Passengers traveling to Pittsburgh encountered a long wait this week - and were surprised by the condition of Downtown Cleveland's historic Greyhound depot. www.news5cleveland.com/news/l...
Me too - in the 90s - just once. To Buffalo from Boston - horrific - it was akin to riding transportation in a third world country. I half expected a chicken to run down the aisle.
For me, 1975... San Diego towards Houston. I got off during that 3rd delay (at Yuma, after only 6 hours of driving!)... never a bus again. And hitchhiking was easy and common then, and I made it to my destination in 3 rides with about 15-min each switch. I miss those friendly hitchin' days... thanks, Serial Killers, for ruining it for the rest of us. I spent the night in a Las Cruces NM motel room though the driver offered to put me up. He came by the next morning and got me for the drive thru El Paso onto his Van Horn destination. From there, a 15 minute wait and onto San Antonio, another 15-min delay and onto Houston. I bought gas for two cars... that was after the oil embargo so it was EXPENSIVE - like, 75-cents a gallon. One car took $10, the other only $8. And the drivers bought snack goodies and sody-pop.
I rode Greyhound buses 🚌 a few times in 1997 1996. The bus was on schedule but the depot, ride itself was not great. 😏 . Mega Bus 🚌 in Orlando FL 2010s was the same way. It was decent. Big seats, wifi, huge windows. The fares ran from $11-25.00/trip. Mega Bus problems were the stations moved often, had safety-security problems. The staff could be crass, mean too. Mega Bus in Orlando ended I think when a father got mad at a armed G security officer & returned, shoot-kill the guard 😮.
My first and last ride on Greyhound was out of Charlotte NC in March 1988. It was like riding the bus with a bunch of people that dropped out of the methadone clinic. Things got much worse in a different way when I was dropped off in Parris Island. I wanted back on the bus.
Yup, I was doing a quick trip from San Fran to Seattle, they had a 6 hour layover in Portland. Whatever but they dropped us off on the side of the street at 11pm no indoor, no bathroom in a tent city full of addicts. The greyhound mngr shows up gives everyone a BK breakfast sandwich... I tried to go in the Amtrack station right on the other side of the fence and the REFUSED.
That historic Greyhound station is a beautiful example of Streamline Moderne Art Deco architecture. It deserves a full restoration. There aren't many buildings with that style of architecture left. Especially, this well done. Cleveland is very lucky to have that building as the Greyhound station. In LA, by comparison, it is a non descript building that reminds me of a rental car facility from the 70s, and it's in an industrial area of DTLA.
agree. but when lease expires it will either be sold for different use or leased for re-purposing. the stations in many older cities are valuable real estate now for purposes other than crap transportation. it’s very likely to survive and be re-purposed inside, should be a gem.
Just because a person doesn’t have the means to fly or drive doesn’t mean they are incapable of looking after themselves (being dressed neatly and cleanly) and not being gross slobs trashing their surroundings. And there shouldn’t be drug dealers, drug users and homeless camped on sidewalks. Low expectations & enabling disguised as love and kindness.
@@sorbabaric1 I’m not implying those with less means are creating the issue. The issue is a product of the “less” here. The lower ticket prices don’t afford for terminals in high value locations or paying for the most motivated workers. I don’t think this is specific to the travel industry, either.
I dunno man, I took Amtrak and got stranded in Springfield IL (as a 20YO traveling alone). I was supposed to take an Amtrak ThruWay bus to Galesburg, and Amtrak buses are supposed to wait for you when your train is delayed. Well, it didn’t, and the attendants didn’t tell me not to get off the train…. it was a hot day in August too and my phone was dying lmao. I was only spared having to stay overnight in a hotel there because my partner’s family went out of their way to drive 5 hours to come pick me up. THEN, the evening before my train back home, Amtrak mistakenly canceled my train which was supposed to leave at 7am the next morning, so I scrambled to get a bus back last minute, only to get another email in the morning from Amtrak going “oops our bad we cancelled the wrong train, this train isn’t actually cancelled btw”. Lmao. The greyhound bus might’ve had no phone chargers and no working lights in the bathroom, but at least it got me where I needed to go 😂.
