Amtrak and Greyhound motorcoaches

Which company has better motorcoaches? In some parts of the west you
might have to go long distances in an Amtrak motorcoach before it
connects back to a rail line again.

Is Amtrak more squared away the Greyhound as a whole?

In article ,
Eastward Bound wrote:
Which company has better motorcoaches?

I think Amtrak and Greyhound (and the other major long-distance bus
companies) operate basically the same kind of coaches, so you're not
likely to see any significant difference in comfort. The big difference
is in scheduling. Amtrak's coaches are intended specifically to connect
with the trains, so you can count on making a train-to-bus connection even
if the train is late (as it often is).

--
Jon Bell Presbyterian College
Dept. of Physics and Computer Science Clinton, South Carolina USA

I think Amtrak and Greyhound (and the other major long-distance bus
companies) operate basically the same kind of coaches, so you're not
likely to see any significant difference in comfort.

Does Amtrak actually operate its own buses anyway? The only time
I rode one, from Salt Lake City to Ogden, it belonged to some other
company. I assumed Amtrak just had contracts with different bus
companies in different areas. But that was about 10 years ago, and
it might have changed, or some routes might be different.

The big difference is in scheduling. Amtrak's coaches are intended
specifically to connect with the trains...

Yep. In my case, the train was expected to be 4 hours late at Ogden,
so they let us stay in Salt Lake an extra 2 or 3 hours before the bus
left (there being nothing much to do at Ogden station).
--
Mark Brader "Those who do not understand UNIX
Toronto are condemned to reinvent it."
-- Henry Spencer

My text in this article is in the public domain.

In article ,
Mark Brader wrote:
[I wrote]
I think Amtrak and Greyhound (and the other major long-distance bus
companies) operate basically the same kind of coaches, [...]

Does Amtrak actually operate its own buses anyway? The only time
I rode one, from Salt Lake City to Ogden, it belonged to some other
company.

I wouldn't be surprised if they're all actually contract operations. I
was using "operate" loosely there.

In fact, now that my memory has been jogged, I once saw what I think was
the Amtrak bus that connected Greenville and Columbia with either the
"Palmetto" or the "Silver Meteor" at Florence SC, as I was driving on
I-26. It was actually a minivan operated by the Pee Dee Regional
Transportation Authority. I can't find it in the current timetable so I
guess they must have dropped that connection.

--
Jon Bell Presbyterian College
Dept. of Physics and Computer Science Clinton, South Carolina USA

(Mark Brader) wrote in message

I think Amtrak and Greyhound (and the other major long-distance bus
companies) operate basically the same kind of coaches, so you're not
likely to see any significant difference in comfort.

Does Amtrak actually operate its own buses anyway? The only time
I rode one, from Salt Lake City to Ogden, it belonged to some other
company. I assumed Amtrak just had contracts with different bus
companies in different areas.

That's correct. The only Amtrak bus runs are short connections
between rail lines, or from a rail line to a city. They just rent
buses from the companies that normally run charter bus tours.

On 24 Nov 2003 17:20:09 -0800, (SP Cook) wrote:

(Mark Brader) wrote in message

I think Amtrak and Greyhound (and the other major long-distance bus
companies) operate basically the same kind of coaches, so you're not
likely to see any significant difference in comfort.

Does Amtrak actually operate its own buses anyway? The only time
I rode one, from Salt Lake City to Ogden, it belonged to some other
company. I assumed Amtrak just had contracts with different bus
companies in different areas.

That's correct. The only Amtrak bus runs are short connections
between rail lines, or from a rail line to a city. They just rent
buses from the companies that normally run charter bus tours.

It may be a little more than that. On my drive to and from San
Francisco over Thanksgiving I noticed AMTRAK buses doing the
Bakersfield-LA connection, a rather long connection. The buses
were quite a lot nicer looking than the Greyhounds I saw about
the same time. The buses were liveried rather boldy with AMTRAK
on the sides, and at the driver's location was smaller lettering
stating the bus was operated by Coach USA. I do gather it was
owned by Coach USA, but it was obviously more than a simple
renting.


************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *