Banff to Calgary on Greyhound

Banff Museum, where it all started, they even had a small zoo onetime.

Sitting in the Greyhound bus station in Banff, located inside the train station, there was a delightful attendant from Australia, Ben, who not only provided a nice accent, but also was very friendly and helpful.  I watched as he assisted other customers, always greeting them with a smile and an Aussie "Alo".

For such a small station there is more seating here than in some of the larger Greyhound stations.  The station is neat and mostly clean, it could use some brighter colors and better outdoor signage, as the only way to identify the station was to notice the Greyhound Package Express trailers.  Ben continues to provide great customer service for passengers and the customers for the Package Express.  Ben and Jesse's kindness, gentleness, and great attitudes provide for a pleasant atmosphere and great customer service.  Greyhound could use more employees such as these two, and especially more like Lydia in Salt Lake City.  Why is it that difficult to hire, train, and retain such employees in the United States?  It seems that most of the Greyhound employees in the United States hate their jobs, are not trained properly, and in general just are mean, rude, and unfriendly.  Greyhound, I would recommend letting these bad people go and finding good people, but make sure you compensate the ones that do great jobs to keep them.

Another 30 minutes before the bus arrives and the station begins to fill.  WOW!  Here is my friend Tom with his backpack pulling up to a seat next to me.  This morning he showed me some Yoga moves and then showed me some type of active partner Yoga.  I really enjoyed experience with him as he lifted me up into the air by his feet and then proceeded to put me into new positions, stretching and moving my body to open its energies.  Afterwards I felt a bit dizzy, but wanted more.  There was such a personal connection through this type of Yoga and I will be seeking to learn more.  Tom tells me that his friend from Houston had arrived and informed him that they had to catch a bus to Canmore, where the trail head was located for the start of their 10 backpacking, hiking, and camping adventure.

I enjoyed talking with Aly as she talked about her work in remediating chemical and oil spills for large companies.  Her boyfriend, no not Tom, will be meeting them there later tonight when he flies in from the states.

They departed and I noticed a man in a wheel chair waiting to board the bus.  I looked about and didn't notice one of the chair lifts on this bus, so I was curious about the situation.  A bit later after talking with the bus driver, the man put his wheelchair in motion and began to head back into the station.  I suppose since this bus didn't have a chair lift then the man couldn't ride the bus.  I do believe in order for Greyhound to better serve its customers that all of their buses should have a chair lift, not just some of them.

Now, a bit sad from leaving Tom, who gave me a big hug before leaving, I am accompanied by an older lady, who I noticed outside the bus.  Something about her caught my attention, so when I saw her walking down the isle, I moved my back to open the seat.  She sat down and a bit later we were talking.

Ann, the Irish lady now sitting next to me (at the tender young age of 63), is from Comber co.down Northern Ireland (just outside of Belfast).  She and her sister, sitting in the seat behind us, were here to visit her son and attend a nieces wedding.  She commented about how beautiful the wedding was with it being outdoors at Talking Rock in Canmore and presided over by an Indian Chief, the maid of honor in yellow, the bride in white, with bunches of daisies gathered for center pieces.  She talked about her life and that her sons all lived in the states because they couldn't find work in Ireland after college.  One lives just outside of Calgary and the other one lives in NYC.  She said she had been to the States before but did a Tour Bus to see Nashville.  She didn't like the strict and full day schedules of such tour companies and asked if there were other less strenuous type of tours.  I commented that I believed most were just like that and how nice it would be for our older generation to have better organized tours based upon their age and abilities.

A note for Greyhound:  The Calgary station was the first station where I could find a map for the city, someone there to answer questions about how to get around, and it was clean.   


I believe every Greyhound bus station should have a large map of the area with a large city view map so travelers can learn how to get around a bit.  It would be great to have an Information attendant at every station, but I know that isn't always possible.


The other note for Greyhound is that their bus stations should work with the local transit authorities to have the city buses stop at the Greyhound station; and there should be a schedule for the local city buses posted at every Greyhound station.


I really liked the Intermodal stations, as a customer can from one point take a city bus, a taxi, a Greyhound, or a Train without having to walk far for any of these services.


Greyhound, it would be great if you talked with the Banff Transit and worked out a way to get one of the two buses there to make the small loop over to the bus station to pick up passengers.

I am now in Calgary, have walked a bit, taken a city train (free in town center), and walked a bit more.  Now I am resting in the Wicked Hostel (only been open for 5 months now and owned by Jeff, who promptly introduced himself).  It is colorful, but the furniture arrangements need some help.  (Thought Bubble = could be there a way to travel by offering my services to the various hostels to assist them with better arrangements and adjusting the energies?)