Amtrak in Allentown PA?

[Cho Cho Charlie]

This afternoon, I passed a bus that in the front signage, up over the windshield, had the Amtrak name and logo displayed.

Would an Amtrak bus do a one-off private charter? An Amtrak bus that is really lost?

 

[trainman74]

An Amtrak bus that is really lost?

 

[MARC Rider]

There's a Thruway bus between Scranton and Philadelphia. Allentown would be a logical intermediate stop. Indded, there's a station listing (AWN) on amtrak.com.

 

[railiner]

This afternoon, I passed a bus that in the front signage, up over the windshield, had the Amtrak name and logo displayed.

Would an Amtrak bus do a one-off private charter? An Amtrak bus that is really lost?

Keep in mind that Amtrak does not own any of its 'Thruway' buses....they are all contracted from private bus companies. While they should probably be dedicated to use only on the Thruway service, since Amtrak's name is displayed, if a private carrier finds itself needing an extra bus for it's private charter business, they would probably just use it.

I am not sure if Amtrak's contract with them would prohibit that, or not.....

 

[railiner]

Of course, Amtrak did operate its Autumn Excursion train through Allentown, a couple of years ago...when I first saw the title of this thread, I was just hoping.......

 

[Palmland]

Great info, thanks. My son is moving to near Scranton. It will make our visits from the south much easier without having to go through NY, NJT and a drive for him to meet us at end of the line.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

There's a Thruway bus between Scranton and Philadelphia. Allentown would be a logical intermediate stop. Indded, there's a station listing (AWN) on amtrak.com.

Thanks.

I had no idea, and with all my Amtrak interactions, I have never stumbled up it. And in 25+ years never saw such a bus before.

 

[Charles785]

Does anyone on here know the schedule for any Allentown Amtrak Thruway bus service? And would the bus, if any, connect with Philadelphia, Lancaster, or some other place?

Is it a fairly new service? At least I can't seem to find any mention of it in my January, 2016, Amtrak System Timetable (which I believe was the last one ever printed).

 

[west point]

Speculation is that all thruway buses have electronic signs. It may be the thru ways are required to display the Amtrak information ?. Maybe Amtrak even supplies the computer cards for the display ?

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

There's a Thruway bus between Scranton and Philadelphia. Allentown would be a logical intermediate stop. Indded, there's a station listing (AWN) on amtrak.com.

Would be, but that is a Martz Trailways bus and it stops in Wilkes Barre/Scranton only.

They aren't on the June .pdf schedule but I looked up Allentown to Chicago and Allentown to Orlando and found new Thruway buses to 30th St. Station:

Date: 11/21/18

8201: 9:00-10:35am to southbound SS, westbound Pennsylvanian, southbound NER 125/CL, or Keystone 648/LSL

8405: 9:35-11:55am to southbound SS, westbound Pennsylvanian, or southbound 125/CL

8407: 1:30-3:50pm to southbound SM

 

[NEPATrainTraveler]

Martz Trailways’ Philadelphia run added the Allentown stop sometime in June. Amtrak never printed it on the NER schedule, so you will have to go to Martz website for the proper schedule.

 

[Triley]

Martz Trailways’ Philadelphia run added the Allentown stop sometime in June. Amtrak never printed it on the NER schedule, so you will have to go to Martz website for the proper schedule.

Nah, if you try to buy a ticket between Allentown and Philly, it'll show you all the departures. And apparently it's one of the thruway buses you can book without a connecting train ticket. Weird.

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

Martz Trailways’ Philadelphia run added the Allentown stop sometime in June. Amtrak never printed it on the NER schedule, so you will have to go to Martz website for the proper schedule.

I stand corrected.

8201, 8203, and 8209 (late Fri/Sun only) southbound and 8202, 8208, and 8204 (late Frii/Sun only) northbound are Martz only.

Latest schedule to from Allentown/ Wilkes Barre/ Scranton: https://martztrailways.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/MartzSmallDay073018.pdf

The other buses must be from another carrier.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

Martz Trailways’ Philadelphia run added the Allentown stop sometime in June.

For me, June would be pretty new. I have been using Bieber to 30th Street for decades, and suddenly thought I was missing the obvious, Amtrak bus (aka Martz) to 30th Street.

I did a quick check with a "fake" Amtrak booking from Allentown (AWN) to Orlando (ORL). It gave me the Amtrak bus, with a comfortable connection time of an hour at 30th Street, before boarding a Silver.

This is one of the most existing new services, to me, in years!

 

[NEPATrainTraveler]

Martz Trailways’ Philadelphia run added the Allentown stop sometime in June.

For me, June would be pretty new. I have been using Bieber to 30th Street for decades, and suddenly thought I was missing the obvious, Amtrak bus (aka Martz) to 30th Street.
I did a quick check with a "fake" Amtrak booking from Allentown (AWN) to Orlando (ORL). It gave me the Amtrak bus, with a comfortable connection time of an hour at 30th Street, before boarding a Silver.

This is one of the most existing new services, to me, in years!

I agree that June is new. I guess Martz didn’t notify Amtrak in time before Amtrak made that NER schedule.

 

[PVD]

Wasn't there some kind of Bieber issue that prompted others to adjust offerings?

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

Wasn't there some kind of Bieber issue that prompted others to adjust offerings?

Bieber lost its reserved parking spot within the Port Authority Bus Terminal in NYC. That only effects NYC travel. Yes, another bus company jumped on the rarely available parking spot, and is now also offering bus trips to NYC.

Just to add, Bieber still offers express trips to NYC, but now drops off its passengers along the NJ shoreline. Bieber includes a ferry trip over to Manhattan in their fare.