Greyhound Bus Travelers Protest Being Left Out in the Cold

Ankur Singh and a handful of other Greyhound bus passengers huddled outside a locked terminal in Des Moines at 4 a.m. on Feb. 1, trying to stay warm. The wind chill was -17F, and their connection wasn’t supposed to arrive for five hours. When the 18-year-old college student booked his ticket to travel between Minneapolis and Bloomington, Ill., on Greyhound’s website, he thought he’d be dozing in a warm, well-lit station. “Greyhound didn’t tell any of us we’d be outside,” he says.

Hoping to save others from the same cold fate, Singh started a Change.org petition asking the company to keep bus terminals open for customers with layovers. More than 90,000 people have signed so far, many recounting horror stories. “It took off because people understood the problem,” says Shareeza Bhola, a Change.org spokeswoman. On March 27, Greyhound said it would ensure that terminal hours are in sync with bus schedules across the U.S. “We are committed to providing each passenger with a safe and comfortable travel experience,” says Maureen Richmond, a spokeswoman for FirstGroup, Greyhound’s parent company.