ROC to LVL Ticketing & Bus Transfer at CHI

[your.fallen.angel80]

Hello,

I am getting ready to book a trip for the beginning of June from Rochester, NY to Louisville KY. This is my first time travelling via train and I have some questions.

Tickets:

I plan on booking my trip online (within the next week or so) and having my tickets delivered to me. How far in advance are tickets mailed? Are all the tickets for the round trip (including the bus portion) mailed at once?

Bus Transfer:

What is it like transferring to bus in CHI (or transferring from any Amtrak train to a bus for a leg of your trip)?

Thank you!,

Christina

 

[Notelvis]

That connecting bus is operated by Greyhound but is contracted by Amtrak as a 'Thruway Connection'....... according to the website it even picks up at Chicago Union Station which is good. That way you won't have to change to the Greyhound Station in Chicago.

Amtrak deals in 'etickets' now and when you purchase your tickets...... which I assume you plan to do on the Amtrak website...... they will email your 'ticket' to you. You'll print this document which the train conductors can scan.

Not sure if the bus portion will also come as an eticket. It did on my last trip in February BUT I was not using this particular operation out of Chicago.

Hope you have a great trip.

 

[AlanB]

Since the bus is part of the trip, no eTickets will be issued. Old style Amtrak value tickets will be issued in this case and must either be mailed or picked up at a station.

For a trip in June, it's really hard to say just when the tickets would be mailed. Amtrak always tries to mail them no later than 2 weeks before departure, but they could well arrive much earlier than that depending on how busy the mailing center is.

 

[pennyk]

I recently purchased tickets on-line that involved a thru way connection - for a trip in July. The tickets were mailed to me and I received them about a week to 10 days after making my reservation.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

That route sure looks weird with the detour through Chicago, but it should be fine with the connection. The Greyhound Lines bus will pick you up on the street outside Chicago Union Station.

They got great units running out of the Halsted Yard in Chicago so even the bus should be a fun ride, unless they pull out one of the rare bad buses left in Chicago, which got moved to Los Angeles.

 

[your.fallen.angel80]

Thank you all for your help! I ended up receiving my tickets the day after I ordered them (talk about fast service).