All this talk about Greyhound is surprising. Although I’ve never gone from NY to AC, and it’s been several years since I’ve ridden any Greyhound bus, I have ridden them in the past and never had any of the problems you guys are complaining about. If it’s really as bad as you’re saying they must have really gone down hill in recent years.

I used to ride Greyhound from Baltimore to AC when I was in college, before I had a car. I believe the cost back then was about $30-35 round-trip, with a 3-day open return window. I would receive $12-25 cashback or free slot play, depending on the casino, when I arrived in AC.

All of the nightmare scenarios that are described here are accurate. Buses departing Baltimore would often be late, or mostly full from DC folks. If you weren't at the front of the line (they enforced the lines in Baltimore), you had to wait for the next one.

If you hopped on a bus at a casino (I would walk to Bally's, as most buses returning to Baltimore started there), you most likely had an empty bus. Once the bus made its rounds through casinos and went to the official AC Greyhound station, the bus might be mostly filled, and a lot of people would have to wait.

I am glad I never have to do that again. I'm not surprised they are going to assigned booking, but having the open return window was nice.

How much did you ride the buses when you rode them? I'd probably chalk up to your comments to small sample size. I've probably taken Greyhound 100-200x's to AC and back. Also, as you said yourself, you haven't taken them for years.

So, the last time I took the bus, which was 2018 here's what happened to me.

I get to Bally's to grab a ~6am-ish bus, it doesn't show, at all. I believe it was around 8:30 until the next bus came. I'm one of the first people, and get on the bus. One of the people in line behind me is in a wheelchair and they tried to board him onto the bus by opening up the side of the bus, which has a lift. The bus driver can't get it to work and everything stops. We've all been sitting on the bus for about 30 mins and no one is getting on and the side of the bus is wide open.

I poke my head out to see what the driver is doing and he's on the phone. We're all like "What the ****?". I get off and ask what he's doing and when we're leaving and he just replies "I can't get ahold on headquarters to get permission to leave the handicapped passenger behind. I'm not losing my job over this". We sit there another 30 or so, finally he lets the bus fill up and we leave. I'm about 3-3 1/2hrs behind, at this point. Suddenly, the bus breaks down maybe 10 minutes outside of the city. We wait about another 30 minutes and another bus comes and gets us from the side of the highway and takes us to some bus depot.

We wait in the depot for a bit and get on another bus and it absolutely wreaks of piss. They're trying to leave and everyone is loudly complaining, it was a revolt, basically. They send soemone to clean it after a while, which basically made it smell like soapy piss, and off we went. A good 5hrs late. Guy on the bus behind me spent the first half of the ride back on customer support lol, and basically ended with cursing them out and hanging up. I came *this* close to taking an UBER back to the city. If someone would've split it with me, I would have.

This is after countless trips of just being 1-3hrs late pretty consistently. That was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Needless to say, I won't be taking Greyhound again anytime soon.

The most annoying part about Greyhound is having to go to Port Authority an hour early to get in line, and that doesn’t guarantee that you will get on the next bus. Nowadays I take this crappy bus from Chinatown. Its ****ty but always on time with no wait.

Oops it is the Vagabond on westend ave for the burger and sweet potato fries sorry rap...

No worries! Thanks for the follow-up.

i also use the bus on bowery/division when i dont drive down.. its half the price and the most importnat part.. it leaves on time 95% of the time , i also live two blocks from there, so me going uptown to port authority to come back down loses me another hour.

You can spend an extra $10 or so forget the exact amount and skip the entire line

Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

Does anybody have any tips on what game to play to get to seven-stars tier without losing (much) and in a short amount of time???

Unless they stopped allowing this, I was told that going to a roulette machine and betting $100 on black and red each hand will get you there with the occasional loss of $200 when you hit 0 or 00.

What's the deal with the Chinatown buses? From browsing online most of them seem to be on a pretty rigid schedule that doesn't leave much time in AC. Is there a way to get open-ended tickets?

I can’t speak for all of them but the one I take has a return time on ticket but it is flexible. As long as you return within 3 days it’s free. Otherwise they charge $14 for a return tix.

1. you gotta be prepared for its different rules compared to greyhound and others.. chinese go in front ,, others in back..

