Which Thruway Buses Have You Traveled On?

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Philly Amtrak Fan

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There's probably too many to list on one page with different hosts for buses (Greyhound, Trailways, etc). So I'm looking for the ones you've been on and the train(s) you connected to/from. It might gave possible ideas for future trains (in a fantasy world of course).

I remember:

Both ways between ORL and Clearwater, FL to/from the SM. I visited the Phillies spring training.

Southbound from SJC to Santa Barbara to/from the morning Pacific Surfliner. The bus arrived early so we had to wait a while in Santa Barbara during the graveyard shift.

LAX-Bakersfield and Stockton-Fremont, CA to/from the San Joaquin. It was a last minute trip between LA and the Bay Area. I was trying to catch the Greyhound between the two during the Christmas/New Year's season but they were sold out. So I went to Amtrak and they gave that schedule. I doubt I would ever do that again.

Not an official Thruway but I used to take buses between Wilkes Barre and Harrisburg to connect to the Broadway Limited (they publicized it as Harrisburg-Scranton: http://www.timetables.org/full.php?group=19941030n&item=0018 but I asked if I could stop in Wilkes Barre on my first trip back from Chicago).
 
6098 from Tampa to Orlando three times, once on the way to Niagara Falls, once Chicago, and once New York. Also one time each on 6092 and 6091 between Pinellas Park (St. Petersburg) and Tampa on a round trip to Philadelphia.

Philly Amtrak Fan, if you ever go to Spring Training in Clearwater again it may be easier to walk from Tampa Union Station to Marion Street (less than 1/2 mile) and take the HART 200x bus to Clearwater. The bus goes very close to the stadium, whereas the Amtrak bus stop is about 10-15 miles away. This only runs on weekdays however.

I really wish the Tampa-Ft. Myers busses could be replaced by trains. They would have to be two separate trains, one to Clearwater and St. Petersburg and the other to Ft. Myers. I also believe that a commuter rail line to St. Petersburg would be successful, and if that was built only the one Amtrak route to Ft. Myers would be necessary.
 
Odgen (Pioneer) to Salt Lake City, the driver did a turn around downtown SLC to drop people off at hotels before getting to the train station. Bustitution due to a late CS to meet the SL, Santa Barbara to Ontario. Bustitution LA to Anaheim, late CS. Bustitution Seattle-Bellingham, landslide.
 
Many years back I took a bus run from Savannah, GA to Augusta GA. Amtrak doesn't serve Augusta, GA ( from Savannah) so it was a connection that I had to make myself. It wasn't a thruway bus but a Greyhound bus originating in downtown Savannah and arriving at a small Greyhound station in Augusta. It was a 3+ hour trip through some interesting back country. Not my favorite type of public transportation but for 3 hours it was tolerable. Back in the day, the Georgia RR served Augusta but no passenger train service has been there for years.
 
Capitol Corridor/Pacific Surfliner - San Luis Obispo-San Jose

Coast Starlight - Emeryville-San Francisco

Southwest Chief - Newton-Wichita

Wolverine - Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo

And a few other bustitutions due to service disruptions and construction
 
Some of the Thruways and Greyhound Buses I've traveled on in addition to those listed:

1)Houston-Longview,TX ( also runs to Galveston)for Texas Eagle Connections

2)Shrevport to Longview for Texas Eagle Connection

3)LAX-San Diego for Coast Starlight to Surfliner

4)KFS-PDX for Late Coast Starlight to Empire Builder Connection

5)KFS-Spokane for Late Starlight to Empire Builder Connection

6)Denver-Raton for SWC

7)OKJ-SFO/SFO-EMY

8)Longview-FTW for Trackwork on Eagle Route

9)STL-CHI due to Trackwork

10)Little Rock-STL due to Flooding on TE Route

11)Tampa/St Petersburg/Clearwater Metroplex to ORL for Meteor Connection

12)Las Vegas,NV-LAX for SWC Connection

13)El Paso to ABQ for Sunset Ltd to SWC Connection

14)Tucson to Phoenix for Spring Training (Due to the terrible Maricopa Stop on the Sunset Route)

15)The Springfield-GBB and vice-versa Van for connections between the Eagles and the Chief and Zephyr many times

16)Kansas City to Austin via Dallas(Greyhound/Omnibus de Mexico!!!)