@@andrewc6778 Amtrak is NOT something you travel if you want to get there fast. They always give right of way to the freight trains, so you can get pretty delayed. It's the experience of train riding that's so much more pleasant.
@@Booklover32 That is true, it’s very nice while you’re on the train. I’ve splurged on roomettes before which is even better, but even coach is pretty nice (especially compared to a bus or car).
I was once driving on Payne Avenue directly behind the Greyhound Bus Station in Cleveland when a guy ran out and threw a huge rock at my car. I slammed on my brakes and it hit the pavement right in front of my car. He had already taken off running. Welcome to downtown Cleveland's back streets.
It's the same with Greyhound no matter what State. My ex Fiance was a Truck Driver and I had to drop him off at the Greyhound station in Augusta, GA and their are Homeless people sleeping in front, they also made a Homeless encampment on the side of the building and were walking inside the place. The Building was filthy, no toilet paper or soap in the Restroom. I seen several Women and Children and I was scared for their safety. At Night I hear its worse. Then another time I had to pick him up at their Station in Atlanta, GA bc he also had been sitting there for 7 hours and no Bus had arrived. He called me to come get him. Shameful and disgusting!!!! People should make these Bus Stations go viral by recording the filth & incompetence, and then boycott.
Indianapolis Station was so bad I watched and talked to a group of convicts fresh out of prison who refused to use the restrooms because they were just plain filthy and unsanitary.... their words and I agree. Greyhound is a horrible company who doesn't care how their employees mistreat CUSTOMERS! Ticket agents and drivers curse at customers and threaten to abandon them without any hesitation. Truly adeplorable company to deal with in every way. DO NOT USE THE BUS SERVICE! You'll regret it. Almost forgot about the hookers and drug addicts that constantly hangout there... really adds to the nuance.... very dangerous place.
I'm sure Greyhound treats its employees no better than it treats its customers. Also, they're effectively a monopoly on interstate ground transportation, so they know that they don'thave to treat their customers decently. Unlike airlines, which have (at least nominal) competition, it's Greyhound or your thumb if you want to travel overland.
Totally different culture though. Koreans still have pride in their country and more importantly, societal shame. People don't behave in certain ways because they would be shamed by society. In San Diego I saw a transient sleeping on a shelf inside a Target. Would you see that in Lotte Mart? No, we wouldn't. That person would be ashamed to be seen that way. Anyway, 수고하세요.
Buses in most First World countries are clean, decent, efficiently run services. The USA has just given up and doesn't care anymore. We're no longer a First World country, so why would anyone think we would have a First World interstate bus system?
At least Cleveland has a Greyhound station. Philadelphia no longer has an intercity bus station. Instead, Greyhound and other carriers have been using various on-street pickup areas.
I took a greyhound bus from st louis to Pensacola Florida about 18 years ago. On the way back, we had a stop in Mobile Alabama. It was absolutely filthy, basically no seating so most people were sitting in the floor. No plug ins worked. There was literal poop in 3 of the 4 stalls in the bathroom that smelled like poop and crack, no paper towels or hand dryer. There was a woman on her period wandering around in only one shoe, free bleeding all over the floors, seemingly on drugs, for the entire 2 hours I was waiting (was only supposed to be 30 minutes), with employees barely even acknowledging her, let alone doing something about it. I will never take a bus anywhere again.
Riding Trailways and Greyhound back in the late 60's and early 70's always seemed enjoyable and much less than what seemingly today is a psychiatric ward/prison bus.
The worst, most bleak travel experiences of my life have been the times I took Greyhound. I have never set foot on one since. I feel very badly for the people who have to rely on them for any reason. Greyhound is the sad, dark underbelly of American "transportation".
The last time I rode a Greyhound bus was in 1990 to head back to college. It was long but no issues. In 2023 my daughter wanted to come home on Spring break. Since I didn’t want to make the drive because I had to pick her up seven weeks later, my wife and I had her take the bus. My in-laws thought we were crazy…and they were right. The bus cancelled at the last minute. Then there was another bus that was available could work, but it went south before it came North to where we lived. Then when the bus arrived to where we live, the downtown bus station I remember was closed…Greyhound dropped the passengers off under a bridge where homeless people live. The CEO on Greyhound should be forced to ride the company’s buses across the country because he is driving the company into the ground.
