Long-distance bus travel in the United States - Long-distance bus travel in the United States

	COVID-19 information: Service on many bus lines has been reduced or suspended. Please check with your bus line for updates. Check with the state that you're planning to visit for the latest restrictions.
	(Information last updated 16 Nov 2020)

Long-distance bus travel can be an interesting, inexpensive, and convenient way to see the United States, especially for travelers who do not drive their own car.

Understand

Buses cover more of the country than trains and have more frequent departures; and unlike air travel, there is no hassle of security. Although it is not the fastest way, competition between the various operators makes bus travel generally inexpensive. It is even possible to obtain a trip between two cities for as little as $1.

Most intercity bus services use the interstate highway system for the majority of their routes, thereby taking the fastest route they possibly can.

Most long-distance buses are comfortable. Seats are spacious and sometimes have a small flip-down table, like on an airplane. On-board toilets for passengers are also more common than not. Some bus companies show movies on board. Power outlets and Wi-Fi for passengers' use is increasingly the norm. You can also bring food and drink onboard.

Shorter runs, sometimes up to several hours long, may have no intermediate stops. But on longer routes there will be scheduled stops, either in cities where passengers are picked up and offloaded and you can get off the bus for a few moments or at a truck stop where you can get off to eat and drink in a cafe or restaurant. Longer scheduled stops are usually printed on your ticket.

Even for those who fly and drive regularly there are still advantages to include bus travel with your plans. For travel within 300 mi (480 km) or to destinations with limited or no commercial air service, bus travel or driving would usually be most economical way to get there. Anything over 300 mi between metropolitan areas or across the country and you will find the cost of air travel to rival or even undercut bus fares. The exceptions for using buses over longer distances is if you plan to travel point to point across the country with the need to hop on and off frequently. To get between places not well served by commercial airlines would be to combine bus with air travel. Take the bus to the nearest city with a major airport, fly to the next city and then take another bus to the final destination. For example, if one is traveling from Arcata, California, to Key West, Florida, the round trip airfare may be $850 whereas the airfare from San Francisco to Ft Lauderdale or Miami in South Florida may be just $240 round trip. Therefore, one would take the first bus from Arcata to San Francisco; fly from San Francisco to South Florida and transfer to another bus going to Key West. This saves money on the difference in airfare, the cost of airport parking in San Francisco and the extra airport surcharges for renting a car from Ft Lauderdale. In context of this example, if you are planning to stay in Key West you can get around locally without a car! But this may not be true in other places especially if you are going to a remote locale like somewhere in the Florida keys, off of the main highway, or to the Everglades from Miami. Using buses in combination with air travel is more necessary for traveling east and west across Canada as the Canadian domestic air market is dominated by the Air Canada and Westjet duopoly. Add to that the higher taxes on air travel and less subsidies and domestic air travel comes out more expensive in Canada than in the United States. For example, for a traveler to get from Vancouver to Toronto he/she can takes a bus from Vancouver to Seattle; fly across the US from Seattle to Buffalo and then transfer to another bus going to Toronto. Same thing with travel between the U.S. & Canada and from outside the North American continent to Canada. Travel by bus from Toronto to Buffalo and fly from Buffalo to Florida or continue further south by bus into New York City to catch an international flight out of North America. The downside is that it takes more time and is less convenient, but it can save several hundreds of dollars in the difference in airfare especially if two or more are traveling together and budget is tight. Most people will still drive to the airport, rent a car from the airport or use Canadian airports because it is quicker and more convenient to get to there.

Companies

Greyhound Lines

Greyhound Lines (First Group), ☏ 1 214 849-8100, toll-free: 1 800-231-2222. Greyhound is the largest bus company serving over 2,700 locations in 45 states in the U.S. and over the border into Canada and Mexico. They also operate subsidiary brands to compete in different markets such as: (updated Oct 2015)

