# Amtrak free connections to local transit



## DowneasterPassenger (Apr 5, 2010)

The San Joaquin and Capitol corridor conductors will give you free transfers to a number of local tranist agencies along the route. For example you can get a freetransfer to the east bay AC Transit system. (but not BART. However you can purchase a $10 BART ticket for $8 from the LSA).

In Philadelphia you can ride SEPTA to center city stations with an Amtrak ticket.

Boston has no such deal. You have to pay to ride the subway from North to South station. Nor does New York City transit have any special fares for Amtrak passengers on locak transit.

Any other cities offer free or discounted local transit to Amtrak passengers?


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## Guest (Apr 5, 2010)

SanJoaquinRider said:


> The San Joaquin and Capitol corridor conductors will give you free transfers to a number of local tranist agencies along the route. For example you can get a freetransfer to the east bay AC Transit system. (but not BART. However you can purchase a $10 BART ticket for $8 from the LSA).In Philadelphia you can ride SEPTA to center city stations with an Amtrak ticket.
> 
> Boston has no such deal. You have to pay to ride the subway from North to South station. Nor does New York City transit have any special fares for Amtrak passengers on locak transit.
> 
> Any other cities offer free or discounted local transit to Amtrak passengers?


Amtrak tickets are valid for entry on AirTrain Newark.


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## jis (Apr 5, 2010)

SanJoaquinRider said:


> In Philadelphia you can ride SEPTA to center city stations with an Amtrak ticket.


Not all Center City zone stations. Only Suburban Station and Market East.


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## DowneasterPassenger (Apr 5, 2010)

jis said:


> SanJoaquinRider said:
> 
> 
> > In Philadelphia you can ride SEPTA to center city stations with an Amtrak ticket.
> ...


I stand corrected! By "center city" I meant 30th, Suburban and Market East.

But is there no other city where Amtrak has agreements with local transit for free transfers, besides northern California and Philly?


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## jis (Apr 5, 2010)

SanJoaquinRider said:


> jis said:
> 
> 
> > SanJoaquinRider said:
> ...


The Philly agreement predates Amtrak in some sense. Because initially when Amtrak was created the Keystone Service trains, many of which were operated by Silverliners , did travel to Suburban Station, when such was discontinued the agreement was put in place to allow people the same access using Amtrak tickets to 30th St.

AFAIK there was no similar predecessor usage in place that would prompt a continuing agreement.


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## AlanB (Apr 5, 2010)

Guest said:


> SanJoaquinRider said:
> 
> 
> > The San Joaquin and Capitol corridor conductors will give you free transfers to a number of local tranist agencies along the route. For example you can get a freetransfer to the east bay AC Transit system. (but not BART. However you can purchase a $10 BART ticket for $8 from the LSA).In Philadelphia you can ride SEPTA to center city stations with an Amtrak ticket.
> ...


While you're correct that they are valid for the AirTrain, you are paying for that priviledge. The $7 surcharge for the AirTrain is added into the price of your Amtrak ticket.


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## PhilaBurbTom (Apr 5, 2010)

Regarding Philadelphia, inbound to 30th St. you will most likely not be asked for a ticket from Temple Univ. Station to 30th St. You enter the center city tunnel right after Temple and there is a lot of people moving towards the doors for Market St. East. The next stop is Suburban and the crews change before going on to 30th St. Departing 30th St. the new conductors will then start lifting tickets. There is always a crew change at Suburban Station. Why the crew change? I assume because that is the splint between the old Reading and Pennsy lines. I know they have been doing it since the Center City tunnel was built 25 yrs ago and Market St. East is below the old Reading Terminal (now part of the Convention Center).


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## PRR 60 (Apr 5, 2010)

PhilaBurbTom said:


> Regarding Philadelphia, inbound to 30th St. you will most likely not be asked for a ticket from Temple Univ. Station to 30th St. You enter the center city tunnel right after Temple and there is a lot of people moving towards the doors for Market St. East. The next stop is Suburban and the crews change before going on to 30th St. Departing 30th St. the new conductors will then start lifting tickets. There is always a crew change at Suburban Station. Why the crew change? I assume because that is the splint between the old Reading and Pennsy lines. I know they have been doing it since the Center City tunnel was built 25 yrs ago and Market St. East is below the old Reading Terminal (now part of the Convention Center).