Supposed to be a KSC-OKC overnight Thruway to Catch Heartland Flyer from OKC-FTW/TE FTW-AUS

but Jefferson Bus Line Drivers went on Strike that Day!!!!

Amtrak Agents were a Big help on this Mis-Adventure!!!!

17)And the other Surprise Bustitution:

Taylor,TX-Austin due to derailment on TE Route during Ponts Run, all of 15 miles at Midnight in 100 Degree Weather!!!
 
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I'm considering Amtrak's thruway bus from Kingman, AZ to Las Vegas, Nevada. Anyone experienced this Amtrak bus route?
 
I think the "bus" from Kingman to LVS may be a sort of minivan? Not sure but seem to remember some posts about it a while back.

My "official" thruways are limited to Emeryville to San Francisco, San Luis Obispo to San Jose, Sacramento to Stockton, Bakersfield to Los Angeles, Bakersfield to Las Vegas, Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and vice versa. I think the bus from Reno to Sacramento one time might have been a "throughway" bus?

I have enjoyed Greyhounds from Toronto to Buffalo, and New York to Washington, as well as one definate Greyhound from Reno to Sacramento.

Gosh, remembering all the fun trips is making me nostalgic for Stateside!

Ed.
 
The only deliberate Thruway connection I have been on is the van pool service between Galesburg IL (Zephyr) and Springfield IL (Eagle). Otherwise I avoid them like the plague, but have been dumped onto a few over the years because of service issues.
 
Basically only Emeryville to San Francisco or vice-versa. In San Francisco I've only used the old Ferry Building stop and the Temporary Transbay Terminal stop.

They were nominally attached to Capitol Corridor or the San Joaquin. I've booked them a number of different ways though. Most were directly attached to the trains I rode. Once I took an earlier one and was allowed on since it was an "unreserved" route. I've also dealt with a bus breakdown where the station agent at SFC called me (he must have guess who I was since I was chatting with him in the station building) to tell me and asked that I tell other passengers waiting for the bus. One of the weirder cases was where the bus arrived early in Emeryville and I just hopped on the San Joaquin to finish my trip, even though my ticket was for Capitol Corridor.

I guess the most interesting trip was one where I booked an EMY-GAC train trip, along with an SFC-EMY bus ride. By law, Amtrak isn't supposed to sell a ticket for an Amtrak bus subsidized by the state without a "rail segment". However, the rail segment doesn't have to make sense. I took a combination of VTA, Caltrain, and Muni Metro to get to the Amtrak bus stop.
 
On New Year's Day 1978, I rode the Orange Belt Stages Thruway from Bakersfield to Barstow as a connection between the southbound Coast Starlight and the eastbound Southwest Limited. The bus was packed with weirdos, and the station in Barstow was closed so I waited on a cold, dark platform.

I have also taken the Thruway bus from San Francisco to connect with the California Zephyr.
 
Never on purpose, as I get sick on buses if I have to ride for any length of time. The Thruway from NFK-NPN is a short enough duration that I just start turning green by the time we pull into the Newport News station.
 
Amtrak used to publish a connection to the CZ from Glenwood Springs east to several Colorado mountain communities on Greyhound buses, but I think they have dropped that connection from their timetable. I rode it at least a half-dozen times in both directions and found it to be quite useful.
 
