Greyhound - A warning for those crossing the U.S. border on it
Sep 13 '05 (Updated Mar 14 '06)
The Bottom Line Don't necessarily believe the schedules on Greyhound's web site. If there's a border involved, they may be way out of whack.
Greyhound, the bus company that can take you anywhere in North America, has the motto "Leave the driving to us." And it can be quite convenient to actually do that. However, if you are a Canadian planning on crossing the U.S. border, keep in mind that leaving the driving to them can make it so you miss what you're traveling for. While I am guessing this also applies to coming over the Canadian border, at least to some extent, I am informing you right now that I have no knowledge of that and can only testify to my experience heading south.
And what an experience it was. I was all set to come to the Seattle Meet & Greet by car, but my wife suggested (when it came about that she couldn't come with me) that I look and see what Greyhound had to offer. So I fired up Greyhound's web site, checked the schedule from Vancouver to Seattle, and saw the perfect schedule. I would leave Vancouver at 9:00 am and get to Seattle at 12:35 pm. The Meet & Greet was supposed to start at 1:00pm, so that might be cutting it close. However, since the meeting place was only four blocks from the bus station, even a slightly late bus would allow me to get there either on time or only slightly late. Plus, I wouldn't be driving, I could sit and read my book and just enjoy the trip. There was only one stop, in Bellingham, so it would be even better! Sure, there's also the U.S. border crossing, but going through the border shouldn't be that much of a problem.
Keep in mind that any posted schedule should consider the stops the bus has to make, right? Bellingham's stop was supposed to be 10 minutes, and it's factored into the schedule. I know that it takes about 3 hours to get from Vancouver to Seattle by driving, so a 3 hour and 35 minute schedule is obviously budgeting about 30 minutes or so for the border crossing. And most days, that may actually be accurate.
But not on Saturdays. Imagine my horror when, just before we left the bus station, the driver gets on the PA and says something like "just to let everybody know, the next stop for us is the U.S. border. There, we get in line with all of the buses coming off the cruise ships, and any other buses that come along. The minimum wait I've had on a Saturday there is 2 hours." What??? Sure enough, we left a little after 9:00 and got to the border a little after 10:00. Two and a half hours later, we finally pulled out of the border crossing. Yes, we left the border at almost the exact time we were supposed to be getting into Seattle. Ironic, eh? We finally pulled into Seattle around 3:00, and I was able to make the last hour of the Meet & Greet.
What I find completely unacceptable about all of this is the fact that the bus driver obviously knows the route, and knows that the delay is at least two hours on a Saturday. So why isn't this on Greyhound's schedule? They budget half an hour in their schedule for the border, so obviously they know there is some delay. The bus drivers know it's at least two hours, so why don't they put that on the site? When I see a schedule on a transportation web site, I expect to arrive at my destination at some time resembling the time they promise me. Sure, traffic can be bad and there are other unforeseen delays that could affect arrival time, but this is not unforeseen. It happens every Saturday.
You might say, "But Dave. You know that crossing the border can take a long time, and that a half an hour seems to be pushing it. Shouldn't you have guessed this would happen?" Hindsight is 20/20, but I figured that, if Greyhound was publishing a schedule, that they thought they could meet it. Perhaps they have a special arrangement that expedites Greyhound buses through the border? Especially because there are only four buses a day? I don't know. The fact is, THAT SHOULDN'T BE SOMETHING I HAVE TO THINK ABOUT. I shouldn't have to know how the bus system works. I should be able to go to their web site, see a schedule, and say "hey, that fits my needs. Why don't I take it."
I would have driven down if I would have known the border wait would be that long. Or, if I *had* to take the bus, I would have taken the earlier one (6:00 am), though that wouldn't be very pleasant. As it is, as I was sitting there fuming at the border crossing, already processed by immigration but waiting for all 52 other people to be processed (in addition to the other buses that were there, of course), I was feeling increasingly ripped off. They promised that I would be on time, or slightly late for the Meet & Greet, and they lied to me. They took my $50 under false pretenses.
I have written a letter to them about this (they don't take telephone complaints). I will update this if I get any result. As it is right now, though, be aware of this if you're planning a bus ride over the border. If it's on a Saturday (and potentially any day, though one passenger I spoke to said that she had no problem on a Thursday), it's very possible you will be late. If you have a connection in Seattle (or any other U.S. city, if you're from further east than I am), you will likely miss it and have to make other arrangements. The bus driver actually said when we got to Seattle, "those of you who were supposed to take the 1:30 bus out of here, come see me."
Perhaps Greyhound has a different definition of "unforeseen" then I do?
*update: March 14, 2006*
Well, I finally heard back from them. Six weeks, my butt. Try six months!
Anyway, as expected, they didn't respond well to my complaint.
"Unfortunately, unforeseen changes occasionally occur. We realize that delays are both frustrating and inconvenient to our passengers. Although we make every effort to meet the arrival and departure times printed in our schedules, we cannot guarantee those times. Too many factors are unpredictable, and can lead to unanticipated delays."
Hmm. What part of "Two hours is the usual delay at the border on a Saturday, as stated by your bus driver" did they not understand? To me, "usual" means that it is not "unanticipated." Perhaps their bus driver should not have informed the unwashed masses that this was an ordinary occurrence.
Anyway, a letter is going to be fired back to them. I don't expect a refund, but I am damn sure going to make somebody work.
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Member: David Roy
Location: Vancouver, BC
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