Greyhound Drivers........

Just bigger ones , now!
I drove City and school bus.
I would rather drive OTR , ask me after I drive OTR, if I ever get the chance ?

Good luck on your interview.
Driving Greyhound is a huge responsibility, course U allready know that hauling the Kiddies around.

 

You think "kiddies" are bad, wait till you get a look at some of the freaks
and derelicts that are on "the dog"

 

What are the hours of a driver? I am sure you stay in a hotel and get free meals at Denny's. How many nights a week do they get home? They are hireing in my area too. May check it out.

 

Well Im going to go off on a tangent here, lol. Greyhound actually started in my hometown in northern MN in the early 1900s I believe. They have long, LONG since moved away into umpteen other towns as HQ's. They dont even stop at my hometown anymore!

I would seriously reconsider driving for them. Lots of people on the busses, basically people that need the cheapest mode of transport possible from Point A to point B. Lots of interesting people to say the least.

Their bus maintenance is embarassing. While going from WY to CA, via Denver, we had a bus break down just as we got to the top of the first range or whatever west of Denver. We went back and swapped, getting another bus. On the way back from CA, we left the station in Vegas and didn't even make it two miles before he turned around because of the power steering. Apparently, the previous driver (who just drove it in) didn't mark it down or didn't care about the lack of power steering.
While driving out here in WY, I pass a truck stop that they use for a meal break or whatever. One of their buses broke down and it sat there for the better part of a week before they finally got it towed away.

They cram people on there like sardines, overbook the routes (ie...they might need two buses at the same time because of overflow.) The drivers themselves have a lack of anything resembling respect towards the passengers. In Denver, a gal had a question about her luggage because it wasn't tagged and the driver would'nt listen to her. When she kept asking him to listen, he yelled for security and had her removed.

Sometimes they don't use extra buses either. When I got to Denver going to CA, our bus was late getting there and I wasn't able to make the bus I was supposed to get on, so I had to wait 6 hours for the next one (which later broke down).

Their routes are messed up as well. In order to go to from Western WY, I had to take a bus that traveled across WY, down to Denver, then west to CA. Their route out here alternates daily...one day it will go east, the next it will go west. 24 hours after I got on the bus, I wasn't any further West....just a tad south of where I started.

As far as cleaning the buses...not sure if that is ever required, lol. They make stops where they say they will refuel and wash out the bus, but Id like to know their definition of wash because nothing is cleaner at all.

From what I have seen, I think that a driver will run the same route or a couple of routes because my drivers seemed to know their routes fairly well as far as turns and such in the larger cities...even places to get seasonal fruits at fruit stands and such. One even was schmoozing it up with the employees at a truck stop who knew him by name.

I don't know how they fall under federal guidelines for HOS, if it even applies to them at all.

 

Yea you will be hauling around an occasional dirt bag. I talked to a new Greyhound Driver and he said he is home most every night. Ocassionally an overnighter, but he stays in a hotel and gets free meals. The starting pay of $16.25/hr would equea 2,166 miles a week (.30 a mile) OTH. Not a bad deal.

 

I appologize in advance for an unrelated post, but Greyhounds and Seattle both hold a very significant memory for me.

Back in the early 90's I was stationed at Ft Lewis, just down from Seattle. Some weekends my friends and I would take the Greyhound up to Seattle to party.

One weekend in Seattle we dropped unbelievable amounts of LSD. Somehow I got lost in the University district, but someone gave me a ride to the Greyhound station in downtown Seattle.

I don't know what time I got back to the bus station, but I spent the rest of the nite in the bus station waiting for the morning bus back to Ft Lewis.

WOWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!

That bus station (or any big city downtown bus station) would be a trip if even if I wasn't on acid! All nite long was one tripped out experience after another. I think the most freaky experience was when the turban-clad taxi driver showed up out of nowhere! I thought he was a genie showing up to give me three wishes.

Yep, there's some real freaks that ride busses. I used to be one of them.

 

Windowpane and Greyhouds, what a TRIP, lol!
I HATE taking Greyhounds ANYWHERE. The last time I was on one - which was to a freakin' JB HUNT orientation in California - the thing was packed with illegal aliens and their kids screaming, throwing things, it was a nightmare. My response? I went to sleep. I would sleep for an hour or so, wake up, same nightmare, different yard post - back to sleep. It was the ONLY way I could keep my sanity on the way over there.....

 

BIGLIKE- When is your interview? What did they talk about and ask?