Trouble booking Grand Jct. to Colorado Springs

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I have tried for a couple days to check the price of a trip from Grand Jct., Colorado to Colorado Springs but the Amtrak website will not let me do a booking of such a trip. It should be clearly possible based on the CZ schedule but I get an error message. Maybe Amtrak no longer considers Colorado Springs to be a desirable destination. Does anyone know what the problem is? Thanks.
 
I have tried for a couple days to check the price of a trip from Grand Jct., Colorado to Colorado Springs but the Amtrak website will not let me do a booking of such a trip. It should be clearly possible based on the CZ schedule but I get an error message. Maybe Amtrak no longer considers Colorado Springs to be a desirable destination. Does anyone know what the problem is? Thanks.

I checked the Greyhound schedule and they still show the 7:45 p.m. departure from DUS to Colorado Springs and points south. HOWEVER, as part of their continual downsizing last year they discontinued the "midnight" trip that backed up the connection from late-running nights on Train 6. So, Amtrak may have deleted this connection from their reservation system to avoid having to pay for a van or taxi or hotel room to recover from the misconnects.

If you like to live dangerously, you can go onto Greyhound's website and buy a separate ticket and hope the connection works (which it does the majority of evenings). On weekends and holidays the last Bustang trip to Colo Spgs departs DUS at 7:25 p.m., but I'd squeeze out every minute by going with Greyhound.
 
I checked the Greyhound schedule and they still show the 7:45 p.m. departure from DUS to Colorado Springs and points south. HOWEVER, as part of their continual downsizing last year they discontinued the "midnight" trip that backed up the connection from late-running nights on Train 6. So, Amtrak may have deleted this connection from their reservation system to avoid having to pay for a van or taxi or hotel room to recover from the misconnects.

If you like to live dangerously, you can go onto Greyhound's website and buy a separate ticket and hope the connection works (which it does the majority of evenings). On weekends and holidays the last Bustang trip to Colo Spgs departs DUS at 7:25 p.m., but I'd squeeze out every minute by going with Greyhound.
Thanks for that very helpful information. The CZ schedule on the Amtrak website is dated July 20, 2017 and shows a Greyhound bus leaving DUS at 7:45 p.m. as you have indicated and arriving at Colorado Springs at 9:10 p.m. This service is shown as Thruway bus No. 8305 but is shown as a connection to No. 5, not 6. The 12:20 a.m. Thruway bus 8306 is shown as the connection to No. 6 but from your information that bus has been discontinued and that must be why no ticket can be purchased from Amtrak for Grand Jct. to Colorado Springs.

Perhaps I should instead be asking for recommendations for Denver hotels close to DUS and downtown rental car agencies. I haven't had the best luck with the on-time performance of No. 6. I also would prefer not to have to go all the way to the airport after detraining from No. 6 just to rent a car and should plan on spending the night in Denver and renting a car downtown the next morning.
 
You might try the "Bustang" which is a State of Colorado only Bus service. They have 7 buses to Colorado Springs a day leaving from the bus station attached to the Denver Union station.
 
Thanks for that very helpful information. The CZ schedule on the Amtrak website is dated July 20, 2017 and shows a Greyhound bus leaving DUS at 7:45 p.m. as you have indicated and arriving at Colorado Springs at 9:10 p.m. This service is shown as Thruway bus No. 8305 but is shown as a connection to No. 5, not 6. The 12:20 a.m. Thruway bus 8306 is shown as the connection to No. 6 but from your information that bus has been discontinued and that must be why no ticket can be purchased from Amtrak for Grand Jct. to Colorado Springs.

Perhaps I should instead be asking for recommendations for Denver hotels close to DUS and downtown rental car agencies. I haven't had the best luck with the on-time performance of No. 6. I also would prefer not to have to go all the way to the airport after detraining from No. 6 just to rent a car and should plan on spending the night in Denver and renting a car downtown the next morning.

Another reason to rent a car downtown is to avoid having to argue against being charged the airport car rental surcharge. You can ride the free Mall Ride from the DUS area up to Welton Street to pick up a car, if you stay near DUS. If you do stay overnight, Bustang works fine from either DUS Gate B3 or from the Greyhound station.

If you're on a weekend, Bustang is sketchier than on weekdays. Enterprise has weekend rates: the easiest of their sites (but closed on Sundays) to reach from the DUS area by transit is at 4th Avenue on Broadway. Rte 0 runs from the underground bus concourse south on Broadway more frequently than most Denver routes.

There are a lot of hotel options, but I don't know what your preferences are.
 
A couple of the car rentals will pick up at the station, I see Welton mentioned, there is a Hertz up there I've used that picks up, it also has off hour drop off. The drive to the Springs is not bad, I've done it quite a few times going to USA Hockey Annual Congress, and will probably do it next June agin if invited.
 
I found the downtown rental places had high charges for cars - not extra fees but just high costs. We decided to take the light rail to the Central Park Station where we had the local Hertz pick us up. The car was half the downtown price.
 
As suggested I have spoken with an Agent and they confirmed that although the 7:45 p.m. bus is a possibility it is not a guaranteed connection and Amtrak will not sell a through Grand Jct. to Colorado Springs ticket.

At first our plan was to leave Grand Jct. after our visit there and travel on No. 6 to Denver, continue to Colorado Springs by bus and rent a car at Colorado Springs the next day. We will be in Colorado Springs for several days for a conference.

However since there is no guaranteed connection, we have decided that we should stay overnight in Denver after arriving on No. 6 and then rent a car the next day to drive to Colorado Springs. As suggested we will have to explore the various car rental options. It is possible that after Colorado Springs we might be leaving Denver on No. 6 on a weekend so we will have to see what the options are for a weekend car return (or perhaps just stay until Monday to leave.)

I imagine the hotel at DUS is pricey and I believe the Oxford nearby is also pricey. Can anyone recommend any hotels preferably within modest walking distance of DUS which might be in the $100-200 range? I guess we could get a taxi or Uber so maybe walking distance may not be a real requirement.

Thanks very much for all of the suggestions.
 
Your imagination is correct. Check Hotel Indigo for rooms in your price range. It's on the "wrong side of the DUS tracks" in an attractive new building. I've been to a couple of meetings there and they did a nice job. A friend who stayed there on an on-line bargain liked it. Also check Magnolia Hotel Denver at 17th & Stout for sales in that price range. Reach it and hotels near the Convention Center via the Free Mall Ride at 16th & Wynkoop or by taxi or others from across the street in front of the station at 17th & Wynkoop. Also on 17th Street at Tremont Street is the Holiday Inn Express which is not-so-secretly the economy wing of the Brown Palace. At that HI one has access to the bar and restaurants of the Brown without going outside. There one can spend the money that was just saved by staying at the HI.
 
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