally disregarded the rules of ridership or just made mistakes, probably from not listening when the driver spoke, these drivers maintained a professional and kind demeanor.

The intent of this review is to illuminate the unprofessional and what I look at as mean and out of line driver. The driver who definitely needs a hiatus from her job. She was the driver I encountered on my trip from Cleveland to New York City. She boarded the bus at the Cleveland station screaming at us at what appeared to be the top of her lungs. I happened to be sitting directly behind her seat, reading my book. She looked at me and rudely screamed "IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE SITTING THERE, DO NOT KICK MY SEAT EVEN ONCE". I was shocked, that a professional person would speak to anyone like that in this situation. I probably gave her a look showing my my true feelings of her outburst. The driver then went on to yell "AND DON'T THINK YOU ARE GOING TO BE READING THAT BOOK ONCE NIGHT FALLS, THERE ARE NO LIGHTS OR FLASHLIGHTS USED ON MY BUS". Once again, I was shocked.

How can a company continue to operate a customer service based business treating people like this? Is it because almost all of these passengers are deemed by the Greyhound to be of lower class than train or airline travelers? What is so difficult about being nice to people, especially when they have done nothing to harm you? This driver had me afraid to stay on that bus already and I had only boarded two minutes prior. She continued to scream the rules of ridership at what I think was the top of her lungs, although I may be wrong, she was appeared mean enough to have had a lot of experience treating people like garbage. She closed the bus door and proceeded to back out of the parking space about 40 feet or so when a Greyhound employee walked out of the station with a passenger who had missed the last call. This is when she began screaming at him, "I don't take on any passengers once I close the door." She argued, seemingly with herself for a minute and finally let the guy on while scolding him for missing the call. And he timidly apologized.

Next stop on this bus, the meal stop. Once again screaming began with the bus rules. "There will be no smoking near my bus!" Don't be blowing smoke into my bus." blah blah blah. I don't smoke, so her screaming didn't refer to me as far as I was concerned. When we went to leave this stop, she left that guy there, yeah that same guy who was late getting on the bus in Cleveland. I don't know what it was he did, I did see him smoking in front of the bus, but don't really know her reasoning for leaving him stranded in Pittsburgh. So it may have been a valid reason, but with the history I had experienced with her thus far, I am not totally convinced.

Everyone back on the bus and here we go again. The driver screams, is anyone else going to act up? You can get off now and you have the option to fly"...she looks back at us and says "well, I guess not." She sits in her seat and begins to pull out of the lot once again, yelling that there is construction traffic, but then the screaming starts again. "Do not come up here or ask me when you will get to New York. I will get you there when you get there. At this point in my trip, I have now turned from being a bit horrified to being humored. This should be a comedy skit on Saturday Night Live.

The remainder of the trip was quiet. No one turned on any lights or attempted to ask any questions. The driver talked to herself quite a bit and even seemed to be trying to speak with those of us close enough to hear her, making comments about the other drivers on the road. Yeah the drivers she used the bus horn at more than 25 times during our trip. As a comparison, the other three drivers I had used their horns a total of three times.

I called Greyhound when I returned home to tell them about my disappointing bus trip. They don't have an 800 number to call for comments, so I had to pay for the hour and ten minute of long distance wait time on the phone. But it was that important for me to call and let them know that it is not right to treat people like we were treated on that bus. The lady on the phone was cordial and she apologized. And today I received a letter from Greyhound. It basically said, We are sorry you feel you were treated badly on your trip, the driver in question will be talked to. We hope this does not discourage you from riding Greyhound in the future.

Are they kidding me? Where is Greyhounds responsibility in this? I guess it was in mailing me that form letter. Know one will ever get me to believe that they do not know how this driver operates her bus.

Dear Greyhound. I would rather walk!