Using multi-ride ticket on long distance train?

[fhussain44]

Amtrak website says you can not do it . I want to use Illinois multi-ride on the Illinois portion of the Southwest chief. Will teh conductor let it slide or force me to buy a ticket? If I buy a ticket at what rate will it be?

 

[BCL]

Amtrak website says you can not do it . I want to use Illinois multi-ride on the Illinois portion of the Southwest chief. Will teh conductor let it slide or force me to buy a ticket? If I buy a ticket at what rate will it be?

Not gonna happen. I asked about this possibility. Multi-rides aren't accepted on long-distance trains, period. It might have been possible to let it slide, but these days conductors are required to scan each ticket.

A reserved ticket is also required.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Long-distance trains are much more comfortable than short-distance ones, so you must pay more. They are also more expensive to operate and only use federal funding. Illinois does not fund LD trains.

 

[BCL]

Long-distance trains are much more comfortable than short-distance ones, so you must pay more. They are also more expensive to operate and only use federal funding. Illinois does not fund LD trains.

Strangely enough, I find that short distances on LD trains are actually less expensive if they're in the lower buckets. EMY-SJC is normally $14 if reserved in advance on the CS. Right now it's $11 (apparently a fare sale). Capitol Corridor is $18. A 10-ride for this route would be $110.

Occasionally there's a Superliner cafe car on the Capitol Corridor. Some of the attendants don't like it, but upstairs they turn down the lights and you can recline all the way back. I find few people actually use those, but they're nice.

I think there is some overlap between the Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin from Emeryville to Martinez. I thought they accept tickets on both routes even though San Joaquin is cheaper. If you book a multi-ride, you only specify endpoints and not the particular train service.

 

[roadman3313]

I know a few years back the Capitol Corridor and the San Joaquin had a joint ticketing agreement. In the Capitol Corridor schedule that the CCJPA publishes (not the Amtrak one) they still show the San Joaquin times as well. This isn't well advertised but I haven't heard anything about the joint-ticketing agreement being cancelled.

I find the same thing when I ride EMY-DAV. I use a 10-ride (SAC-EMY) but sometimes park at DAV as it has "free" parking. I get off work between 9:30 and 10:00pm. Last CC is at 9:45pm... if I miss that I usually book a ticket on the CS instead which leaves out at 10:04pm (and since the schedule change has a much improved OTP from EMY than before when an hour late was the norm!). Unless it is the peak season or the holiday the ticket on the CS is generally $3-6 less than the CC. Granted I can't use my 10-ride pass (for which the per ride fare would be around $17.10 give or take) but it still is nice to have the lower price than the CC.

The Superliners are great for the passengers but LSA's don't like them at all. Basically it is a huge fridge that everything is bunched into. You have to bend over to get things and dig through it. Heard an LSA talking to their Union Rep. about it the other day as well. I thought it was interesting that she was thinking of rebidding to the San Joaquin route instead and having to overnight in BFD just to not have to deal with the potential of receiving a Superliner retrofit Cafe car!

San Joaquin = 8000-series Upstairs Cafe.

Capitol Corridor = luck of the draw between 8000-series Upstairs Cafe, 6000-series Surfliner Downstairs Cafe, or Unfortunate Superliner Downstairs Counter/Fridge area.

Unlike the Surfliners down South or the Superliner SSL's the passengers are not allowed to grab their own food out of the fridge units or counters. All the items are blocked off (even in the Northern-California Surfliner Cafes) and the LSA must get the items out from storage themselves. I assume this is to help with inventory control but it means a little more work for the LSA.

 

[BCL]

I know a few years back the Capitol Corridor and the San Joaquin had a joint ticketing agreement. In the Capitol Corridor schedule that the CCJPA publishes (not the Amtrak one) they still show the San Joaquin times as well. This isn't well advertised but I haven't heard anything about the joint-ticketing agreement being cancelled.
I find the same thing when I ride EMY-DAV. I use a 10-ride (SAC-EMY) but sometimes park at DAV as it has "free" parking. I get off work between 9:30 and 10:00pm. Last CC is at 9:45pm... if I miss that I usually book a ticket on the CS instead which leaves out at 10:04pm (and since the schedule change has a much improved OTP from EMY than before when an hour late was the norm!). Unless it is the peak season or the holiday the ticket on the CS is generally $3-6 less than the CC. Granted I can't use my 10-ride pass (for which the per ride fare would be around $17.10 give or take) but it still is nice to have the lower price than the CC.

This is all I could find. I think this is what I remembered seeing previously. More than 6 years old, but take it FWIW.

http://www.capitolcorridor.org/blogs/get_on_board/issue-26-july-7-2006/
Joint Ticketing with San Joaquin trains
As an added bonus, by arrangement with Caltrans (California Department of Transportation, Division of Rail), all passengers between Oakland and Martinez will be able to use any train operating between those two points using any valid Capitol Corridor or San Joaquin ticket. For riders in this busy part of our corridor, this will offer you 20 trains per weekday in each direction, or 40 weekday travel choices. San Joaquin trains stop at Oakland, Emeryville, Richmond and Martinez. They DO NOT stop in Berkeley. These San Joaquin trains will now be shown in the Capitol Corridor Timetable as a convenience to our riders.

I have a CC schedule with me, and I don't see San Joaquin mentioned anywhere. I have seen the San Joaquin segments between Jack London and Martinez on the timetables at the stations.

I checked out how much for OKJ-MTZ and EMY-MTZ booked well in advance (some random non-holiday date this May).

OKJ-MTZ: $14 (CC), $9.50 (SJ), $16 (CS), $85 (10-ride).

EMY-MTZ: $13 (CC), $9.50 (SJ), $16 (CS), $16 (CZ), $79 (10-ride).

Seriously - if I were going this way I'd just buy a San Joaquin ticket if they still offer joint ticketing. Obviously, the 10-rides don't specify the train.