Greyhound Bus Lines

I had the absolute worst experience with any business to date with Greyhound Package Express. I moved from San Jose, CA to Bronx, NY on May 13, 2016. I had one box shipped to my new address on May 12, 2016. I was told that it would go uninsured and there was a risk of it being stolen when I came to drop it off at the San Jose, CA station.
I was taken aback and couldn’t believe my ears, but I had no alternative shipping method so I proceeded to take that risk. I was told the box would arrive in 7 – 10 business days. The online tracking system provided no useful/​timely updates on the status of the package, 10 days later I was still seeing outbound from San Jose, CA as the last update.
I called everyday for 15 days to get an update and the rep would have to call the various stations along the way and speak with employees working at the respective stations to see if it was there or not! I can’t believe how inefficient this system is (if you can call it a system).
I just received the package yesterday, 25 DAYS AFTER I had shipped it. This has been absolutely the worst customer experience in my life, I will refrain from making this drastic mistake of using Greyhound shipping for the rest of my life and will my family and friends looking to ship goods through your company

WARNING!
Greyhound has moved to Diridon Station, 65 Cahill St, San Jose.
Greyhound Bus Station is no longer located at 70 South Almaden Ave, San Jose.

Beware!!!
If you are buying a bus ticket as a gift for someone this is the WORST company to go through!
They charge $ 18 to use a debit or credit card that isn’t the same name as the person going on the trip.
They have an option to pay cash at a local 7 eleven, so I was like okay I’ll just go do that. NEVER AGAIN. What they don’t tell you is that your receipt IS you ticket to board until after you’ve purchased your ticket. This obviously doesn’t help if I’m buying it for someone who obviously doesn’t live here! Now we have to buy ANOTHER ticket for her to board.
Called customer service and both ladies had attitude and put me on hold for 20 minutes. They said I couldn’t even send her a picture of the receipt and have her print it out. Are you serious? It’s the same damn thing.
What also bugs me is that all the info on this receipt is also on her online profile yet they won’t accept it! Same confirmation number and everything. So irritating.
Maybe this place is good if you are buying a ticket for yourself, but after all this trouble I’m switching over to the Megabus company.

First time using greyhound. Cheap price with reasonable service. I was able to change my round trip ticket with 20 dollars only.
Waiting is reasonable, but see the top right of your ticket and if it’s more than 50, most probably you will be on 2^nd bus, so don’t join the crowd on first wait. Staff is professional and nice.
The bus reeks of toilet freshener though. The seat leather is nice. But there is no head rest.

Automatic air fresheners choking me both busses. You cant buy priority board in sac unless its pointless to have it. They lost my luggage and did mot compensate me. Driver gave himself many nice breaks while riders had to stay on the bus. People in the back smoked weed and the auto deodarizers made it so the driver cudnt tell. In sac they charged me for a corn dog and said my card didnt work (yes it did) so i didnt eat. They treat e 1 like a criminal meanwhile people cut in line and grt in fightsm i had to board a bus w pepsi all over me — fall out from a deli area fight
Never again i hope

The greyhound bus I went on went from San Jose to LA. The bus didn’t feel super clean but the seats were at least cozy and allowed more room than the mega bus. Also in the beginning it felt more spacious due to the fact that only half the bus was filled as opposed to my megabus trip from LA to SF a few days ago. However after the first stop the entire bus was entirely booked. There are air vents and lights for each seat making it feel more homely. You can store your bags above your seat if you need more leg room. Bus ride was not too jerky and the driver was kind when explaining the rules on the bus. The con was that it sounded like there was a loose piece of metal on two chairs bouncing around the entire ride (I was in the back of the bus). I’m not sure if was only for the area I was sitting in, although I think it was. So it was hard to fall asleep.

