Dozens of Greyhound passengers stranded at Chicago bus station without explanation

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Call it a travel nightmare -- dozens of Greyhound passengers have found themselves stranded at the bus company's West Loop terminal, in some cases for days.

Stranded passengers got no answer or explanation until some of them reached out to CBS 2.

The ordeal started on Friday for many of these travelers, when they arrived at the Chicago Greyhound bus station, 608 W. Harrison St., to be told their scheduled buses would not be departing -- and their trips were canceled -- due to what was passengers described as a driver shortage.

"The buses are here, but we have no bus drivers, and I think it's wrong," said Carla Wilson Starks. "They should do something for us. They should at least tell us something. I don't think it's fair."

CBS 2 obtained some video documenting the conditions inside; people sleeping on floors or lobby chairs, and using vending machines as their only source of food. Those vending machines are now running low.

Amid those travelers were Troy Patterson, who was trying to get back home to Peoria; and Joe, who is trying to get to a job interview in South Dakota.

"Even the fact that they cancelled our buses, I understand things happen. Why do I have to call and reschedule myself? Why don't they just send an email, 'Here's your new bus route,' blah blah blah; and if then I had a problem with that, I could have contacted them," said Joe. "I mean, I didn't even get an email saying it was cancelled,"

Soon after we aired interviews with Greyhound passengers in the 11 a.m. newscast, a ticket agent pulled Joe and Troy side, offering them alternative transportation options as an apparent result of their whistleblowing.

Troy was put in an Uber. They took him to another station, where he is currently on a charter bus headed to Peoria.

"They see what we did to them; and they know that they're in the wrong; they know that they were treating us humans like trash; and they know we don't deserve that; and they know talking to you guys, and getting the word out, they're going to lose their business," said Troy.

Even though Troy and Joe are now on their way to their destinations, we are told several travelers are still stranded at the station. They were not offered the same transportation alternatives.

A spokesperson for Greyhound provided this updated statement, outlining the options for affected passengers:

"Greyhound is aware of schedule cancellations last night and early this morning, which affected service leaving from the Chicago station. Understanding that service changes can be frustrating, Greyhound stives to minimize these incidents and to accommodate passengers as quickly as possible so that they can proceed to their destination in a timely, convenient manner. 

"Impacted customers are given the choice to rebook their trip, receive a voucher for future travel, or request a refund should they choose not to travel with Greyhound. 

"Customers are able to instantly reschedule their trip by accessing Greyhound's Manage My Booking platform, available at https://www.greyhound.com/manage-my-booking or contacting customer service at 1 (800) 231-2222."

What's unclear is how many buses have been canceled. We will keep tabs on the situation to see if more will be done for the stranded passengers that remain at the station.