That is true for trains passing through Center City and heading for a suburban location. However, a number of trains terminate either at 30th Street (on the PRR side) or Temple (on the Reading side). In those cases, the crews do not change at Suburban. Since the train is not leaving Center City (except to Temple en route to Roberts Yard), anyone boarding could only be taking a short ride. They will (or at least should) have to surrender a ticket, show a pass, or show an Amtrak ticket or stub upon boarding since tickets will not be lifted on board.


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## Rumpled (Apr 6, 2010)

A little backwards from your inquiry.

Monthly passes on Metrolink in SoCal are/were usable on Amtrak Surfliner for the same city pairs. This does make sense because the state is essentially subsidizing both services.

I think this might be going away with budget problems.


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## gswager (Apr 6, 2010)

Rumpled said:


> A little backwards from your inquiry.Monthly passes on Metrolink in SoCal are/were usable on Amtrak Surfliner for the same city pairs. This does make sense because the state is essentially subsidizing both services.
> 
> I think this might be going away with budget problems.


No, the Metrolink are funded by local county/city governments with some state funds while the Pacific Surfliner is funded by state of California.


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## Rumpled (Apr 6, 2010)

gswager said:


> Rumpled said:
> 
> 
> > A little backwards from your inquiry.Monthly passes on Metrolink in SoCal are/were usable on Amtrak Surfliner for the same city pairs. This does make sense because the state is essentially subsidizing both services.
> ...


You are a bit more correct than my statement; but it is tricky to figure out. Just spent some time looking for budgets for both and couldn't find what I was looking for. There are various bond issues, local and statewide, that go to both systems. Metrolink is set up as a joint powers with revenue from each agency and the state and feds. CACOT (CalTrans) funds PacSurf but gets $ form various sources to do so. Gas tax as well ends up heading to both, seems this funding takes various routes, sometimes back to where it came from.

If I'd left out the qualifier of "essentially", I think my statement would be totally correct. The state does subsidize both services, just not totally. Though apparently the PacSurf subsidy all comes thru the state, with a few inputs to that.


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## sechs (Apr 7, 2010)

The State of California does subsidize Metrolink, as well as Coaster, as it does all major transit systems in the state. In fact, there was a recent court ruling restoring part of those subsidies, previously cut, to the transit agencies.

So, in essence, the state does, to some extent subsidize both services. Rail2Rail, however, I think is a byproduct of Amtrak California (CalTrans) wanting to running additional services that would otherwise be to the detriment of Metrolink (SCRRA). Certain Pacific Surfliner runs displace Metrolink Orange County Line runs, but the pass acceptance program mitigates the situation.


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## MikefromCrete (Apr 7, 2010)

PhilaBurbTom said:


> Regarding Philadelphia, inbound to 30th St. you will most likely not be asked for a ticket from Temple Univ. Station to 30th St. You enter the center city tunnel right after Temple and there is a lot of people moving towards the doors for Market St. East. The next stop is Suburban and the crews change before going on to 30th St. Departing 30th St. the new conductors will then start lifting tickets. There is always a crew change at Suburban Station. Why the crew change? I assume because that is the splint between the old Reading and Pennsy lines. I know they have been doing it since the Center City tunnel was built 25 yrs ago and Market St. East is below the old Reading Terminal (now part of the Convention Center).


A number of years ago, I rode Amtrak from Newark to Philadelphia after a day of railfaning in the New York City area. I was staying at a hotel in Central City Philadelphia. Because of some problems at Penn Station in New York, there was big delay in trains leaving New York at the height of the rush hour. In fact,it was a several hours delay. When the trains finally started running, I got on the first Amtrak train for the ride to Philly. Since the train was packed, I rode with a bunch of other people in the vestibule of the first coach, right behind the engine. when we finally got to 30th Street Station, I walked up to the upper level to catch a train to Suburban Station. I didn't think the conductor would bother to check tickets on the short hop, but he did and I had to search through my pockets for the Amtrak receipt, which he accepted. I guess because it was at such a late hour (post 10 p.m.) that there weren't many people on the train and he was looking for something to do. So always keep that Amtrak ticket stub handy!


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