Completely unreliable service, I booked my trip to Anaheim a week ago and on Friday night they call me to say there’s no driver and that they can refund my money or schedule for another bus (8hours later) because the lack of professionalism within this company I had to cancel my plans for this weekend, and I haven’t even received my money back from the tickets I bought and didn’t get to use. If you need to get somewhere by a certain time, DO NOT rely on greyhound. This is not the first time this happens to me, but it surely will be my last. All those new accomodities in the bus don’t mean anything if you don’t have someone to drive the damn thing. Unbelievable and I will file a complaint and lawsuit so this does not happen again to anyone.

Had my car towed waiting for a relative to arrive. I arrived at 7:55pm and decided to get a slice of pizza to since I was a little early. Security was on the premise but failed to ask if I was waiting for anyone or that I needed a permit. I came back to my car less than 20 mins later to find that my car was already gone.
Both the towing company and Grey Hound state they usually look for the vehicle owner for 10 mins before towing the car. Hard to believe they tried finding me and the tow company got there that quick! I was like a sitting duck stuck with a 371 towing fee waiting for a grey hound bus!

First time Greyhounding? I’ll help you out.
My review is on my trip to Los Angeles.
Advice:
— Get your tickets online ASAP. They go by a numbering system for boarding!
— Pack snacks and water
— Bring head phones
— Bring a rechargeable battery pack (sometimes the outlets don’t work)
— Sometimes the WIFI doesn’t work, bring a book?
— Bring a pillow if you are in the bus longer than 2 hours. (Trust me, you will get jealous of the person in front of you who looks super comfy after you watched them with their damn pillow for 5 hours)
— if you are a girl, do not wear short shorts because the seats are leather and kind of cracked so it might poke you!
1. Line up to get your luggage checked.
— if you just have a medium size backpack and a purse you can skip this step.
— You can check 1 in for free and it must be under 50lbs. You can bring a backpack and a purse or whatever else you want as long as it fits under your chair and in the overhead compartment.
— Under the seat it fits 1 fully packed school backpack. Imagine a fully stuffed Jansport or Northface.
— The overhead is about 1 feet in length (kinda small, imagine 3 to-​go boxes stacked on each other. It starts from the front of the bus to the end.
— advice: don’t use a super expensive bag if you use checked baggage because they just throw it in, you are bound to get scratches.
2. Wait in the to ticketed passenger room. Wait until they call your number and line up.
— try to stand near the front. People are pretty reckless and like to push through.
3. If the bus looks full get the first seat you see. Chances are, there are none in the back.
— plus the back smells like poo and peach air freshener… Idk if that’s a good thing.
4. If your ride is longer than 4 hours they have 1 rest stop.
Pros on SJ greyhound:
— everyone keeps to themselves
— plenty of restroom stalls
— efficient front desk workers
— the security is always walking around
— there are always cabs outside & über could be there in about 8 minutes
— plenty of seating
— easy to find terminal gates
— well lit
— play news in the waiting room
— they sell snacks
— Our bus driver who was African American read the rules in english, spanish and cantonese. That’s pretty impressive! He was also very enthusiastic and friendly!
Con’s:
— the person that sat next to me took up half my chair, he was a big guy that fell asleep and didn’t care about my personal space… Ugh
— when it got dark, people would grab your headrest in order to make it to the back of the bus to the restroom. Their ass might caress your cheek because they lean against your chair.
— it get pretty cold because they blast the a.c.
— if you sit in the back that’s where you feel the shaking and bumps the most.

So I decided to take The Greyhound to SF to work the Puppy Bowl 2016… save mileage, work on my website, be introverted & productive.
Sounded good at the time – & there were some pros – but the wifi goes in & out, not very strong. Outlets may or may not work.
The drivers are really nice, staff are professional.
Love that there’s a bathroom on the bus :)
The customer service policies are tricky though. I recommend getting the refundable trips, it really is like booking a flight & theres no way to change it without paying more or getting a whole other trip.
Lastly, you never know if they will run on time. Mine was late & I was stranded with no host in the middle of SF my first night because they fell asleep! What I saved in gas I quickly paid for in a hotel. Another passenger complained their Greyhound broke down on the way & she missed a day of work.
Be very careful & suave when u take this bus, & if u have any important deadlines think twice.

