Traveling With Your Eye Shut
Travel Tips for the Visually Impaired
Bus Travel
Travel Tips for the Visually Impaired
Part Three - Bus Travel
By Rochelle Caviness - June 10, 2002
Whether you are traveling on a local city bus, or if you are taking a long distance trip, be sure to inform the driver that you are visually impaired and that you will need to be notified when you reach your stop.
- Ask to sit near the driver so that you will be sure to hear when your stop is called out.
- If you are taking a long trip, be sure to remind the driver again, toward the end of your trip, that you will need to be notified of your stop, If you are going from New York to Los Angleles, and you told the driver in New York where you wanted off - don't be surprised if he forgets by the time you reach LA! This reminder can also be vital if there was a change of drivers that you were not aware of.
- On long trips, you may be faced with the prospect of changing buses. Unfortunately, you many encounter a lack of available assistance at these change over stations, in part because many of these locations are not staffed around the clock, and even when they are, there may be only one person on duty.
Tips specific to Greyhound Lines:
- Call 1-800-752-4841 at least 48 hours before taking a trip with Greyhound. This is their travel assistance number for people with disabilities. They will be able to tell you what services and assistance can be provided, and what cannot. If you are not able to give them advance notice of your needs, they will try to accommodate your needs to the best of their ability. They will not, however, delay a bus in order to do so.
- According to Kimberly Plaskett,
Senior Manager - External Communications with
Greyhound Lines, Inc., "...when the bus is at a scheduled stop, the
driver or other Greyhound representative will be pleased to
assist with any reasonable request." Their commitment to extend reasonable assistance extends to "boarding buses, luggage, transfers, and the stowage and
retrieval of assist devices."
- When changing buses, Greyhound normally requires passengers to move their own luggage from one bus to the next. However, they will provided assistance in helping you move your luggage - but you must ask for it.
- Service Animals are welcome, but Greyhound requires that they remain, at all times, under the control of their handler and that they share the same space as their handler. Service Animals are not provided with a seat of their own, and they need to be kept out of the isles and out of other passenger's space.
Tips specific to Trailways Transportation Systems:
- Trailways consists of over 60 affiliate motorcoach lines. Trailways affiliates can easily be identified by the inclusion of Trailways as part of their name, such as Peter Pan Trailways and Viking Trailways. Because Trailways is comprised of a number of companies, there may be differences between one Trailways' affiliate and another, both in regard to the types of services offered and in regard to the types of buses used. Be sure to call the actual company upon whose buses you will be traveling in order to determine their level of accessibility.
Additional Resources:
For more information about bus travel, see:
Other sections in this series:
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