Faremax: Travel Forums

I have only ever been on shorter bus trips.  What is it like to go a real long distance?  Are you constantly making stops to pick people up and so forth?

I travelled by bus for 6 hours. The bus always stopped for loading and unloading of passengers. But if you prefer to travel by non-stop bus, you'll arrive at your destination for maximum of 2 or 3 hours. 

There are different starndard of buses. One is called local and other express in my town. Local bus picks and drops passenger in alot of place where the express bus only picks from one place and drops to one specific place. I've travelled  alot of times in both kind of buses.

That's the same here too. There are generally more local services that pick up and drop off, or the long distance ones that have just one pick up and drop off point and run constantly in between. Hugely long distance might have fuel stops or rest stops, but otherwise it's done in the shortest time possible.

Thats what makes the damn trip so lon. I went to california from st.louis and it took three whole days to get there. But that was because we kept stopping and getting people, then we had to take lay overs. MAN! I hated it so much.

With many routes you can actually pay for a premium for a direct service. You do indeed pay for the privilege, but if you feel as strongly as you seem to, it would be worth it.

Actually this kind of express buses have more facility as they charge higher fares. Generally local buses do not have insurance for passenger in my country and express bus have that.

I dont think we have express bus facilities in the usa I havent heard of it anyway. I mean all the buses run the same here.

In the UK the main coach operator offers journeys that go from one end of the country to the other, and only stop a handful of times. There are express journies, but they only seem to run once a day. The stops aren't too bad - sometimes the drivers will let you get off for a moment while the other passengers are boarding, even if it isn't a scheduled rest stop.

Thats usually how it is but no bus will ever go on a trip and not make one stop. Because regardless they have to gas up so to go from one place to another when it comes to going across the country, without stopping will not happen. I like to have most of the control over how my travel works and riding the bus isn't the way to go.

The Express stops at a service station about halfway through the journey to change drivers and give people a chance to eat, but that is it I think. I don't really like using the coach, but it is so much cheaper than the train, and since I can't drive its the only choice left other than flying.

Randle there is a big difference with what me and Etali are used to, because you can go one side of our country to the other in a matter of hours, not days. The changing of drivers is to comply with rules in the UK that a driver cannot drive more than a certain number of hours in a row, or in a week (not more than 48 a week). Being such a small place makes a big difference to your travel.

How does it work in the USA britjojo?  Are the drivers there made to drive for a lot longer before changing over?  I always assumed that considering how hot and uncomfortable it can get on a coach in the UK, drivers in the USA would be given similar or better working conditions?

I went on a bus and travelled for 24 hours straight.  The bus stopped not only to pick up people, but stopped at stores so the passengers could go to the bathroom and purchase snacks etc.  It was rather monotonous, one can only read so much and although we are able to sleep, it isnt all that comfortable to sleep on a bus.  Shorter bus trips are much better.