This station is located in my city, in a hidden downtown location. Other stations in northern Cali such as Oakland and Sacramento have the worst, rudest staff working. But the San Jose location has the nicest people working. The manager also is a very nice person. I remember back in 2009, I lost my luggage after changing buses in Denver and notified the employee at the counter and the next day, luggage was found.
The place does need a little renovation in the lobby and restrooms and do be prepared to hear if buses run late, especially when the buses come from so cal or San Francisco with heavy California traffic. But overall, I do like this greyhound station and they offer free wifi.

Greyhound, about 20 minutes into the ride it smelled like someone pee’d themselves. Do adults need to be asked if they need to use the bathroom before getting on the bus? Maybe you may need to make an announcement. lol… seriously it was gross to have to smell urine for the hour.
Update:
There is a powder room in the back of the bus… still smelled like somebody pee’d themselves, but at any rate I would suggest a strong air freshener. It really is disgusting and my seat was towards front. Makes me not want to ride again.
Overall had to smell much worse than urine on the ride back.

This is my first time using Greyhound and I’m not impressed at all.
Walked in and checked in which took about 5 minutes and was informed that my bus was late…

I’ve taken it from LA to SJ a few times. I usually take another service such as the megabus down. Reason being is that I experience some delay almost every time I come back up here, and I don’t want to risk messing up my plans before I get there.
I did have a bus break down. We had to wait for one to come down from SF, which delayed arrival by about 4 – 5 hours. This was a trip from LA to SJ, and the bus broke down in Gilroy. Many people just had relatives come get them.
Usually the bus is over an hour late picking us up from union on my way back. It’s good for cheap transportation if booked early enough, but I wouldn’t trust it as far as reliability.

This is my first time and would also be my last time being on this bus. The driver is rude, during a rest stop someone didnt make it to the bus on time and the driver didnt even bother to pick him up. The bus stops so many times. It takes only 5 hours driving from san jose to oxnard and the bus takes like 8 hours. Not to mention that my bus was an hour delayed (bus came 30mins late with some random stops that added another 30mins). HORRIBLE!!! WASTE OF TIME! I’ve learned my lesson and would rather take the effort to drive myself down south than taking this bus. PLEASE READ THIS!

This is an update from my previous post. I was writing the other review while I was on the bus. It took us 12 hours to get from San Jose to LA. How is that even possible? The bus driver ran out of hours and wasn’t able to drive for the last hour. She stopped at a gas station to wait for another driver that was coming from LA, which took about 2 – 3 hours more just waiting in the middle of no where! Before driving, why doesn’t Greyhound management CHECK the driver’s hour BEFORE DRIVING.
We left the San Jose Greyhound station at 7PM Friday. It was suppose to be at 6:45PM BUT they were late. We arrived at LA station at 6AM in the morning. Are you serious? I got a refund for the tickets, but they had to mail it in to the corporate. The lady that helped me fill out the forms to get a refund was really nice and friendly. She really wanted to help! Another lady from the same bus was behind us and also wanted a refund. People have plans and now because of that 12 hour trip, it ruined people’s schedules. Anyways, the lady on the same bus asked the guy if she could get a refund and he said, «Sorry, I can’t do anything about the refund, but here is the form and you have to fill this out and mail it.» That was it…
What? The customer service should be the same. IF this lady is helping me out 100%, the other person should receive the same amount of effort. I was already pissed.
Suffering from the A/​C was one thing, but waiting on the bus for 3 hours + is unacceptable. This should never happen. What kind of business are you running here Greyhound?
I would give this a 0, doesn’t even deserve a 1.

DO NOT take this bus! Following are the reasons why:
Bus came super late.
Smelly bus
Driver put on MAX ac to keep the driver cold so she won’t fall asleep. Everyone else is freezing on the bus.
Driver stopped at the resting area and would not continue to drive because she has «worked» overtime and cannot work anymore. Waited 2 hours for another bus driver to come!
Supposed to get to LA at 1 am and needed up got there at 5 am!

