Amtrak California Buses

[thully]

Hi,

Since I'm going to be moving to San Diego shortly, I thought I'd ask about people's experiences with Amtrak California buses. California seems to be unusual in that there are actually Amtrak-branded buses (and a LOT of them, at that) - elsewhere, all the Thruway service seems to be provided by Greyhound, other similar bus lines, or charter bus companies. With that said, how do these buses compare to regular charter buses or Greyhound? Are they more comfortable/roomy, and has anyone tried sleeping on one? I've looked at taking Amtrak from SD-SF in the future, and have wondered about some of the overnight bus options - such as the one that leaves SAN at 10:15pm and gets to Bakersfield around 5am to connect to the San Joaquin.

Obviously I could just take the Coast Starlight or the daytime bus-train combos, but that is a full day trip - definitely nice on the CS, but something I'd like to generally avoid for a quick trip (may just wait until I can go all the way to SEA and back in a sleeper to really enjoy it). The bus+SJ overnight combination would be way better time wise - though I'm concerned that sleeping on the bus will be way worse than sleeping in LD coach. If that is the case, I may just go with the airlines to SF (Southwest is nearly as cheap as Amtrak SAN-SFO/OAK, though I obviously couldn't use AGR...) - at least when I don't have time for the Coast Starlight or the daytime bus connections...

Any input would be appreciated - I've been on Amtrak plenty (including Surfliners), but have never set foot on an Amtrak California bus...

 

[Trainmans daughter]

I have been on Amtrak California busses a few times--Chico to Sacramento, Emeryville to SF. Each ride has been enjoyable. The seats are wide and comfortable and the drivers are great.

 

[Paulus]

Most of the buses are painted Amtrak and might be owned by the state (not sure), but they're operated under contract by Greyhound, CoachAmerica, etc. (14 different contractors in total in CA). Supposed to be decently comfy, I've never ridden however. I believe California just revamped the bus fleet with more leg room, restrooms, and WiFi on all the buses.

 

[railiner]

As the previous post states, Amtrak itself does not own or operate a single bus anywhere, all are contracted to various operators, even the ones painted Amtrak California. The only exceptions, are the 'school' type buses that Amtrak uses to haul track gangs in the places where they own and maintain the railway....

 

[Railroad Bill]

We have ridden the California buses from LA to Bakerfield and back on San Jaoquins connections and found them to be clean, comfortable, with competent drivers. The scenery on this route is very nice.

We have also ridden from Emeryville to San Francisco short ride over the bridge. The buses were fine, some of the drivers need some social skill development training. :giggle:

 

[johnny.menhennet]

I have only had one real experience with these buses. Back in 2005, my grandma had taken me, my brother, and my sister up to Monterey and Salinas to visit one of her best friends that she's had all her life. On the way back, we got to the station on time to find out that the train was 8 hours late and that they expected it to be 11 hours late by the time it arrived in Salinas. They got us and a family with 1 son from Bakersfield the last seats on one of the southbound thruways. It was a fine ride, the seats were fine, not a ton of legroom, probably better than airline coach though (make that definitely). We got to San Luis Obispo where they were going to have us transfer to the daily (there was only 1 at the time) southbound Surfliner from SLO. However, missile testing was occurring at Vandenburg that day, and they didn't tell us that we would be switching to buses there as well. They made everybody unload their luggage, and then get on 1 of three buses, some of them all hitting different stops on the way to Santa Barbara. We only made one stop, I don't remember where, but we got to Santa Barbara and then took the train home, getting back closer to 9pm. We called Julie that night before bed and the train was not expected back until 2:53am, so it had made up 2 hours rather than losing. This was still when the Coast Starlight was still the Coast Starlate, So after all that, all I really have to say is that I remember them being decent 8 years ago.

 

[George Harris]

Well, it was more like 6 or 7 years ago, but we did tne middle of the night Los Angeles to Bakersfield bus once. Left LA at 1:00 am if I recall correctly and connected to a train out of Bakerfield at about 4;30 am. Slept fine. Ride was smooth, as not much traffic in teh middle of the night. Also, since this was one day after coming in from Taipei, we could have slept on a bed of rocks,

Last year, we took one of the San Joaquins that originated in Sacramento, so were on a bus out of San Francisco to Stockton. Wife said, never again. It was not the bus, but the stop and go nauture of the traffic. More aptly, not really stop and go but haevy enough that there was no steady running, but a lot of speedups and slow donws. made for a very uncomfortable ride particularly for someone with back and neck issues that make back and forth motions downright painful after a while. The bus itself was fine the seats were reasonably comfortable adn the ride quality when at a steady speed OK. If the run had been smooth, there would not have been a problem with the bus. Of course it is a bus with limited, but not painfully so unless you are over 6 feet, footroom adn not much in the way of overhead space. Thanks to the bay hugging curvy track that gives several miles of 40 to 45 mph running between Emeryville and Martinez, the bus was as fast as the train between SF and Stockton.

 

[Aaron]

This article about a San Francisco area Ambus seems relevant here:

http://www.montereycountyweekly.com/news/2012/jul/19/wheels/

 

[Shanghai]

I am taking the Ambus from San Francisco to Santa Barbara next month.

I have taken the Ambus from EMY to SFC a couple of times and found it

to be comfortable and with the bus lanes, a quick trip. I'm hoping that

my seven hour ride to catch the Pacific Surfliner at Santa Barbara is

a good one.

 

[the_traveler]

I took the overnight (at that time) OKJ to SBA Thruway. While not like the train, it was not bad. And having less than 10 people on the bus made sleeping more bearable. There was a meal stop during the night at a 24 hour McD's and next to a 24 hour gas station/convenience store in IIRC King City. Overall, it was not bad.

I have also taken the Thruway from LAX to BFD. That was an enjoyable ride! (I won't mention the bus breakdown on I-5!

)

 

[gregoryla]

I've taken the bus from Sacramento to South Lake Tahoe, and it wasn't bad at all. Not the train but nothing is. Scenery was beautiful. Seats were comfortable. Driver was friendly. Not too many people on the bus, so lots of room to spread out. I imagine that sleeping would be about like it is in coach on an airplane.

 

[nrgizrbny]

I took the overnight (at that time) OKJ to SBA Thruway. While not like the train, it was not bad. And having less than 10 people on the bus made sleeping more bearable. There was a meal stop during the night at a 24 hour McD's and next to a 24 hour gas station/convenience store in IIRC King City. Overall, it was not bad.

I have also taken the Thruway from LAX to BFD. That was an enjoyable ride! (I won't mention the bus breakdown on I-5!

)

I rode the SFC (Ferry terminal) to SBA or SLO (dun't remember which) which luncheons at King City. There is a Subway across the street from

the McD for those who prefer alternative fare. The ride was pleasant but my (unix) laptop did not want to connect to the bus's WIFI.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

What type of buses do they use? I know that Greyhound is also refurbishing it's buses, mainly 102DL3s, under the new First management.

I once saw a Amtrak California J4500. I don't know what other models they use.

 

[Paulus]

One interesting didbit of info I saw recently: Amtrak CA buses post a net surplus to the train budget, recovering all of their costs.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

One interesting didbit of info I saw recently: Amtrak CA buses post a net surplus to the train budget, recovering all of their costs.

Nice to see them doing well. i guess Greyhound is also making a profit.

 

[railiner]

One interesting didbit of info I saw recently: Amtrak CA buses post a net surplus to the train budget, recovering all of their costs.

That's nice....perhaps Amtrak should get into the bus business?

They could cross-subsidize their railway operation losses.....