# LA to Denver



## Dan O (Dec 6, 2012)

I was hoping to go to Denver and somehow ride the CS but it looks like that is impossible unless I want to pay for two one zone trips, right?

I don't like the choices to get to Northern Calif to hook up w/ the CZ. There's a good sized bus ride, either to Bakersfield from LA or from Santa Barbara to Emeryville. Coming home it's not much better, arriving in LA at either midnight or 220 AM.

If these are the only choices, I may just pay for a ticket to Nor Call and use AGR points for only the CZ part.

Any ideas?

Dan


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## the_traveler (Dec 7, 2012)

If you want to ride the CS, then you must either pay or redeem a 2nd 1 zone award. If you don't want the CS, the bus from LAX to BFD is not that bad a trip. (For that matter, neither is SBA to EMY.)

However, AGR may try to route an LAX-DEN trip via the SWC (thru Raton) instead! :excl:


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## Dan O (Dec 8, 2012)

the_traveler said:


> If you want to ride the CS, then you must either pay or redeem a 2nd 1 zone award. If you don't want the CS, the bus from LAX to BFD is not that bad a trip. (For that matter, neither is SBA to EMY.)
> 
> However, AGR may try to route an LAX-DEN trip via the SWC (thru Raton) instead! :excl:


I saw that Raton SWC option. I want to ride the CZ through the Rockies. Been on the SWC.

The bus ride may not be bad but it leaves and arrives in the middle of the night.


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## PRR 60 (Dec 8, 2012)

Dan O said:


> I was hoping to go to Denver and somehow ride the CS but it looks like that is impossible unless I want to pay for two one zone trips, right?
> 
> I don't like the choices to get to Northern Calif to hook up w/ the CZ. There's a good sized bus ride, either to Bakersfield from LA or from Santa Barbara to Emeryville. Coming home it's not much better, arriving in LA at either midnight or 220 AM.
> 
> ...


Your last idea - pay for the Los Angeles to Bay Area trip, spend a night there, and then use AGR for the Zephyr is probably the way to go. The Zephyr leaves Emeryville too early to have any reasonable same-day connections from LA.


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## the_traveler (Dec 8, 2012)

I have done that "middle of the night" bus from (at the time) OKJ to SBA. Since it is an Amtrak California bus (and not Greyhound), it is ONLY for Amtrak passengers! When I took it, there were under 10 people on the entire ride!

True, it is a bus and not a train, but with under 10 aboard, you can find double seats to stretch out!


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## roadman3313 (Dec 8, 2012)

The times I have ridden the overnight bus (about 8 times in the past 3 months) and about 5-6 of those times it has been sold out. It really depends on the day of the week, time of the year, and the school schedules. With that said, if you can get a low bucket fare and would rather take the train I'd suggest that.

I have been told before that the redemption varies depending on the service type. If I were to take an Amtrak LD train and connect to a Corridor train O have been told that's 2 redemptions, 1 at the zone rate and 1 special corridor redemption. Is that correct or is it another one of those "it depends on the agent" scenarios?

Personally the bus rides aren't that bad IMO. Depends on how you sleep on the road. On the SBA/SLO to EMY/OKJ option on the bus there is a meal stop at McDonalds in King City. The McDonalds is open for all departures as is AM/PM store. Daytime trips there is also a Taco Bell and Subway Sandwich shop nearby as well.

It isn't a bad way to go IMO. Though I will say you can't beat the scenery on the CS. If you like scenery take the CS. If you prefer a shorter journey take the bus to the SJ via BFD. If you prefer a combination of speed and scenery take the PS to the bus via SBA or SLO.

All and all the CZ will be an amazing trip


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## Ispolkom (Dec 8, 2012)

roadman3313 said:


> I have been told before that the redemption varies depending on the service type. If I were to take an Amtrak LD train and connect to a Corridor train O have been told that's 2 redemptions, 1 at the zone rate and 1 special corridor redemption. Is that correct or is it another one of those "it depends on the agent" scenarios?


I don't like using terms like "correct" or "incorrect" with AGR, since who knows what the rules are? I'd certainly label this claim to be "unsatisfactory," though. I booked San Diego - St. Paul, for instance, and the Surfliner didn't cost extra. I've booked CHI-WAS-NYP, and the regional wasn't extra.

I'd guess that the agent was hazily confusing your situation with the supposed new special corridor rule, that only allows one train and one bus on one redemption.


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## tomfuller (Dec 8, 2012)

Get on the 1:45AM bus (5811) to Bakersfield and take the early SJ to Stockton and another bus to Sacramento. In theory you should be to Sacramento nearly an hour before the CZ gets there. I would pay the bus-train-bus fare out of pocket ($58).

On the way back home, you should be able to get another train south from EMY that follows the same route as the CS to LAX.


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## roadman3313 (Dec 8, 2012)

Well that agent said you could do a train-bus-train on a corridor redepmtion (EMY to SJC to SLO to OXN). There was no mention of a one train and one bus redemption. So I agree... it seems like the "rules" depend on the agent you speak with. I mean I'll admit I work in transit and often times it comes down to which memos you received and read vs. which memos your co-worker has. It does lead to confusion with our passengers and it's something we work on standarding but getting about 1,200 to 1,300 front-line employees out of different operating divisions who have worked for various lengths of time with various sets of rules in place on the same page is often very difficult.

I don't know how AGR functions or how information is diseminated down to their employees but it does seem that it really depends on who you talk to in terms of the answer you will receive on what can and can not be booked.


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## PaulM (Dec 26, 2012)

roadman3313 said:


> Well that agent said you could do a train-bus-train on a corridor redepmtion (EMY to SJC to SLO to OXN). There was no mention of a one train and one bus redemption. So I agree... it seems like the "rules" depend on the agent you speak with. I mean I'll admit I work in transit and often times it comes down to which memos you received and read vs. which memos your co-worker has. It does lead to confusion with our passengers and it's something we work on standarding but getting about 1,200 to 1,300 front-line employees out of different operating divisions who have worked for various lengths of time with various sets of rules in place on the same page is often very difficult.


I think you are making AGR redemptions appear much more complicated that they actually are. A zone is a zone, that is unless one is geographically challenged, or is it directionally disabled.


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## roadman3313 (Dec 28, 2012)

Well. EMY to OXN can be a special corridor redemption in most cases. Unless you take the CS. Then the point cost is higher. It depends on the option you choose. So in the Special Corridor case, zone's don't apply per say. But you can see the Special Corridor as a zone itself for the purposes of that redemption.

I was trying to say the agent I spoke with said I couldn't travel from DEN to LAX via the SJ and a bus because the SJ and a bus were a "Special Corridor" and that would require me to use a One-Zone redemption for the CZ and a Special Corridor redemption to get from SAC to LAX via the SJ and a bus. I figured it would be a one-zone redemption but they insisted otherwise.


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