Greyhound: Bus Station — Local services in Washington

Greyhound bus stations are a fascinating place to experience American culture in the 21st century first hand! I've been to many Greyhound stations but the DC one is a particular treat.

There was no one in the Greyhound building to ask questions to, only a few broken computer terminals, as well as a TV that displayed confusing and irrelevant information. It was freezing cold there but not to fear, there was a waiting room! Unfortunately, the room had a broken sliding door, so the cold air was let in. If I remember correctly it also automatically slid open and closed often, it seemed to be broken. This made it difficult to sleep for a man on a bench next to the door, but he was only fully awakened when a pigeon landed on his head- there were more pigeons in the station than people, in fact due to their poop on the floor and their smell it gave much more the appearance of a barn than a bus station. There was another man who didn't speak English but had nice colorful clothes and seemed to enjoy it, feeding the pigeons. Finally there was a family with several children and many bags of luggage, arguing on the phone for hours about how Greyhound could actually give them the ride that they bought. I don't blame them but it really added to the scenery. Nor do I blame the homeless people who tend to linger in Greyhound bus stations, but for this reason one should be aware that these stations are a crossover of bus station and homeless shelter. I believe 90% of inns in medieval times would be cleaner and safer than this, and this was a bus station in the 21st century in the capital city of the USA, which is food for thought.

But honestly it wasnt a bad experience, I wasn't robbed or kidnapped, despite traveling with this company many times. Delays of up to a day are not that rare, and there's usually no one at any of the stations to give you any help or information, but it is the cheapest company for sure, and it will at some point get you to your destination. The drivers, the passengers, and sometimes even the station workers tend to be fairly nice. If anything, I dislike the passengers most because they often play loud things on their phones without regard to people who are trying to sleep around them.

Pretty much all the other greyhound stations I've been to are like this, but I really wanted to write a review for the DC one because it takes the cake. But honorable mentions for second worst station would be Nashville, Indianapolis, Columbus, and DuBois! It's not really dangerous, it's just an interesting...

What a terrible experience with Greyhound due to the driver. She was incredibly inconsiderate. Before leaving the station at port authority( but after closing the doors to the bus), a young girl asked to please open the door so she can leave the bus. the bus driver rudely and very loudly stated “no leaving the bus! The bus is in motion now! You should have left sooner” the girl started crying and pleading to simply get off the bus, obviously the bus does not need to wait for her . But the bus driver refused and said “get off at the next station which is Baltimore!!!!” 4 hours away. Next the bus driver pulled over on the side of the highway stating she had a “high winds advisory” and we all need to put on our seat belts. We were not allowed to even have a small purse at our feet. She stated “I need to make sure this bus does not topple over in the wind! You need to comply with my rules or I WILL LEAVE YOU on the side of the highway”.

Finally we stop at Baltimore and the bus driver said last call to leave. One elderly woman was confused between Baltimore and DC and was going to get off and asked is this downtown. The bus driver said it’s Baltimore , the woman was unsure if she was to leave the bus. Instead of helping her, the bus driver said “TIMES UP. I’m leaving “. The woman said oh I think I am supposed to get off ! Can you let me off (mind you we were 2 feet from where we had stopped”). The bus driver said “NOT MY FAULT! You can get off in DC you need to learn to listen. You can buy a ticket to come back here“

What an overall terrible experience due to the bus drivers condescending attitude. She was on a power trip and treated the customers like she was doing all of us a favor.

Also the greyhound bus was old, seats peeling.. double the price of flix bus which was much nicer AND had a...

So I was brave enough to take a greyhound trip to NOLA despite their awful reviews and I wasn't disappointed cause I didn't expect anything from them, but I wasn't pleasantly surprised either, all the bad reviews are right.

Buses ARE always late, and dirty, and yes the staff is rude and yes is really easy to miss your buss cause they don't have any sort of information display at ANY of their stops. So... here's some advice from a 26h on greyhound girl:

Download the app NOW: the bus tracker is the most helpful and accurate way to know where your bus is and at what time is it getting at all their stops, either way you'll be lost in every stop cause no one tells you anything. (You'll need your schedule number for this, keep reading).

Print your tickets ahead and read them carefully: if you got them online you'll have the chance to check your bus before you get to the terminal, see if it's in time and check all the stops it will make before your destination, all with the bus tracker and your schedule number that's usually in the ticket, just beneath your name, just enter the number, no letters.

Permanently pay attention in every stop: Since there's no info around you'll just get a guy screaming to get on your bus, if you are re-boarding be mindful of the people with you and also identify your bus somehow! We stopped at a McDonalds on my way and there were two greyhound buses outside.

Don't be afraid to ask: Even if the staff can be rude, its better to take some harsh treatment than miss your bus, so if you're totally lost as I was in some stops just ask someone where are you supposed to go.

Don't take a greyhound bus: if you got the money and the chance, take a train instead or drive; it's just too easy to miss a bus or get lost for people that don't travel that much or are easy...