Taking Greyhound from NYC to Toronto and Back
April 7, 2015, April 10,2015
Document Last Modified: April 11, 2015
It was Spring Recess. I wanted to go to a place that was close. I really wanted to forget about work and explore new places. At the same time I did not want to go too far away. Taking an airplane is really not my thing (I will take it if I have to). Therefore I chose to go to Toronto. This trip was my second time to Toronto. The first time I went with a bus tour company but I did not enjoy it, so I decided to go to Toronto again.
I booked my ticket one month in advance so I got a good price - $68 round trip. The whole trip consisted of two segments. The segment from New York to Buffalo was operated by Trailways. The segment from Buffalo to Toronto was operated by Greyhound.
From NYC to Toronto
The bus was scheduled to depart from Port Authority Bus Terminal at 10:45PM on a Tuesday evening. I got there around at 10:25PM. People were already lining up for the bus. There were more people taking the overnight bus than I expected.
10:45 PM
I got on the bus. It was full of people. There is no assigned seating. Seating is first come first served, so if you want to get a nice seat, make sure you get in line early. The ticket collector took both my tickets from NYC to Syracuse and from Syracuse to Buffalo. I guessed the bus would go directly to Buffalo.
10:49 PM
Our bus left the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The traffic was very bad near the bus terminal even at this late hour. In the next 20 minutes, our bus made little movement. We were still very close to the bus terminal. The traffic got much better once we got farther away from the bus terminal. Most people were asleep and nobody was talking.
1:10 AM
Our bus arrived at a rest stop at Gouldsboro, PA. We were given 10 minutes to go to rest room or to buy some food. At 1:20AM, our bus left the rest stop and continued its journey. The bus driver announced that we would reach Syracuse in 2 hours.
3:30 AM
Our bus arrived at Syracuse. We had a new bus driver. At least we could be sure that our bus driver would not get too tired because of the long drive. After Syracuse, we stopped at two more stops (Rochester and Batavia) before reaching the Buffalo stop.
6:28 AM
We arrived at the Buffalo stop. This was the last stop before entering Canada. We had to change bus at this stop.
6:49 AM
Our bus left the Buffalo stop. Once we crossed the Peace Bridge to the Canadian side, we had to take our bags and luggage into a room to go through the Canadian customs. The whole process only took about a few minutes per person. After that we could re-board our bus.
7:15 AM
Our bus left the customs.
7:45 AM
Our bus arrived at the Niagara Falls Bus Terminal. After that the bus stopped at a few more stops before reaching Toronto.
10:15 AM
We finally arrived at Toronto Coach Terminal.
From Toronto to NYC
The bus was scheduled to depart from the Toronto Coach Terminal at 9:30PM on a Friday evening. I got there one hour ahead of time. The waiting area was very clean and cozy.
There were a lot of people taking this bus. Seating is first come first served, so if you want to get a nice seat, make sure you get in line early. Although I lined up pretty early at 9PM, I still could only get a seat all the way at the back of the bus.
9:31 PM
Our bus left the Toronto Coach Terminal.
11:11 PM
Our bus passed the Peace Bridge and we were waiting to go through US customs. The bus driver took all the luggage into a room. We needed to bring our bags into the room for an interview.
11:58 PM
We finished the customs check and our bus started heading to Buffalo.
12:03 AM
Our bus arrived at the Buffalo stop. We had a new driver.
2:52 AM
Our bus arrived at the Syracuse stop. Again we had a new driver.
5:19 AM
Our bus arrived at Gouldsboro Travel Plaza.
7:33 AM
We arrived at Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York.
Depending on the number of the stops, the whole journey can vary from 10 to 13 hours. So choose your trip wisely.