This was my first time taking a greyhound.
So I had to come up to San Jose from Orange County within a week, meaning that the cost for a flight was quite high. I opted to take the greyhound not knowing that it was a shady means of travel. My experience was not horrible. I woke up early and left from the Long Beach location (which is pretty ghetto, lots of people walking around that look a bit rough around the edges). The ticket says to arrive an hour in advance, but if your bus is leaving around 8:45, just come maybe about 20 – 30 minutes prior and you should be fine. I was worried for my safety prior to boarding the actual bus but it ended up being fine. Everyone pretty much kept to themselves and the bus drivers and workers at the station were cordial. I wouldn’t consider it unsafe, but keep an eye on your bags just in case.
If you have small bags, you can just bring them on the bus (nobody cares how many you have haha). For bigger luggage you do need to check it in though. Make sure that you transfer the luggage if you are transferring buses. Nobody keeps track of that for you, its your responsibility.
Sit near the front of the bus or the middle. Don’t sit in the back. First of all, it hella smells because the bathroom is there. There are some pretty unclean folks on the bus so… just do yourself a favor and sit near the front. Also, you’ll be able to get off quicker :)
If you need to transfer and your bus is late, that bus that you need to transfer to won’t wait for you. If you end up missing your bus (I did because the bus from San Jose to LA got stuck in LA traffic. I took the night bus so it makes sense since you would hit LA around 8am-​ish… something to consider in your planning I suppose) They will give you a ticket for a later time at no additional cost. However, you can only get a later time to the same destination.
This particular station is not in the best area. It’s in downtown and while it’s not skid road like the LA stop, it can be potentially dangerous. Again, be aware of your surroundings, watch your bags, and don’t harass anyone and you should be fine.
Also, the buses aren’t as bad as they used to be. There were no problems with buses breaking down or any weird smells (except in the back of the bus). There are also outlets to plug in your electronics (I was surprised!) However, not all of them work.
All in all, it was better than I was expecting (I didn’t get shanked!) but it wasn’t necessarily an enjoyable experience. I’d rather fly any day.

I visit long beach and Pasadena about once a month and found the greyhound to be a very affordable option versus flying. I’ve never had a bad experience except for my visit last week, which was enough to make me go out of the way to write a one star review.
First off, my bus was about 1:45 late from leaving the San Jose terminal. That was inconvenient as I had dinner reservations in long beach and had to move it to a later time. They did give us free snacks and sandwiches though. Lol
At the halfway stop our bus driver gave no warning that we were departing and left about ¹⁄₃ of our passengers at the stop. She could see them running after the bus and heard the protests of the other passengers and I but still didn’t stop.
Because of this experience I am now looking into other buses to take for my monthly Socal visits or returning to flying.
Ive also heard from others who’ve experienced similar delays as well as smelly bus rides on their own trips.

It’s a rather ghetto station, but I had a great experience.
I first bought a ticket online to go down to San Luis Obispo at 12:30pm and realized that there was another time at 7:20am. As I read through the steps to exchanging mistakes in buying the ticket, there would be a $ 20 fee. Depressed because I pretty much would pay $ 50 for a ticket, so I headed to the station and one employee was very nice and waived my ticket. I was so happy!
Arriving to the station, I came an hour early and the night earlier as I read arrival of the bus, it would be 15 minutes before leaving. However the bus arrived just at the time of departure to go down south. So timing for arrival and departure is a bit off, be aware of that
Going on the bus was nice. I stayed in the front to avoid the bathroom, although I never smelled anything. There are two outlet plugs for you to charge your phone/​laptop/​games and whatnot. The seats don’t recline back so much, so it’s uncomfortable when you’re trying to sleep. There was rarely anyone on my bus and depending on the driver, they don’t care if you have your carry-​on on the seat next to you. This driver made stops almost every 30 minutes, which was nice to stretch and have bathroom breaks outside of the bus to avoid smells. I say the only downside to the bus ride was no particular shade from the sun with roll down blinds. (That’s such a luxury…)
I would definitely go with Greyhound the next time I travel around California.