Bolt Bus is a subsidiary brand to emulate the 'Chinatown' buses in the Pacific Northwest and the Northeastern part of the country. They pick-up & drop off at separate curbside stops instead of the Greyhound stations in the cities where they serve and are listed separately in the relevant city articles.
Autobus Americanos co-brand with the Mexican bus company, Grupo Estrella Blanca^{[formerly dead link]} to operate cross-border bus services between the U.S. and Mexico from Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Utah to the US/Mexican border. In some cities they call at the Greyhound stations while in other places they have their own separate depots or stops. Greyhound also go further south from Laredo, Texas, to Nuevo Laredo and Monterrey in Mexico as Greyhound Mexico.
Cruceros USA operates cross border services between Los Angeles and Tijuana via Santa Ana, San Diego & San Ysidro.
Lucky Streak goes to the casinos of Atlantic City from Baltimore, New York City (including Brooklyn), Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. and to Mohegan Suns & Foxwood Casinos in Connecticut from Boston, Bridgeport, New Haven, New York City, Providence, and Stamford.
Greyhound Canada Their counterpart for bus travel between Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Sudbury, Windsor and other cities and towns in between in Ontario and Quebec, Canada.
Quick Link Shorter daily & frequent commuter routes between Mt Laurel, New Jersey & New York; and Baton Rouge & New Orleans. Plans are underway to include routes from Wilmington, Delaware, and other places
Valley Transit Co Valley Transit is a full-service bus company serving South Central and Southeastern Texas and to Reynosa, Tamaulipas in Northern Mexico from McAllen TX.

Coach USA

Coach USA. A subsidiary of the Scottish Stagecoach Group operating commuter routes, university express, airport shuttles, casino shuttles and intercity services under different brands such as: (updated Oct 2015)

Megabus operates mainly in the midwest and the eastern half of the country to rival Greyhound and the Chinatown buses. They operate between the hub cities of Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, New Orleans, Orlando, Milwaukee, New York and Washington DC with other surrounding cities in the region. They also have a separate set of routes between Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Riverside in the west coast.
Community Coach scheduled commuter service from Morris and Essex Counties in New Jersey to New York City.
Dillons offers bus charter and commuter services between Baltimore, Washington DC, Annapolis, and Bethesda in Maryland.
Kerrville university express service between Texas A&M in College Station, Dallas, Grand Prairie, Houston, Katy & Texas State University in San Marcos in Texas
Olympia Trails operates commuter services across the Hudson between Manhattan and northern New Jersey. They also operate local services in/around Hudson County, New Jersey (Jersey City) under the Red & Tan Brand (may of been discontinued); in/around Essex County, New Jersey as the Orange Newark Elizabeth Bus (ONE Bus); between mid-town Manhattan and Plainfield, New Jersey as the Westfield Commuter; and the Newark Airport Express between Manhattan and the Newark Airport. They also operate select Megabus routes out of New York to Boston, Washington, Baltimore, Albany, Ridgewood New Jersey and Toronto.
Rockland Coaches operates commuter bus service between New York City and points in Bergen County, NJ and Rockland County, NY. They also provide local bus service within both locales.
Shortline scheduled services from New York City to Woodbury Common, Upstate NY points, Colleges, Orange, Rockland, Sullivan, Bergen and Pike Counties in New York state
Suburban Trails offers commuter, casino, and charter services in Mercer, Middlesex, and Somerset Counties, New Jersey.
Van Galder Madison, Janesville, South Beloit and Rockford in Wisconsin to Chicago O'Hare along the I-39/90 corridor.
Wisconsin Coach Lines operates 15 times daily to O'Hare Airport (ORD^IATA), and Mitchell Airport (MKE^IATA) from Waukesha, Milwaukee, Racine, and Kenosha.
Coach Canada Their Canadian affiliate for travel in Canada which also includes the Megabus brand operating in Canada.

A number of the Coach USA brands have been independent companies that were bought out by or had merged with Coach USA but kept the same name they have before the merger. The Megabus brand is a brand already operating in the UK by Stagecoach Group that was imported to compete in the American & Canadian markets.

Trailways

Trailways. A franchise group of 70 independent franchisees with bases across the country. Most only offer chartered services (for hire) while others offer casino trips and/or bus tours for sightseeing or to scheduled events. The below are the few Trailways franchisees that sell individual tickets for scheduled transportation from 'A' to 'Z': (updated Jun 2016)

Arrow Trailways of Texas (Southwestern Stagelines), ☏ 1 254 634-3843. From Killeen to Temple, Waco, Round Rock, Austin and Houston in Texas. (updated Jun 2016)
Burlington Trailways, toll-free: 1 800 992-4618. Connects several cities in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska on multiple routes. (updated Jun 2016)
Fullington Trailways. Daily scheduled departures from Central Pennsylvania to end points in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Buffalo, New York; Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania; and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (updated Jul 2016)
Martz Group, ☏ 1 570 821-3838. Commuter & intercity routes between New York City, Hackettstown, Panther Valley Mall, Atlantic City, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Stroudsburg, Poconos & Philadelphia (NJ, NY& PA). They also have affiliate brands operating scheduled services from Washington DC to surrounding areas in Maryland & Virginia as Martz Gold Line & Martz Group Virginia. (updated Jun 2016)
Trailways of New York (Adirondack & Pine Hill Trailways), ☏ 1 716 855-7533, toll-free: 1-800-858-8555. Trailways of New York includes Adirondack Trailways, Pine Hill Trailways, and New York Trailways in New York state and to Toronto & Montreal in Canada on multiple routes. They also co-brand the NeOn brand with Greyhound Lines and Greyhound Canada for travel between New York City and Canada. (updated Jun 2016)
Northwestern Trailways, toll-free: 1-800-366-3830. Travels across Washington state & northern Idaho from their base in Spokane WA to Seattle, Boise (via Lewiston) and Coeur d'Alene in several directions on multiple routes. Another route travels between Ellensburg, WA and Omak, WA; along US Hwy 97, on contract with the state DOT as the Apple Line.
^{[dead link]}Orange Belt Stages (Trailways), ☏ 1 559 733-4408, toll-free: 1 800-266-7433. Regular scheduled service between Lemoore, CA and Santa Maria, CA through Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo. They also offer day trips^{[dead link]} to different places for sightseeing and to scheduled events throughout California. (updated May 2016)
Silver State Mainline Trailways, ☏ 1 702 726-4100, toll-free: 1 888 213-8330. Connects Doyle, CA to Las Vegas, NV through Reno, Carson City, Hawthorne, Tonopah, Beatty and Pahrump (updated Jan 2018)

Other major companies

Jefferson Lines, toll-free: 1 800 451-5333. Second largest bus company, serving Arkansas, Iowa, northern Idaho, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, northern Texas, Wisconsin; Spokane, Washington (from Billings); Wisconsin, Wyoming; and Winnipeg, Manitoba (from Fargo), where Greyhound services are limited or unavailable. (updated Jun 2016)
Academy Bus, ☏ 1 201 420-7000, toll-free: 1 800 442-7272. Operates commuter services from New York to Burlington, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth and Ocean Counties in New Jersey; Casino Express from New York to Atlantic City. They also operate the: (updated Aug 2016)

Go Bus, toll-free: 1 855 888-7160. Regularly scheduled bus services by Academy Bus Lines for travel from Manhattan to Cambridge (in the Boston area), Providence, Hartford, Newton, New Haven and Brown University on multiple routes; south to Manassas and Fairfax/Vienna, VA from New York; and to Washington DC on a another route from New York. They also offer regularly scheduled services from Ft Lauderdale Airport and from Miami & Miami Beach to Key West. The Go brand also include door to door shuttles (operated by franchisees) to/from the airports in many cities across the country. (updated Sep 2017)