Most of the downtown bus depots have been sold by the parent companies that have owned Greyhound - FirstGroup and now by FlixBus, which is German - . It's called asset stripping. Anyway, what remains of Greyhound is a hollowed out shell.
I recently traveled from San Diego to Minneapolis on the Greyhound, it took an entire extra from the schedule, and I was forced to hang out outside overnight in two cities because the Greyhound stations closed and a bus wasn't coming until morning. Most of the drivers, there were several, were rude and just hoping the passengers would give them any reason to kick them off. I will avoid going on a Greyhound if there is any way humanly possible.
I took a greyhound back in the late 80’s, from MM to Reno NV, it took 2 days multiple buses and scary people, I was 19. I had to take it back 3 months later. I WILL NEVER TAKE GREYHOUND AGAIN.
I gotta say: that building is beautiful. It should be repurposed. Truly: if they destroy the building, they are just wrong. It is a beautiful antique, representing a very creative period in American Architecture. Please, please, do not tear it down.🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
The News Reporter somehow picked the right time to be outside that building. When I came in from Baton Rouge, I walked out front to vape a little. There were crackheads outside openly selling drugs to anyone at the front of the building. It smelled like piss and rank, just standing out there. Inside there's no snacks or working vending machines for water. Definately a lost cause.😂
There used to be a small restaurant at the Cleveland bus station, but, much like at other Greyhound-owned stations across the country, Greyhound closed that restaurant down. Good luck trying to grab a bite to eat if you're on a layover in Cleveland.
Did BR to NOLA one time. Relatively uneventful but for the gentleman that wouldn't get off the bus to catch his flight at the airport stop. Police had to escort him off the bus.
There are plenty of RU-vid videos documenting Greyhound in the U.S. This isn't just Cleveland, and this isn't the 1950's anymore. If you plan on taking the Greyhound bus for intercity travel, be prepared for the worst, or should I say be prepared for the more than worst.
Not always the case. I took a Greyhound Bus trip from upstate New York to Florida in 2016 that took 2 days and it was a great experience. That included a stop in Cleveland and in 2016, the Cleveland bus station was clean, including the bathrooms. Apparently, Cleveland is no longer a clean station, and that's a shame. Any company or station is only as good as the people working there, and when you have people working who no longer care or drivers who don't show up for their shifts, it's a bad scene. I can only speak from my own experiences, and the times I used Greyhound buses were always good experiences with good people, on time, and relatively clean stations. I'm sure I got lucky, as I don't doubt some have bad experiences with them.
Jezuz Christmas who is running that Station? No maintenance, no janitors , no workers in the ticket booth ??? Unbelievable. *Edited . God bless everyone. Sorry for the offensive language.
Ours is now at the amtrax station. My daughter got stuck in Texas once. It's such a beautiful piece of art deco I hope it can be saved and get a new life
The Greyhound station in DC was torn down years ago and property sold. They moved to the trailways station which was later sold. Now buses leave from the parking garage of the train station.
@@pamelajayeyeah, I believe the new “terminal” is just a gas station. I rode the bus from Columbus to Chicago, in 2018 I believe. It was terrible but at least I got there without hiccups. When I got there people were fighting and cussing out the staff. I found out that they just cancel people and offer zero recourse when they can’t get you where you need to be. The Chicago station was even worse, I got me and my children into a taxi because I didn’t want to wait on an Uber. Felt unsafe. I flew back on southwest, the greyhound is even worse now. It’s a shame how bad it is.
Mainly because society has broken down as a whole, since the ‘60s ushered in lots of garbage anti-common sense and immorality. From bad “service” people to bad customers and everyone enabling all this plus vagrants to do whatever they want, what do we expect?
The New York Port Authority is just as bad.. I had to use Greyhound twice.. I left from Port Charlotte Florida and I traveled to Brattleboro Vermont.. To do that I had to spend 6 hours from Midnight to 6 am in New York... The station is cleaner than this but it was jam packed with homeless people and the smell was horrendous.. the bathrooms were filthy.. the smell of crap and urine and body odor was strong.. the employees were not helpful nor were they kind.. I got harassed by 2 homeless men who kept asking me for money.. they literally had me cornered and asking me... and I had no choice but to give them money... I am not doing that ever again.. nor am I flying ever again..
