You should get to the Greyhound bus station in enough time to (a) pick up your ticket if necessary, (b) get your bags checked,  (c) find out where you bus will be boarding from, and (d) get a good spot near the front of the boarding line.

I try to get to the station at least one hour before my bus is scheduled to leave. Some people say that this is extreme and that you only need to be at the station 30 minutes early or so but I don’t like to take any chances. I’ve seen too many people come close to missing their bus because they got to the station late and were still at the ticket counter at departure time.

I’ve even seen a few people who had to wait on the next bus before they could leave because there was an issue with their ticket or their bags and they couldn’t get it resolved before the bus left. Why? Because they showed up at the station like 10 minutes before the scheduled departure time for their bus.

You don’t want to get you whole trip set back for 3 or 4+ hours just because you were to lazy to get up and get to the station a few minutes earlier.

I also like to have time to use the restroom and buy myself a snack before I get started on my trip. The bathrooms on Greyhound buses are notorious for being dirty and I try to stay away from them as much as possible. Getting to the station a few minutes earlier gives me time to handle all that type of business before I even get on the bus.

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You will want to find out what door your bus is boarding out of and get in the boarding line ASAP. Different stations have different policies about when boarding lines can form but you want to get in line AS SOON AS THE LINE STARTS FORMING.

I can’t stress to you the importance this can have on your trip. The sooner you get in line the earlier you get to board the bus. The earlier you board the bus the better selection of seats you will have. I like to be one of the first three people to board the bus and I usually get to either sit by myself near the front (my ideal seating arrangement) or I find a seat next to someone who doesn’t smell and/or look like a serial killer.

If you aren’t near the front of the boarding line and you are one of the last people to get on the bus you will have to take whatever seat you can get. This usually isn’t a good thing on the Greyhound bus. You will have to sit next to the people that everyone else didn’t want to sit next too. I hope you like body odor and chlamydia…

So get to the station like an hour early and save yourself the all the hassle.