1. Amtrak Thruway: Oakland, CA to San Francisco, CA from The San Francisco Zephyr

2. American-Pacific Stage Company: Anaheim-Disneyland, CA to Los Angeles, CA to The Southwest Limited

3. Amtrak Thruway: Los Angeles, CA to San Diego, CA from the Coast Starlight (substituted for missed connection to San Diegan)

4. Indian Trails: Battle Creek, MI to East Lansing, MI from Wolverine Service

5. Metrocars: East Lansing, MI to Toledo, OH to The Capitol Limited and from The Lake Shore Limited

6. James River Transportation: Norfolk, VA to Newport News, VA to/from Northeast Regional

7. Trinity Transportation: Detroit, MI to Toledo, OH to The Capitol Limited
 
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brianpmcdonnell17 said:
6098 from Tampa to Orlando three times, once on the way to Niagara Falls, once Chicago, and once New York. Also one time each on 6092 and 6091 between Pinellas Park (St. Petersburg) and Tampa on a round trip to Philadelphia.

Philly Amtrak Fan, if you ever go to Spring Training in Clearwater again it may be easier to walk from Tampa Union Station to Marion Street (less than 1/2 mile) and take the HART 200x bus to Clearwater. The bus goes very close to the stadium, whereas the Amtrak bus stop is about 10-15 miles away. This only runs on weekdays however.

I really wish the Tampa-Ft. Myers busses could be replaced by trains. They would have to be two separate trains, one to Clearwater and St. Petersburg and the other to Ft. Myers. I also believe that a commuter rail line to St. Petersburg would be successful, and if that was built only the one Amtrak route to Ft. Myers would be necessary.
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Sounds like a plan. But I'm more likely to take the SM than the SS because it leaves PHL later and arrives earlier so I won't be anywhere near the Tampa Amtrak station in that case. Maybe one day I take the SS and get a roomette without paying for Amtrak steaks and the HART becomes an option.

I'm surprised there are so many unplanned Thruway buses. These buses don't just come out of the sky. Most often they are run by another company like Greyhound. I find it hard to believe Amtrak would call Greyhound or someone else and say "Hey, our train is late, can you give us a bus in a few hours and only for our passengers?"

Bob Dylan, you seem to have a lot of experience with Thruway buses!
 
Shortest "Thruway" bus ride I ever took was from NYG to NYP, back when Amtrak still operated from Grand Central Terminal....about a mile.... :)
 
Toledo-Detroit, Toledo to Ann Arbor, connecting to the Capitol Limited.

Orlando -Tampa -- I was actually on the Silver Star, but it was bypassing Tampa because of CSX trackwork

Tampa - Orlando -- connecting to the Silver Meteor. (I wanted to arrive in Baltimore a little earlier.)

San Fransisco Ferry Building to Emeryville, connecting to a Capitol Corridor to Sacramento.

Once from Pittsburgh to Washington, when they were doing the track work between Pittsburgh and Cumberland and were busing people when they were more than 2 hours late. We left Pittsburgh almost 3 hours late, but arrived in Washington at the scheduled time. And that included a meal break in Breezewood. But that 70 mph ride on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in pouring rain was a thrill ride I'd do without. I think I got a $75 travel voucher for that one, which was their estimated of the pro-rated value of the sleeper accommodation between Pittsburgh and Washington.
 
VAtrainfan said:
railiner said:
Shortest "Thruway" bus ride I ever took was from NYG to NYP, back when Amtrak still operated from Grand Central Terminal....about a mile.... :)
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How long did that take in NYC traffic?
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Varied greatly, as you can probably imagine....best case, less than ten minutes....worst case....well you were better off walking, or shlepping your bags thru the subway...
 
I've only been on the Thruway bus between Emeryville and San Francisco.

On the inbound trip, I scheduled my stop at Fisherman's Wharf. It took FOR-EV-ER, as traffic was heavy and it was the last stop.

So, for the outbound trip, I called Amtrak and changed my pickup to the Transbay Terminal. It was early in the morning, so the Uber ride didn't take very long.

I was a little nervous, as I get carsick on buses, but it wasn't bad at all. The bus was spacious, with HUGE windows, and it had better shocks than city buses. I could even see out the front window since the bus wasn't crowded. I thought the seats were pretty comfortable, and the bus driver was friendly. Plus, you get a great view of Treasure Island, Alcatraz, and the San Francisco skyline as you travel across the bay. :)
 

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