Greyhound A Victim Of American Shortsightedness

By James Donahue

I have mixed feelings when I read that Greyhound is cutting bus line services and attempting to recover millions of dollars in losses caused by dwindling business and rising fuel costs.

Greyhound has been a poorly run service for a long time. Personal experiences attempting to travel by bus, and by relatives who used Greyhound, have been terrible. Yet if there is a time when America needs public transportation services like buses, trains and planes, it is now when fuel costs are prohibiting most other forms of travel across the country.

According to reports, Greyhound lost $111.5 million in 2002, and another $2.8.9 million last year. Greyhound customers have fallen off by 40 percent since 1980.

America’s love of the automobile, low-fare air costs and regional bus competition are blamed for the loss of customers. I think the problem goes much deeper. Somebody in Greyhound did a very bad job of running the business.

The Greyhound rates have always been inviting. You can travel across the country on a bus for a very good price. And for many older baby boomers, who dislike driving long distances for reasons of age, income and health, the concept of leaving the driving to Greyhound should sound inviting.

It did for me a few years back. Shortly after going into an early (company incentive) retirement from one of the Gannett chain newspapers, I had an opportunity to go from Michigan to visit a daughter in Savannah, Georgia. I immediately considered Greyhound. At the time the bus line was offering travel anywhere in the United States for $90. And there was an express bus run from Detroit to Savannah.

The idea sounded good, so I drove to Saginaw, the nearest city near where I lived, and bought a ticket. The idea was that my wife could handle the traffic and get home easier from Saginaw than get caught up in the snarl from downtown Detroit. The bus I was to board in Saginaw was expected to arrive in Detroit in time so I would have about an hour lay-over.

Fortunately, my wife waited at the bus station for me to leave. The bus was more than an hour late in arriving, and simple arithmetic told me that with numerous stops to make between Saginaw and Detroit, I would not arrive there in time for the express. Since there was only one bus from Detroit to Savannah, I was going to be forced to wait in that Detroit bus station for 24 hours to catch the next bus.

Anybody who has ever caught a bus at Greyhound’s Detroit terminal knows that is not a desirable place for an older white man to be when the sun goes down. Enough said about that.

I turned in my ticket and asked for my money back. The woman at the counter was not kind. She said I would have to send a receipt, which she prepared, to Greyhound and that a check would be issued. I sent the receipt, and the company never paid. They said the stub was invalid. In other words, either Greyhound, or that ticket agent, ripped me off.

That did not leave a good taste in my mouth. As a writer with a number of outlets, I succeeded in doing as much damage to Greyhound as possible in those days.

Needless to say, I flew to Savannah.

While I have negative thoughts about the line, I have always thought that an extensive ground public transportation system for the United States is sorely needed. Airlines are becoming too costly and have always been major contributors to air pollution. But to make it work, there must be an extensive overhaul of the bus service and a rebuilding of the national railroads.

That requires federal dollars. If we had spent just a portion of the money the Bush Administration has already wasted on an unnecessary push to start a world war and bring back Jesus, we could be well on our way to having this kind of bus and train system.

We need smooth new rails to carry high speed trains from coast to coast. We need terminals located in safe, well lighted places with lots of lighting and police protection for customers.

We need government subsidies so the seniors and the poor can travel within their means.

Instead, we are watching, almost uncaring, as Greyhound begins to fold. And we tore up the old rusted railroad tracks, and sold the right-of-way for public bike trails, years ago.

Shame on us for our shortsightedness.