Booking connecting bus with points

[Exvalley]

I just tried to book a trip from Chicago to Santa Fe using points. It didn't work. I can book a trip to Lamy with points, but it will not let me book the connecting bus to Santa Fe with points. I'd have to book to separate reservations, and pay $40 in cash for the bus to Santa Fe.

For kicks, I tried booking a trip to Green Bay with points, and I could book that bus with no problem.

Is it up to the bus company, or is there some glitch with the Lamy to Santa Fe reservation?

 

[oregon pioneer]

Call AGR.

One time the same thing happened to me with the connecting bus to Chemult. I asked if I needed to contact the bus company and pay separately (which was possible with that bus line, they were just a contractor). The AGR agent said "that's ridiculous, you can do it with points." And she made it happen.

 

[daybeers]

Amtrak IT strikes again!

 

[oregon pioneer]

Amtrak IT strikes again!

Yep, they have to put every single city pair in manually, so there are a lot of them that aren't there. Once upon a time, I contacted Anthony and he got them to put in Bend-to-Boston via connecting bus, CS, CZ, and LSL. Once it's entered, the system keeps it updated - but a lot of the connecting buses are not entered into the system for every possible destination city. Even my little platform in the Columbia Gorge, Wishram (WIH), is not entered for the suburban Boston destination RTE, which is closest to my sister's house.

 

[Willbridge]

Yep, they have to put every single city pair in manually, so there are a lot of them that aren't there. Once upon a time, I contacted Anthony and he got them to put in Bend-to-Boston via connecting bus, CS, CZ, and LSL. Once it's entered, the system keeps it updated - but a lot of the connecting buses are not entered into the system for every possible destination city. Even my little platform in the Columbia Gorge, Wishram (WIH), is not entered for the suburban Boston destination RTE, which is closest to my sister's house.

Wishram:


And speaking of connecting buses, it looks like the 2x daily Chemult<>Bend bus has been turned into 1x daily Klamath Falls<>Bend. It's hard to keep tabs on connections without paper timetables.

 

[oregon pioneer]

...speaking of connecting buses, it looks like the 2x daily Chemult<>Bend bus has been turned into 1x daily Klamath Falls<>Bend. It's hard to keep tabs on connections without paper timetables.

Yes, they screwed up the Chemult connection by doing this. The driver no longer waits with the passengers to meet the train at Chemult (just stops at the truck stop across the highway), making the least-bad option now to stay on the bus TWO MORE HOURS and make the connection at K Falls. It's a whole different bus line and schedule. You can book it through Amtrak, or separately here.

You can find many of the connecting AmBuses by googling. The old paper/pdf schedules used to list the contractor, which was a big help, but I don't know where to find that info now. Only a few of them are Amtrak-exclusive, but most of the ones I've been on have passengers that obviously booked the bus as a stand-alone item.

Side note: if you board at K Falls, it's too late for dinner. You've just been on a bus you had to board at 5pm in Bend. Makes me glad I'm taking the EB to head east, most direct route is the best for now.