(The following story by Aimee Green appeared on The Oregonian website on December 22.)
PORTLAND, Ore. — Hundreds of Greyhound passengers have been stranded in Portland, and many settled in Monday for a third night of sleeping on the station’s tile floors.
Snow also delayed or canceled Amtrak service, which, unlike Greyhound, was able to thin out some of the crowds by running a few trains Monday.
One employee estimated that 200 to 300 passengers bedded down Sunday at Portland’s Amtrak station, while about 150 people slumbered at the Greyhound station on cardboard or donated blankets next to piles of their luggage.
Many bus passengers said they had been hard-pressed to pay for their tickets and couldn’t afford a hotel or restaurant meals. Officials said they weren’t willing to endanger lives by running buses and couldn’t say when service would restart because the weather is so unpredictable.
Bus service also stranded passengers in Eugene and Seattle. Dozens of riders were sleeping at the Seattle Greyhound station. Train service continued to be spotty.
Although some passengers were in good spirits and thankful for free food and the kindness of employees, the huge delays upset other passengers desperate to make it home for the holidays. Several passengers in Portland accused cab or shuttle-van drivers of greed by offering to shuttle passengers to Seattle or other Northwest cities for triple or quadruple the price of a comparable bus ticket.
“He wanted $100 a head, and no one had that kind of money,” said James Leavell, 42, of one entrepreneur offering to drive his eight-seat van to Seattle. Leavell started his trip Friday in Arizona and still hopes to make it to Seattle by Christmas.
Another man, Roberto Mendez, lives in San Diego and had hoped to make it by Saturday to Hermiston. The storm that stalled buses and closed Interstate 84 prevented him from doing so.
“If I could get a horse, I’d ride a horse there,” Mendez said.
Amtrak passenger Laurie McQueen made it to her destination, Seattle, over the weekend but was frazzled at what she called a lack of organization early on in the storm. McQueen, a senior account manager of a title company, was supposed to leave Portland for her return trip at 4:20 p.m. Saturday but didn’t roll out of the station until 4 a.m.
She said the snack shop was closed and all the vending machines were empty. She said passengers were eager to get food and water but couldn’t leave the station because of the storm and worry that the train would leave without them. Once on the train, she said conditions were deplorable, including urine-soaked bathroom floors and no toilet paper for the seven-hour trip.
“I was physically sick being on the train — it was like a cesspool,” McQueen said
At some point during the weekend, Red Cross, churches and Portland-area residents acting on their own began to take bedding and meals to the bus station.
Leavell said the help really started pouring in after a local TV news station broadcast a story about the situation at the Greyhound station.
“There were stacks of blankets, and pizzas and pots of chili and cornbread,” Leavell said.
Leavell said Greyhound gave each passenger a meal ticket a day. Sunday night, his second at the station, the bus company heated up three coaches and let people sleep inside them.
Some passengers, however, said the food was dwindling and put out a plea for more — especially hot food.
“Hot coffee,” said Teresa Chavez, longingly. Chavez, who is traveling with her 13-year-old daughter, her friend and her friend’s 6- and 10-year-old sons, said the group also would be delighted for pillows after two nights of resting their heads on luggage or sweaters.