6 ms·

I remember reading that Greyhound had a pretty sizable dropoff in ridership after a passenger was decapitated and cannibalized on one of their buses. Googling f

I remember reading that Greyhound had a pretty sizable dropoff in ridership after a passenger was decapitated and cannibalized on one of their buses. Googling finds this: https://globalnews.ca/news/4331224/greyhound-bus-beheading-ridership/ https://globalnews.ca/news/4331224/greyhound-bus-beheading-r...

Waterluvian 8y ago
I think the reason is just that modern times has people needing to travel less. And there's a critical point where it's no longer profitable to run a bus at all.
- mcguire 8y ago
  I don't think anyone travels less today.
- tallanvor 8y ago
  People are traveling more, not less. But bus service has to compete against cars, planes, and possibly trains. In these rural parts of Canada, it's not that the average person is traveling less, it's more that there are fewer people there and more of those who remain have their own transportation.
Spooky23 8y ago
Not sure about Canada, but in the US the Chinatown busses have impacted the formerly very profitable routes to many destinations. A legit company has to expend money on maintenance, etc, while the quasi-legal busses are fairly unsafe and fuel all sorts of illegal and quasi-legal activity.
- woodruffw 8y ago
  Anecdotally (15 years of riding buses up and down the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic), I've never noticed a big difference in driver quality or safe driving practices between Chinatown buses and the big names. Then again, I have no idea how well they maintain their buses.
  - Spooky23 8y ago
    I’m close to folks who interact with trucks and buses on a regulatory level. Many were death traps (50-75% defective brakes, unlicensed drivers, broken suspension) until major operators were shut down from 2013-2014. Now you need to be cautious of the unbranded buses as they get passed between shell companies to avoid trouble.
    - woodruffw 8y ago
      Yikes, I had no idea.
  - notatoad 8y ago
    The number of times i've seen broken down greyhound buses, i can't imagine the "chinatown buses" could be too much worse.
    - jacobush 8y ago
      Broken down as in standing still? 'Cause that could be quite the difference - Greyhound bus on the side of the road, because the brakes are shot. No-name bus merrily running down the road, the brakes are shot.
booleandilemma 8y ago
Vince Li, who now goes by the name Will Baker, beheaded and cannibalized a fellow passenger, 22-year-old Tim McLean, on a Greyhound bus that was bound for Winnipeg on July 30, 2008. Li was charged with second-degree murder, but was found not criminally responsible for his actions. Li is a schizophrenic, but had not been taking his medication. He has since received a full discharge from the mental hospital in Selkirk, Man., where he was being held Hmm
- GhostVII 8y ago
  Smart decision to change his name, surprised more criminals don't do that once they are released.
  - phonon 8y ago
    A cannibal changed his name to "Will Bake Her'???
- jjhawk 8y ago
  Looks like a misleading statement in the article. He was undiagnosed before, so there is no reasonable expectation he would be taking any medication at the time. See https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/how-the-mental-health-system-failed-vince-li/article20441432/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/how-the-mental...
steve_adams_86 8y ago
This was actually the exact reason for me to stop riding, at my parent's insistence. I wasn't worried for my safety, but they were horrified.
Shivetya 8y ago
tl;dr greyhound causes their own problems with poor service and little to no respect for customers. pure anecdotal but I tried greyhound awhile back. I wanted to go pick up a motorcycle in another state and figured, why not go by bus. first rule I found out is, never go through a hub and never on a route you have to switch buses. in one of their largest hubs they overbooked and they did this regularly. which meant we had to wait for another bus to arrive. well not knowing the game I missed that one and had to wait for the third and then fourth. except the fourth was not but half full so they would not send it till the next scheduled morning run. seriously, they trapped half of us at the station because they unloaded us which means fight your way to the front. talking to some long term bus riders and it was evident this is how the company operates. after loss of their only real competition they had no reason to change because more of their customers are too poor to have alternatives or complain. I ended up doing a one way rental which oddly was less in cost than a bus drive and this included paying my gas and rental costs.
- lotsofpulp 8y ago
  I don't think even if Greyhound offered better service and buses that it would make them any more money. It's a market where the customers don't have money to spend in the first place, you would be trying to squeeze water from a stone. There's not much barrier to entry, so if there were profits to be made by offering better service, another company would have entered it. It might be doable between a few close urban cities like Megabus did, but buses in general aren't going to be a big opportunity for making money simply because too many of the the customers don't have money.

