Amtrak Thruway Buses

[RRrich]

We are planning to go to New Orleans via the City of New Orleans at Carbondale, starting in St Louis and catching the Amtrak bus to Carbondale.

All my semi-recent experiences on the bus (Greyhound mostly) have been kind of questionable. I'm hoping that the bus doesn't start by kill the mood for the trip.

I know that the train has checked luggage, where do we check our luggage - St Louis or Carbondale.

What are your Amtrak Bus experiences?

 

[Cascadia]

Hi RRrich,

The Amtrak Thruway busses I've been on were much nicer than Greyhound. I do ride the Greyhound short distances fairly regularly as well as taking the train, so I do have something to compare to. The Amtrak coaches are more of a first class coach with nicer interiors, plus they are staffed, and even had free pastries, water and orange juice, that was my most recent experience.

This was a "bustitution" situation, so I don't know how the regular Thruway compares, it's been a long time since I rode the regular one.

 

[jackal]

I've only done two Thruway buses, both in California (between LAUS and Bakersfield, connecting to the San Joaquins to Sacramento and vice versa), and I've never done Greyhound, but in my experience, they were perfectly fine, comfortable motor coaches--about comparable to a typical medium-distance tour bus. The buses were modern and clean and the drivers were friendly (on the way out of Union Station in the wee hours of the morning--5 am or so--we stopped at a gas station near the Van Nuys Flyaway because we were early into Van Nuys and the four of us on the bus--three plus the driver--were craving caffeine). It was a perfectly fine trip between L.A. and the Central Valley (although it would be great if Amtrak were to someday offer this service via train over Tehachapi...not likely, given the single track and high freight traffic, long travel times, and relatively low passenger loads for that routing). I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

However, I have heard that in other states, Amtrak Thruway is just a rebranded Greyhound service, and occasionally Greyhound will overbook and deny boarding to Amtrak passengers. I can't speak for Illinois.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

In many cases the printed timetable is quite clear on which other bus company is operating the Thruway service, which is potentially helpful if you want to take a trip somewhere that's going to end up not involving a train at all (since Thruway connections can only be booked through Amtrak if the reservation includes a train leg). It isn't always Greyhound.

(Then again, I think some of the buses operationg out of South Station in Boston are operated by a couple of companies pooled together, and the brand on your ticket if you buy a bus ticket from a bus company may not end up matching the logo on the side of the bus. I do not know if this creates the possibility that you could end up on a bus branded differently than what's in the Amtrak timetable if you have a Thruway ticket for one of these buses.)

 

[amtrakwolverine]

i rode a greyhound thruway bus from flagstaff to phoenix. it was OK. station even allowed us to bring food from a fast food place inside as long as we didn't make a mess.

 

[jackal]

(since Thruway connections can only be booked through Amtrak if the reservation includes a train leg)

I think this is a state-by-state rule/law, and as far as I was aware, is only a requirement within the State of California.

 

[AmtrakWPK]

Amtrak maintains a thruway bus system in Florida going (among other places) south from Tampa as far as Ft. Myers. I just checked their reservation system and it allowed booking Tampa to Ft. Myers as a separate, bus-only trip, so at least in Florida this is apparently allowable. Before 91/92 added the Tampa dog-leg, my wife's Dad has surgery and I drove her down there (Naples FL) for her to take care of him for a couple of weeks, and then she used her Florida resident annual railpass to take the thruway from Ft. Myers to Orlando and then either 98 or 92 from Orlando to Winter Park (about a 15 minute rail segment), where I picked her up. That avoided driving an 8 hour round trip to Naples to pick her up. She said the bus was big and quite comfortable.

 

[Faraz]

Anyone know what kind of buses are being used for the Coast Starlight from Portland to Sacremento? I am taking that train May 30, my fingers are crossed the service will be restored. But I also want to prepare for the worse :lol: