You get rude drivers and the buses look like crap - some of the newer D models already look bad, a few of the even more newer G models look bad - and who knows if they pay attention to the hours of service. Lotta weirdos ride the hounds.

Amtrak is 11 hours 17 minutes by the Coast Starlight schedule, or 8 hours 45 minutes via the San Joaquins.

Of course one must also consider comfort. 9 hours on a bus is an endurance contest. 11 hours on a train is easy.

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Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy

The bus is that mode of transportation which makes sense for relatively short trips (ie, around a city or "metropolitan area"), perhaps serving as a connection for other modes. Many Amtrak Thruway connections (often via Greyhound) really ought to be actual trains instead, of course, but the basic idea of a bus connection is valid. You wouldn't take a mainline train five miles across towm (this in no way precludes light-rail applications, of course), but then you certainly would want to avoid a bus expedition of several hundred miles.

The train is a different creature, transporting a usually larger number of passengers over a generally greater distance (though what we mean by greater varies tremendously from commuter to intercity rail). It is much more efficient than bus travel; one "train" can carry many more passengers than one "bus", and can do so more comfortably and safely while operating much faster than the bus - whethor or not this speed actually happens is another matter. Still, trains certainly can run faster than buses (though I'd love to see a 150-mph bus - as a spectator only!).

You've got to be joking! The train ride up north is much better on the train vs. Greyhound bus. Amtrak is a more comfortable, cleaner and relaxing ride than Greyhound. And I'd think you'd get to your destination quicker than on the bus.

What I would like to know is, what money (and how much of it) shall build a busway safe enough for such a dangerous vehicle to operate on? I would hate to see the amount of fuel that such a bizarre contraption would consume, also...

Stick to the steel-wheels-on-steel-rails concept. More passengers per vehicle, plus far safer than potentially skidding out and hitting the railing of your busway...

when I was on the Coast Starlight and I saw a greyhound bus going up highway 1 overtake the train i realized

And what did you realize? That the bus was speeding? That the train was not going as fast as it was capable of? That better track, signaling and rolling stock would have permitted the train to go faster than the bus? That the FRA is over-regulating the railroads? That's some of the stuff I happen to realize. And also, where can you view a Greyhound bus from the Coast Starlight, what mile marker...?

Intercity buses are, for me, an alternative of desperation.