Ally Charter Bus, toll-free: 1 866-625-7682, ✉[email protected]. 24/7. Offers point-to-point group transportation from Virginia to Maine. (updated Nov 2018)
Concord Coach Lines, ☏ 1 603 228-3300, toll-free: 1-800-639-3317. Goes up from Boston to several cities & towns in Maine and New Hampshire on multiple routes and an express route from New York to Portland, ME in New England.
Express Arrow (Black Hills Stage Lines), ☏ 1 402 371-3850, toll-free: 1-877-779-2999. Travels between several cities & towns in Colorado, Montana, Nebraska & Wyoming on multiple routes. (updated Jul 2015)
Flixbus, ☏ 1 855 626-8585. They dominate the German market and have grown rapidly in the U.S. and Europe through subcontracting all operations to other bus companies. Flixbus only owns one bus which has the downside for customers that the buses are not of a consistent style or quality. They started U.S. operations in California and Arizona and have since expanded to different regions of the country with plans to expand further. (updated Mar 2019)
Indian Trails and Michigan Flyer, toll-free: 1 800 292-3831. Connects Michigan to Chicago, Gary and Milwaukee and intrastate bus services within Michigan and Wisconsin. The Michigan Flyer Line connects Detroit Metropolitan Airport to East Lansing and Ann Harbor 12-13 times daily. (updated Oct 2017)
Miller Transportation (Hoosier Ride), (office) 111 Outer Loop, Louisville, KY 40214, ☏ 1 502 368-5644. Miller Transportation operates scheduled bus services throughout Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee as Hoosier Ride. (updated Jan 2018)
New Jersey Transit, ☏ 1 973 275-5555. Operates commuter and long distances buses to places in New Jersey from New York and Philadelphia, such as the #319 from New York to Atlantic City; and #313/315 from Philadelphia to Cape May. They also operate intrastate routes from Newark, Jersey City, Hoboken, and Elizabeth to various townships and locally within a township in New Jersey. Some of their local and commuter routes are operated by subsidiaries of Coach USA. (updated May 2018)
Omnibus la Cubana, ☏ 1 212 740-6870, toll-free: 1-800-365-8001. Comes up from Miami to New York through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Washington, DC; Elkton, MD; Philadelphia and New Jersey. (updated Jun 2016)
OurBus, ☏ 1 844-800-6828. Goes mainly on routes in the Northeast (Boston, Richmond, Washington, Buffalo, Niagara Falls), plus routes in Indiana, Chicago, and Florida. (updated Nov 2019)
Peter Pan & Bonanza, toll-free: 1-800-349-9999. Operates buses between multiple cities & towns in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, Philadelphia, PA; New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Washington DC, in the northeastern part of the country. (updated Jun 2016)
Salt Lake Express, ☏ 1 208 656-8824. Travels mainly along I-15 Corridor between Las Vegas, St George, Salt Lake City, Pocatello, Butte and Great Falls, MT in the Northern Rockies. They also have additional east-west routes across Idaho between Boise, Pocatello and West Yellowstone, MT. From St George, UT there is another route towards Page, AZ through Zion NP and Marble Canyon. (updated Jul 2015)
Shofur offers bus charter and rental services for group travel in over 250 cities within the United States.
Southeastern Stages, ☏ 1 404 591-2750, toll-free: 1-877-837-9709, fax: 1 404 591-2745. Southeastern Stages operates daily scheduled service between cities in the Southeast including: Atlanta, GA; Asheville, NC; Charleston, SC; Columbia, SC; Myrtle Beach, SC; Savannah, GA; Fayetteville, NC and other cities and towns surrounding and between those cities in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. They also have interline agreements with Greyhound & other bus companies to offer service to additional places in the Southeast. (updated Jul 2015)
Vamoose, ☏ 1 212 695-6766, 1 301 718-0036. Connects Midtown Manhattan in New York to Bethesda, MD; Arlington, VA & Lorton, VA. (updated Jun 2016)
Falcon Charter Bus, toll-free: 1 866-217-2168, ✉[email protected]. 24/7. Provides connecting services in over 20 cities in the Southeast. (updated Nov 2018)

The above list is not complete as there are numerous publicly operated buses as public transportation in urban and rural areas and privately owned & operated (for profit) companies traveling across longer distances. Some cross state lines (or international lines to Canada or Mexico) while others operate within a single state. See By bus under Get in, in a city or town article and under Get around and/or Get in, in a state article for a list of additional bus companies traveling to or through that location. A number of the Trailways and other bus lines have interline agreements with Greyhound Lines & each other to allow travelers to buy another bus company's ticket on Greyhound.com or their respective websites for contiguous travel. Under such agreements they usually use shared bus station facilities but not always the case either.

Chinatown buses

Chinatown Buses. A group of small independent discount bus companies operated by Chinese American entrepreneurs since 1998 to provide cheap transportation for the Chinese communities in Boston & New York. They have since expanded to provide bus services from New York to Atlantic City, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond and a number of other cities on the East Coast to as far south as Orlando and to as far west as Cleveland by various small, loosely 'affiliated', independent companies transporting other travelers in addition to the Chinese populace. There are additional companies marketing as a "Chinatown bus" in the West Coast and in Canada. Because they're cheap, a number of them have questionable standards of safety and do not provide great service. Some had even gone out of business or have been being shut down by regulators as a result while others crop up to take their places. See GoToBus.com and ILikeBus.com to look them up and buy tickets. (updated Jun 2016)

Mexican buses

Some Mexican bus companies offer cross-border transportation between U.S. and Mexico as far north as Chicago and far south as Mexico City from the U.S./Mexico border areas. Some of the cross-border buses are subsidiaries of a larger Mexican bus company while others are smaller American- or Mexican-owned companies serving the regions near the border on one or both sides.

Connections from Texas hubs to the Midwest including Chicago, the Southeast and Mexico are offered by Tornado Bus, El Expreso, Omnibus Mexicanos and Turimex Internacional. Service in and out of Florida is offered by the Chilean JetSet, Argentinian RedCoach, and Cuban-American La Cubana. In California and the Southwest operators include FuturaNet, Tufesa, InterCalifornias and El Paso-Los Angeles Limousines, which may have tickets starting from $1.

El Expreso, (company office) 812 Delano St, Houston, TX, toll-free: 1 800 601-6559. They operate buses to Illinois, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas, Tennessee, North and South Carolina and Alabama and within Texas from Houston. At the US/Mexican border they serve Laredo/Nuevo Laredo; Matamoros/Brownsville; Reynosa/McAllen and more along the Rio Grande (where Texas borders Mexico). El Expreso partners with Grupo Estrella Blanca, ADO and other Mexican bus companies for onward services south of the border. They also operate the Tornado Bus brand to compliment El Expreso. (updated Jun 2016)
El Paso Los Angeles Limousine Express, ☏ 1 213 623-2323, 1 915 532-4061. Travels across the southwest, along I-10 from El Paso to Los Angeles via Phoenix; I-10/I-25 to Denver via Las Cruces and Albuquerque; and from El Paso towards Torreon via Cd Juarez, Chihuahua (City) and Delicias along Mex Fed Hwy 45 as Los Limousines. They also have additional routes to Las Vegas from Los Angeles & Phoenix. (updated Apr 2016)
Omnibus Express, toll-free: 01 800 765-66-36 (MX), 1-800-923-1799 (US). A subsidiary of the Mexican bus company, Omnibus Mexicanos, provides transportation from Texas towards Florida, Kentucky, Georgia, Louisiana in the U.S. and to Aguascaliente, Colima, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Durango, DF, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michocoan, Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas states in Mexico. They also offer intrastate travel within Texas. (updated Jun 2016)
Tufesa, ☏ 1 213 489-8079. Connects Los Angeles to Sacramento (via Bakersfield, Fresno, etc.); to Salt Lake City (via Barstow, Las Vegas, St George, etc); to Hermosillo (via Phoenix, Tucson, Nogales); San Francisco Bay Area; to Salt Lake City via (Las Vegas, St George, etc.) and to Tijuana (via Santa Ana, San Diego/San Ysidro). From Hermosillo it travels north towards the US state of Arizona and south towards Mazatlan along the Hwy 15 corridor in Sinaloa & Sonora states. Prices vary depending on your destination.
Turimex Internacional, toll-free: 1-800-733-7330 (US), 01 800 890-90-90 (Mexico). A subsidiary of the Mexican bus company Grupo Senda provides transportation from Texas to Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia in the U.S. and to Aguascaliente, Colima, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Durango, Guerrero, Jalisco, Michocoan, Nuevo Leon, Queretaro, San Luis Potosi, Sinaloa, Tamaulipas and Zacatecas states in Mexico. (updated Oct 2015)

Tickets

Tickets can often be purchased online with many of the bus companies, some offering discounts for buying online while others require the tickets can only be bought online. Others with established stations and stops at hotels and convenience stores may sell the tickets at the station or through the store or hotel front desk on a contract basis. The companies with only a curbside stop may require tickets be purchased online, printed and presented to the driver prior to boarding as the drivers cannot accept payment or carry any cash. See their websites as to what the policy may be.

Station amenities

Inside a Greyhound Lines station in Nashville, Tennessee

Layovers are a part of longer bus journeys. Some last only 10 minutes, but they can be several hours long. If you have the energy, longer layovers can be used to explore the city. As bus travel is seen by most Americans as a form of cheap transport for those too poor to afford a car or plane tickets, do not expect much in the way of amenities in bus stations.