I haven’t taken Greyhound in over 10 years. And that was back when i learned Greyhound policy is that just because you buy a ticket doesn’t mean you are guaranteed a seat. They oversell and once the bus fills up, you just have to wait for the next bus to be available , which could be 8 hours or a day later. This experience was in California where they said we needed to transfer to a different bus. Kicked us all off and told us to wait at a door to transfer to the next bus. All luggage was supposedly transferred. Good thing I only did carry on cause who knows where that luggage ended up. Only after about 3 hours we were told we were all waiting at the wrong door and that the bus had already left without us. Told us we would need to buy new tickets since we didn’t get on the bus that already left. I gave up and just called a cab and spent over $100 getting to my final destination.
I rode it in the 60's as a kid and loved it. I rode it in the 90's and absolutely hated it. Every station was filthy, all busses were late and it took forever just to go a short ways. There's was always lots of sketchy people hanging around at every station. I see that the "Greyhound Experience" hasn't gotten any better.
This is not just happening in Cleveland, it is happening everywhere. My family and I relied on Greyhound for years and here in Arkansas, there are no Greyhound stations at all. We now have to take a plane, train, or drive when we want to go out of town. This has been a huge inconvenience because Greyhound was the closest to us out of the other forms of transportation. Now we have to travel further just to get to the airport or train station.
I refuse 🚫 to fly either airline. Both are 🗑 . I had a big spat with a crass mean flight attendant on a Aligant Airlines flight ✈️. Later BNA, Nashville Xmas 🎄 2022 Spirit Airlines was awful. Lied to me about cancel flights, airport schedules. This was the huge FAA mess. Southwest was fined $$$.
The airport is just as bad. One TSA Checkpoint which closes at random times, never fly Frontier or you will spend the night in a hotel, which will also be filthy. It's a crying shame.
Tried to catch a flight out of Detroit. Tried to take the greyhound to Detroit, they cancelled. Friend drove me to Detroit. Then on the way back home, we were delayed 6 hours. No one at the ticket counter and not informed of any delays. What.
I'm not sure when Greyhound has ever been pleasant. I took a short ride on one in California in 1980 and the station (downtown Sacramento) was gross and an unshowered hippie fell asleep on my shoulder during the ride lol.
The last time I rode on Greyhound was July 1963 from Las Vegas, NV to Lawton, OK for my 2nd 8 weeks of Army training at Ft Sill. It wasn't bad at all at that time.
Oooh yeah! I had experienced this myself too! 🙄 From Kentucky to New York, they drove us to Columbus and the driver (I never knew the reason. Maybe because I’m Spanish) 🤷🏻♀️ he didn’t want to take me on board but he took my luggages 🧳 in the bus! I had to sleep in the waiting area (from 10: pm-8: am) until the next day without my 2 luggage! In New York, I had to go to a place ( in the terminal) to pick my luggage up! 🤬
I had the same experience in Denver CO, 15 years ago. Never again. Roaches, bad bathrooms, not honoring reservations, and really creepy people. Turned around and took the city bus back home. Never thought of using Greyhound again. Some things never change.
Better than my experience with Greyhound. Drug addict throwing his girlfriend up and down like a ragdoll, ends in shot fired by police, right between his eyes. This was while he was still holding GF tightly with a pocket knife poked to her jugular. Body was left UNCOVERED for at least 2 hours, in massive pool of blood. Finally covered him with a tarp! Than had to wait 10-12 hours OVERNIGHT into the morning waiting in long lines to give our witness statements. No refunds, no offers of counseling, no food or water provided nothing! It was so traumatic I've never ridden Greyhound ever again, before this I never had a problem with my many experiences besides it being a rough trip, bus travel in general isn't a great way to travel, but it was a way I traveled in my early 20s. Strangely I couldn't even find news coverage about it. Portland OR in very early 2000's
why is this news? they are lucky that driver didn’t get behind the wheel. on the station and “avoiding Cleveland” it’s the same everywhere. Greyhound is providing cheap, basic transportation, and cutting costs to keep the fares down. the stations themselves are prime real estate and won’t be used for crap bs service in the future once the leases expire. that cleveland station looks wonderful from the outside, maybe art-deco? there is a ton of useable space inside, looks like a great opportunity to re-purpose.
