Greyhound Canada

I have had the worst experience with Greyhound Canada today. I never write bad reviews but I am so compelled to write this due to the horrific service from Greyhound. I tried to book a bus ticket online to travel within BC, Canada. After I typed in all my information, an error message popped up and asked me to call their customer service to book. Immediately afterwards I checked my online credit card (CC) statement and noticed that there was a pending charge from Greyhound. I, then, called their customer service line to book. The person on the other line took all my information to book my ticket and said that my CC had been declined. I hung up and called my CC company, they confirmed that Greyhound had held charges on my CC and that there was nothing wrong on my CC’s end. My credit limit is fine and that the charge has been approved on my CC. I then called Greyhound back, they told me that there is no reservation under my name or my credit card number and reassured me that no charge will be put through on my CC. At this point, I was distressed since I have been only the phone with Greyhound trying to book a simple ticket for over 2 hours. The lady on the other line apologized and said that they will hand my call over to customer service. The call got disconnected. I called back asked to be connected again to complaints line, they transferred me to a line that does not exist. I called back for a 3^rd time and a sales agent told me I would be transferred to her supervisor. I was put on hold and given a «41 611» message telling me my call would not be connected. I will not be giving Greyhound my service ever again.

I was pleasantly impressed by my first trip ever on Greyhound on its Calgary-​Edmonton route. The buses were very clean with nice, comfortable leather seats that have more legroom than you’ll find on most airplanes. The bus also has the added perks of power plug-​ins and free wi-​fi. Greyhound employees in the terminals and the drivers were all very friendly and professional.
As a single female traveller, I felt perfectly safe on the bus and in the stations. Due to a few unfortunate past incidents elsewhere in the country, I believe Greyhound often gets an undeserved unfavorable reputation.
For a third of the cost of Red Arrow, Greyhound will be my preferred bus provider for traveling between Calgary and Edmonton. I encourage others to give it a try. You might be surprised by how nice it is.

I decided to take a day trip to Banff as I am in Calgary often for work. The Greyhound station doesn’t seem easy to get to and was under $ 10 cab ride from downtown. I think there’s a train station right by but most people probably get a ride here.
There are some seats and it’s the typically hard plastic squeeze your bum into the chair type. At the end of the station, there are a few people working to sell tickets. The bathroom seemed old but at least clean. There’s also a restaurant instead but I didn’t go in to check out the menu.
Each gate has a sign with the locations the bus is headed. We joined the security line about 15 minutes before the departure. I was told I needed a luggage tag for my little suitcase which would have been good to know beforehand. There was no lineup at the ticket window so it was quick. The security guard checked bags and then we joined another line to show our ticket. The whole process was quick and we were on the bus to leave on time.
The station was clean and I felt safe inside unlike other bus stations I’ve been to. Greyhound is fine for short trips but I would not be a fan for anything longer than a few hours especially if the person in front of you reclines their chair and you are left in a cramped space.

It is a bus that you get on with seat space smaller than an airplane’s, and that gets you to remote destinations for less money, but more time. If you make a reasonable income, you should probably never take Greyhound. The stations are stereotypical in that they are cast in a dank concrete, and filled with rather unsavory characters. Bus depots look like bus depots the world over, except for Vancouver, which strangely has a rather lovely one. Vancouver is also a 14 hour bus ride from Canada making it unlikely that I will ever see again.
Calgary’s station is one of the uglier ones in Canada, barring Ottawa and Toronto. However, it has recently been given access to the westbound c-​train line, something that our airport currently does not enjoy. This increases its overall convenience, which might make up some of the ground the building has lost aesthetically. The last time I took Greyhound, I saw a man sleeping with his head in a backpack.

Inconsistency, terrible customer service, I was yelled at because I wanted to bring my instrument as a carry on (like I did on my trip into the city) and they didn’t give me a reason why it couldn’t come, but obviously I had to be yelled at and escorted to get a bag claim ticket by security. One city says its fine and no problems yet in YYC they don’t allow it even when the bus was half empty! Unjustified, inconsistent, & rude staff, shame on you calgary greyhound.

Take care. One of the security personnel in the Calgary station tends to intimidate passengers rather than be polite to them.
I’ve had the displeasure of having a couple run-​ins with her. It was not fun.
Complaints to Greyhound have been largely ignored but I just want to put this out there.

I used to remember when Greyhound Canada had one to eight week getaways packages, you could book in advance and travel anywhere in North America for the time allotted. I took advantage of this deal travelling from the Yukon to Montréal and back a half a dozen times. It was great, I could take my time, it was cheap and I could visit friends along the way. They don’t seem to have these deals anymore; they have the standard students and seniors discounts and booking in advance with discount fares. But they do have a Pair City package with discounted rates between two cities.
I always felt comfortable on the GC, there was always a lot of room for me to bring 2 big suitcases; and with a fully loaded iPod and a couple of good travel novels I was set. Seats are spacious enough, they are comfy and you can move your chair back and stretch your body out. The only uncomfortable times for me is when traveling with an unruly passenger, but drivers are pretty intolerant of drinking or smoking on board and have been very quick to act when they see something suspicious.
Greyhound US has introduced WiFi on the bus, this would be an excellent incentive for me to travel on the bus again, but right now there are so many cheap options in flying, it just seems to be the more attractive option. Greyhound needs to spruce up its marketing game.

I haven’t had the misfortune of riding with these guys, but their schedule is of the worst in the free world. I was trying to help a friend out by checking some dates and times for him, when they informed me that most of their rural Alberta pick-​up joints can take over a day for trip completion.
That means you could leave a place like Wainwright, for example, and end up waiting in Lacombe for 17 hours for a connecting bus. This is truly insane. I know they’ll say their rural ridership doesn’t warrant a better system, but the ridership is so small because of this nonsense. I recall my brother saying it would take two days to get from Bonnyville to Calgary. That is not acceptable in this day and age. You could walk or hitchhike or ride a bike or roll a goddamn wheelchair faster than that…
Greyhound is far beyond slow, they are basically non-​existent in outlying rural areas in this province.