Waterluvian 8y ago

I think the reason is just that modern times has people needing to travel less. And there's a critical point where it's no longer profitable to run a bus at all.

mcguire 8y ago
I don't think anyone travels less today.
tallanvor 8y ago
People are traveling more, not less. But bus service has to compete against cars, planes, and possibly trains. In these rural parts of Canada, it's not that the average person is traveling less, it's more that there are fewer people there and more of those who remain have their own transportation.

Spooky23 8y ago

Not sure about Canada, but in the US the Chinatown busses have impacted the formerly very profitable routes to many destinations. A legit company has to expend money on maintenance, etc, while the quasi-legal busses are fairly unsafe and fuel all sorts of illegal and quasi-legal activity.

woodruffw 8y ago
Anecdotally (15 years of riding buses up and down the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic), I've never noticed a big difference in driver quality or safe driving practices between Chinatown buses and the big names. Then again, I have no idea how well they maintain their buses.
- Spooky23 8y ago
  I’m close to folks who interact with trucks and buses on a regulatory level. Many were death traps (50-75% defective brakes, unlicensed drivers, broken suspension) until major operators were shut down from 2013-2014. Now you need to be cautious of the unbranded buses as they get passed between shell companies to avoid trouble.
  - woodruffw 8y ago
    Yikes, I had no idea.
- notatoad 8y ago
  The number of times i've seen broken down greyhound buses, i can't imagine the "chinatown buses" could be too much worse.
  - jacobush 8y ago
    Broken down as in standing still? 'Cause that could be quite the difference - Greyhound bus on the side of the road, because the brakes are shot. No-name bus merrily running down the road, the brakes are shot.

booleandilemma 8y ago

Vince Li, who now goes by the name Will Baker, beheaded and cannibalized a fellow passenger, 22-year-old Tim McLean, on a Greyhound bus that was bound for Winnipeg on July 30, 2008. Li was charged with second-degree murder, but was found not criminally responsible for his actions. Li is a schizophrenic, but had not been taking his medication. He has since received a full discharge from the mental hospital in Selkirk, Man., where he was being held Hmm

GhostVII 8y ago
Smart decision to change his name, surprised more criminals don't do that once they are released.
- phonon 8y ago
  A cannibal changed his name to "Will Bake Her'???
jjhawk 8y ago
Looks like a misleading statement in the article. He was undiagnosed before, so there is no reasonable expectation he would be taking any medication at the time. See https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/how-the-mental-health-system-failed-vince-li/article20441432/ https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/how-the-mental...

steve_adams_86 8y ago

This was actually the exact reason for me to stop riding, at my parent's insistence. I wasn't worried for my safety, but they were horrified.

Shivetya 8y ago

tl;dr greyhound causes their own problems with poor service and little to no respect for customers. pure anecdotal but I tried greyhound awhile back. I wanted to go pick up a motorcycle in another state and figured, why not go by bus. first rule I found out is, never go through a hub and never on a route you have to switch buses. in one of their largest hubs they overbooked and they did this regularly. which meant we had to wait for another bus to arrive. well not knowing the game I missed that one and had to wait for the third and then fourth. except the fourth was not but half full so they would not send it till the next scheduled morning run. seriously, they trapped half of us at the station because they unloaded us which means fight your way to the front. talking to some long term bus riders and it was evident this is how the company operates. after loss of their only real competition they had no reason to change because more of their customers are too poor to have alternatives or complain. I ended up doing a one way rental which oddly was less in cost than a bus drive and this included paying my gas and rental costs.

lotsofpulp 8y ago
I don't think even if Greyhound offered better service and buses that it would make them any more money. It's a market where the customers don't have money to spend in the first place, you would be trying to squeeze water from a stone. There's not much barrier to entry, so if there were profits to be made by offering better service, another company would have entered it. It might be doable between a few close urban cities like Megabus did, but buses in general aren't going to be a big opportunity for making money simply because too many of the the customers don't have money.