2. your ticket is good for around 3 days , with the original having priority over getting on another bus(this is rarely a problem (memorial day weekend, july 4th weekend) , but you can hack that problem by buying a pink ticket (one way return) for 14 dollars..

3. no wifi, and buses are dirty , but they are the fastest and best value.

Seriously? No way that can be enforced.

I think there regular fries are some of the best fries I have had. Big steak cut fries, love them.

ever seen "Big Trouble in Little China?"

A few years ago one
Of the bus drivers coming back from the casino
To Chinatown in NYC,
Fell asleep at the wheel, when he woke up,
He swerved to avoid hitting an 18-wheeler,
The bus turned on its side and was sliced
Open by a pole, decapitating the passengers
In the front and middle of the bus. The only
Ones to survive the accident were the Mexicans
WHo were placed at the back of
the bus, so that the Chinese
Did not have to inhale the
Dreadful smell from the toilets,
Which were never cleaned.
The story made the front page of The
New York Times for
Several days. Since the decapitated Chinese
Passengers and their families
had no ability to
Establish a bona fide reason
Not to be deported, the NYC Mayor
had to announce none would be
Placed in deportation proceedings,
So that the bodies could be
Identified. That evening, all the
Mexicans were back on a bus
To the casino to recoup their losses.
The lone Chinese survivor,
Claimed his knowledge of martial
Arts allowed him to avoid the
Metal moving around his body.
Count your blessings being sat
At the back of the bus, you'll
Avoid decapitation under
similar circumstances.
See, The New York Times:
Chinese Community Devastated After Bus Crash /
For many in Chinatown, if they did not know someone on this weekend’s deadly crash, they feared that they did. //
also see, The New York Times:
Undaunted, New Batch of Gamblers Takes a Trip /
Despite a deadly crash early Saturday, a dedicated cohort of regular gamblers, graying and mostly Chinese, board buses to...//

You have no idea how tilted you just made me.

Do you know Hong from Dan's? He takes them all the time and says you also have to tip the driver on the return trip, and that there's no line in actuality. You basically have a free for all with people pushing by you to get on the bus.

And for the dude who said they can't enforce it, they don't have to. The riders on the bus will probably be somewhat hostile if you sit in the "asian section" and disrupt their way of doing things. Nothing like some socially enforced segregation!

Side note to any regulars ITT - I'm heading down tomorrow morning and have a double room for just Friday at the Borgata, then heading back to the city for a going away party, if anyone wants a free room Friday night. Also very likely using my buffet for 2 ticket if anyone wants to join (Myrna gets first dibs on the buffet).

lol, me too

Here's the article for anyone interested:

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/14/n...n/14crash.html

FWIW, it was returning from Mohegan and not AC.

Dipce, we really gotta teach you how to use a phone 🤣🤣🤣

yes.. hong is right,, i know him btw... its 2 dollar tip on the way back, but you have to understand that at 19 or 27 round trip , plus getting back 25+25 , the 2 bucks should not be a problem. the no line part is also correct, even though they are getting better at it now,, its back from china, where if you missed the train, you missed the train, so all the older chinese think the bus will leave them even though there are 51 seats and 22 passengers, i grew up in chinatown basically, so im kinda used to it. going to play the nugget tourney at 115pm with my gf , and then probably the 7pm survivor at borgata.. ill be around to say hi..

Etiquette wise that bus is the nut low, and it’s not even just vs non-asians. If you try to sit next to someone, they will give you 100 excuses on why you can’t sit there. I’ve witnessed quite a few shouting matches on this bus because of seats.

Also the bus is ****. Once it was pouring outside and the ceiling air vent wouldn’t close, so we had a mini waterfall from the ceiling for most of the trip.

I still ride it though cause its convenient and always on time.

I've never taken the Chinatown bus, but everything I've read about them reinforces my desire to keep it that way. If it was my only option, I'd stay home.

(I'm pretty bad about taking the bus anyway, since it would more than double my travel time vs. driving from home. But that plus an experience that's terrible in every way? No thanks.)

like fast says, its really a ****ty bus, but the fact that its on time 99% of the time, and you are in AC in 2 hours flat , barring traffic , and for me personally, I live three blocks from bowery/division its an easy choice to take it for me.. my gf also hates taking that bus, so its one of the reasons we keep a car in the city.