I have traveled by Greyhound bus a couple times, and by Amtrak train once. I agree with team train. I just wish the western US had more routes and regular schedules for rail. A century ago, it was everywhere. In a way, I blame the Federal Highway Administration for indirectly subsidizing the automobile industry and travel by building roads.
I didn't realize buses is still a thing in the U.S.😂 to me I always heard like car-only society. I've also heard Amtrak isn't the most practical options either. It'd be cool if there were more regular train routes & schedules. Over here, train runs pretty much 24hr.
Along the East Coast, there are regular commuter schedules. Here in my part of the west, you board at Spokane, Washington or Sandpoint, Idaho around midnight and that's it. There's just the one daily train at a bad time. Usage is too low to justify more trains, but the bad schedule keeps usage low. It's a catch-22, and the government doesn't want to bother trying to improve anything.
Greyhound is the biggest bus line, and they serve some communities not served by rail, while offering more frequent schedules here in the west as well. It is not ideal, but it is cheaper, and one can board in daylight.
By the way, how safe is it to travel by bus? I've never been to the US but the way bus is portrayed is never in a good light 😄 it is always featured on a crime/thriller movies and film.
In my limited experience, it's safe from everything except germs. I go a nasty bug on the last trip. One meets odd characters. On the plus side, I chatted with a songwriter working on lyrics while riding from Spokane to the Tri-Cities of Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland down in the middle of the southern border of Washington State along the Columbia River. On the negative, I spent hours sitting next to a strange man who kept talking in his sleep while riding across the empty midwest somewhere. And then there's the weird. A lot of people leave prison with nothing but a bag of belongings and a bus ticket. We're not talking violent felons here, and a lot of folks whose only "crime" was a vice get screwed over by the US "justice" system.
Absolutely, in the U.S. buses are essential as a way of movement, especially traveling to and from work for those unable to purchase a car. The great myth surrounding the U.S. is that life is extremely good, everyone is in the middle-class status, and transportation is available to all.
The truth is that new cars have priced themselves out of ordinary citizens wage brackets that aren't in the middle class. The poverty level in the U.S. is considered below $40,000 USD. Millions of Americans earn less than that amount trying to survive.
Shelter and food comes first. But in order to acquire these, you need transportation to get a job. Mass transit solves this problem.
Transportation hubs exist where people also leave their cars and board the bus to their destination; return, then get in their cars and go home. Traffic congestion is major. Fuel prices are high (made even higher with this ridiculous war no one in the government can explain).
As a bus rider in my youth who couldn't afford a car, the reality of one's predicament is sobering.
Take care.