Sadly I think this station is the best one out of the three Cs. Columbus has an abandoned gas station and Cincinnati has a shed, both out on the outskirts of the cities.
@@Brucev7 You think this is a new problem at Greyhound AND that Biden runs Greyhound? That's cute. Ya know, the sun rose just a little earlier this morning and woke me up. Frigg'in Biden. That's YOU.
@@Brucev7You do realize that the GOP is the reason our mass transit is still stuck in the 1970’s, don’t you? Do your homework. It’s very easy to find. Biden passed the infrastructure bill to include high-speed rail, like countless other countries have but the Republicans fought tooth and nail against it.
From my understanding Greyhound was bought by Flix bus. A company not in the United States. I could be wrong but I think that is true. Gone is the Greyhound bus lines that I loved in the 1960's thru 1980's. 😢 I rode the bus to Vegas, NYC, Cleveland, South Texas. Many cross country bus trips. The buses were always on time, the stations were clean, the coffee shops served food, the drivers were courteous. Those days are over. It is really sad😢.
And avoid the one In Pennsylvania. They leave you outside- on the curb- no bathroom nowhere to sit. The bus was delayed from 4:45pm to 11:30pm… NO bus ever came. Called Greyhound customer service- the representative told me she wasn’t aware the bus never arrived. “ You can take the 6:30am bus” she told me.
It was built in the 1940s when Greyhound was a thriving company. It was thriving up until the early 1980s when bus travel was deregulated. That terminal is historic. Greyhound kept i up until it couldn't anymore, especially selling out to Flix a couple of years ago.
This is such a shame, I traveled Grayhound many times in the seventies and eighties, it was a great way to really see American, my favorite stop was in Sinclair Wyoming, by the old Sinclair oil plant, they had an old lodge that was also the bus stop with a hamburger stand, some of the best road food I have ever eaten, had an old cowboy bar next door that was the real deal, a slice of pure Americana, 40 years ago.
I took a bus from Denver to Blackfoot Idaho two months ago got stranded at the Salt Lake City Utah base. The terminal was empty. Doors were locked and I sat there all night long wall. It rained in a very bad section of town. I ended up reaching out to family members That directed me to a shuttle bus that took me from Salt Lake City to Blackfoot. I would not recommend greyhound for anybody the seat that I was sitting in move back-and-forth throughout the entire trip to Salt Lake. I tried to move to an empty seat, and the driver was very aggressive about assigned seats. I said will fix this one I would not recommend Greyhound for anyone.
50 years ago A roommate of mine was from Cleveland He said the same thing, Avoid it I’m met more people from Cleveland in California in the 1970s and 80s than anywhere else in the United States ….. They all said the same thing….
I rode Greyhound across the country in 1980. The buses were filthy, the stations were filthy, and the whole experience was awful. It doesn't sound like much has changed.
What a gorgeous piece of moderne architecture the Cleveland Greyhound Terminal is! What a shame GH is such a dismal company that mistreats customers and neglects their terminals.
Our old Greyhound station downtown was horrible, smelly, filthy and full of homeless people. They moved the station into the middle of nowhere,10 miles from downtown. New station is relatively clean. Homeless folks have a hard time getting there. Not much for homeless out there. Only one public bus runs hourly during daylight hours. I take an 100 mile direct Greyhound bus to a major city. Fare is super cheap. Very reliable. Lots of free parking with lots of security. The major city has an transit hub with a dozen regional transit systems including Amtrak and Greyhound. Clean and well patrolled by transit cops.
I live in Latin America as an American. The buses here are clean, comfortable and affordable. The passengers are well-behaved. I would never take a Greyhound in the U.S.. They are disgusting. Imagine that a third world country has better transportation infrastructure than a first world country.
I grew up in a little town in Wyoming where the Wyoming State mental hospital was back in the '70s. They used to ship commitment patients into town on Greyhound. The non-violent ones they would just load on the bus and tell the driver to make sure they got off in the right town. There was supposed to be somebody there to meet them but that didn't always happen. So every once in awhile you'd find somebody just wandering around downtown. After a while everybody kind of understood. You just needed to call the state hospital and have him come get them.
