New Thruway Bus - Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, and White Haven

[benjibear]

http://citizensvoice.com/news/martz-route-offers-access-to-rail-in-philadelphia-1.1863090

 

[fairviewroad]

Wow, a new Thruway connection that actually provides useable connections to/from a new Amtrak market. Well done!

More details including a schedule is here:

www.amtrak.com/ccurl/624/565/Scranton%20Thruway%20Service%20ATK-15-023.pdf

FWIW, this seems to be bookable as a standalone trip...no rail connection is needed. That said, there are several logical

connecting trains, particularly to points south of PHL.

Also...is this the first Thruway bus service to/from PHL? I can't recall any others.

 

[Orangesaint]

Wow!

Love it, will use it!

 

[benjibear]

I did some research and it appears that the buses listed are the regular Martz routes from Philadelphia. It does not appear to be a dedicated bus to Amtrak. It appears that they depart from 30th street station 15 minutes after leaving the Philadelphia bus station and arrive at 30th street 15 minutes before going to the bus station.

 

[benjibear]

It says it also stops at Norristown:

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/transportation/Bus_routes_to_connect_Scranton_Wilkes-Barre_to_30th_Street_Station.html

It says it was a pilot program but I never heard about it before.

 

[fairviewroad]

Yeah, the Amtrak press release implies that it's not a dedicated Thruway service. While the bus does stop at Norristown, that's not a bookable destination

on Amtrak's website (and why should it be, since Norristown folks can easily get to 30th St via Septa Regional Rail).

Provided that it's marketed properly, this service should do quite well.