In many cities, many of the train stations are being converted to include bus stations for local city buses and intercity bus lines (Greyhound, Megabus, etc.) in a shared facility. Even in cities or towns not served by Amtrak trains they had also combined local public transportation and intercity buses in a shared transfer station. If arriving into a city by plane there are also long distance buses and van shuttles at the airport arrivals zone for direct travel to another city or town over 60 mi (97 km) from the airport terminal, thus saving a trip into town to reach the bus station. In other places each company maintains their own separate stations or they subcontract a convenience store/gas station; truck stop, travel agency, restaurant or hotel to the sell the tickets and serve as a de-facto bus station. In other locations or with some companies they only have a curbside bus stop with a sign at a street corner or in a parking lot while the surrounding businesses have nothing to do with the bus company. Therefore, you must prepay and preprint the ticket online before going to the bus stop as the drivers cannot accept cash or any form of payment. The bus stations or stops can be in sketchy neighborhoods and therefore you should plan to arrive before dark when possible and plan to use a taxi, ride share service (Uber, Lyft, etc.); or arrange for someone to pick you up prior to arrival. Even in a shared station with local public transportation, the station can be unmanned and all outdoors in a sketchy neighborhood.

If you plan to use the local public transportation, find out where the marked bus stop is, which routes you need, how frequent that bus goes by and which side of the street you need to wait at. In many cities the Greyhound station/stop is in or next to the transit center for multiple routes of the local city or county buses. In some places the local buses may quit running M-Sa after 6:30PM or 7PM evenings and no service all day Sundays and holidays while in bigger cities they tend to operate longer hours every day. Use the maps provided by Google or Wikivoyage to determine the nearest bus stop location and the trip planner program on the transit agency's website to see which buses or trains to take to get there. Know the fare required in advance of arrival. Local bus fares are typically paid with exact change to the cash box as the driver does not make change for the difference in overpayments. In rural locales and small towns there may not be marked bus stops either but rather flag down the bus or the stop must be prearranged in advance (usually 24 hours prior). In most other rural and remote locales there may not be any local public transportation available either.

The available amenities inside the stations varies with some offering a restaurant and gift shop while others may have nothing more than vending machines for snacks and drinks. There could be individual TVs on the armrest of each seat (leftover from a bygone era) or one big TV set mounted on the wall for everybody in the room to watch. There can even be a time limit on how long one can be in there before being asked to produce a ticket or leave in order to keep the homeless from taking shelter inside. Some stations like the Greyhound station in Chicago have lockers but most don't. Unattended bags are more likely to be confiscated by security than to be stolen. Try to separate your valuables into a smaller bag you can always keep with you and not tempt fate. In other places there are also car rental offices or desks (Avis, Hertz, Enterprise) inside or somewhere next to or nearby the bus station. In places where the bus station is in a shared station with local public transportation, the facilities are usually very basic with only a series of bus stops lined up, one next to another, on several islands in an open lot. Please note that Greyhound has closed their bus stations in many cities and moved into shared facilities with local public transportation or contracted with a gas station/convenience store or truck stop operator to serve as a de-facto bus station. Check the Wikivoyage article of a particular city or Greyhound.com for updated locations.

Occasionally drivers may point out a convenience store or fast food restaurant nearby the bus station but most don't except them to announce the arrival to the stop and the re-boarding instructions for onward travel. If you look up where your stops are before the journey, you might be able to find better and cheaper food, drink, and entertainment; accommodations or local city bus routes going by the bus station or stop. If you don't, still keep your eyes peeled for gas stations, restaurants, accommodations and city bus stop signs or shelters near the bus station.

If you choose to spend your layover time sampling nearby bars do not get drunk as you will not be allowed on the bus. Even the smell of alcohol in your breath may be enough for a driver to disallow you back on the bus.

Rules

Generally, the few rules imposed on bus travelers are very basic and largely common sense. Smoking and alcohol consumption are always forbidden. Some buses have signs banning eating and drinking, but this is rarely enforced; if you do eat or drink try to clean up after yourself. Try to keep noise to a minimum - no-one wants to hear other people's conversations, no matter how fascinating you think they are. Unlike air travel, security checks are rare, but there are occasional inspections for 'banned' items, though items that are obvious hazards such as firearms may not be brought on board. Each company has its own guidelines regarding live animals.