News Oh Greyhound
posted by on August 6 at 11:58 AM
The beleaguered bus company is forced to pull its new ad campaign in the aftermath of last week’s gruesome murder.
Greyhound has scrapped an ad campaign that extolled the relaxing upside of bus travel after one of its passengers was accused of beheading and cannibalizing another traveler.The ad’s tag line was “There’s a reason you’ve never heard of ‘bus rage.’”
Greyhound spokeswoman Abby Wambaugh said Wednesday a billboard and some tunnel posters near a bus terminal in Toronto are still up and would be removed later in the day.
You know… I never thought I’d ever feel sorry for Greyhound. I used to ride the bus back and forth to college, from Chicago to Urbana, Illinois. It was back when people were allowed to smoke. On the freakin’ bus—but, you know, only in the last ten or so rows, so it’s not like the whole bus filled with smoke or anything. I used to think smoking on the bus—particularly in the winter in the midwest, when the windows were all shut tight—was the worst possible thing one bus passenger could do to another.
This could have easily happened on Amtrak.
And you'd know the immediate reaction: OMG THERE'S NO SECURITY SYSTEM ON THE TRAINS! Amtrak would probably go bankrupt, because they could not possibly have the money to implement a Homeland Security style security solution.
I'm hoping all ground-based private transportation companies are thinking about ways to do a smaller scale check to make sure that people don't, you know, come onto the bus or train with cleavers or anything.
This story made me scream with amazement.
New slogan stolen from Microsoft: "Where will be headed today?"
Now that I've actually quit smoking, I'm starting to hate smokers and agree with all of the left-ban-nanny bullshit.
Smoking would still be the worst thing you can do to someone on a bus. Hey, think about it. If you stab someone and rip off their head, you're giving everyone on that bus one hell of a story to tell everyone they know, for the rest of their life. That's a priceless gift.
Smoking? That gives nobody nuthin'.
And Dan, I'm pretty sure the guy who was stabbed and murdered was straight. Who cares?
"I'm hoping all ground-based private transportation companies are thinking about ways to do a smaller scale check to make sure that people don't, you know, come onto the bus or train with cleavers or anything."
I'm hoping they do nothing. One psycho, and every bus passenger has to get patted down? That's called hysteria. Buses are generally a pretty safe means of transportation, and let's face it, this guy could just as well have attacked someone in a movie theatre, or walking down the street. He's a random psycho, not a crime wave.
I used to take the Greyhound from Seattle to Fresno and back during college and I never felt unsafe on the bus.
“There’s a reason you’ve never heard of ‘bus rage.’”
Based on my recollections, it's probably because a third of the passengers were recent immigrants, a third of the passengers were high and the other third were so fucking tired from trying to sleep through every fucking Hardee's in the Midwest that they couldn't be arsed to do anything about it, even complain.
love the bus - get to the back seat and lay down - take the whole row/seat with a butt buddy
then in the darkness feed off the roar and vibrations - naps as well
freaks on the bus, yes, fear, no
@1, Amtrak is already bankrupt and has been for years.
To be honest, I have a real affection for Greyhound buses. All those trips into Vancouver when I was a teenager, cramming into that tiny, dank, swaying bathroom to put on makeup for the big city. Listening to the walkman, dreaming. I left home on a Greyhound. Bus travel always feels poignant.
I really don't want them to change.
"then in the darkness feed off the roar and vibrations" -- yeah, and that, too!
What we need to do is let them smoke some weed. Who's gonna wanna behead someone if they're stoned?
you know why this couldnt happen on amtrak? because amtrak doesnt have mostly convicts and mentally disturbed and thusly socially unacceptable and unemployable people riding it.
Not that facts ever get in the way of posts like this, but: it was actually an old, ended campaign, and had already been pulled in most markets. A few old billboards were still up around the country that hadn't yet been painted over.
Still, I laughed when a friend sent me this yesterday.
@13 - not to mention it's generally a much more pleasant odor than cigarette smoke.
I think it's stupid to get all bent out of shape over the stupid campaign. This was not "bus rage" this was paranoid schizophrenic rage. Not the same thing, really.
I used to get shipped off to Grandma's (teeny town in the middle of nowhere) via Greyhound a couple of times a year. Yeah, the smoke sucked, but just as bad was the purple cloud of chemical- and shit-smell that poured out of the restroom. My clothes and hair reeked until they were washed.
You actually wanted your suitcase to get checked and go in the under-bus bins rather than the overhead racks, to keep from stinking up all your clothes at once.
@15: Not that facts should get in the way of your snark, but I saw these ads in Toronto last week and the photo attached to the story is dated today. Also the story says that they were just about to use them again in a book for the Alberta Summer Games.
Take heart, Savage: smoking still kills more people than knives.
I LOVE greyhound buses. I have a huge affection for them and I heartily second everything said by juday @ 12 and Irena @5. we used to joke about how greyhound's motto should be "Greyhound? Bring it on!" with an illustration of various evil items in a backpack. I've taken slowly lumbering, sleepy smelly buses from oakland to oregon, from ubc to whistler, and everywhere in between and they represent freedom when i couldn't afford a car, adventure in towns to small for airports, and the THANK GOD I'm not searched, x-rayed, and groped on my way in. Even in a car these days I worry about overzealous cops every time I drive 5 miles over the speed limit. On a greyhound I can pack up my backpack with pipes, pot, pills, booze, camp stove, combustible chemicals for said camp stove, knife, hatchet, oil paint, and lord knows what else, hop on board, and take a sweet blissful relaxing journey reading a book or listening to music while someone else drives me to whatever beautiful place I'm going to end up. It sucks enough to have the prices so high from gas these days, please let me keep riding my beautiful greyhounds without getting bloody strip searched on my way into the bus.
And confidential to everyone who complains about immigrants and crazies on the buses: they are cheap transportation. Those of us with less money love those damn things. Either get over yourself or go hire a limmo so you can get to your destination without having to soil yourself by sitting near the lower class. Yeesh.
Maybe I have a warped sense of humor, but I thought this story was funny.
On a more serious note, I know the murder was horrifying, but how often does something like this happen on a bus? I've ridden both Greyhound-style and city buses so many times, and the worst I've ever had to endure is a long-winded seatmate who can't get the hint that I'm not interested in his medical problems. And I'm a young, small, not-at-all-intimidating female traveling alone 90% of the time.
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