Amtrak to Iowa City?

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

I have a young cousin who will be attending the University of Iowa. What's the closest Amtrak station(s) to Iowa City?

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Looks like Mt Pleasant, Iowa

 

[jebr]

If they don't have their own transportation in the Iowa City area, I would recommend taking Amtrak to Chicago, then transferring to Megabus to finish the trip to Iowa City. They have a 2:15 PM departure from Chicago on Fridays and Sundays (there's a daily 11:00 AM one, but the connection would be tight coming from the eastern LD trains.)

While Mount Pleasant is indeed the closest Amtrak rail station, the only transportation available between the two is private vehicle. There's no public transit or shuttle link that I'm aware of, and taxis/Uber/Lyft may be hard to obtain as well. If you're wanting an Amtrak-guaranteed connection, I'd do the Thruway bus to Davenport, and then taxi/Uber/Lyft from there. It'll be about an hour Uber ride, and so it'll still be fairly expensive, but there's a lot more availability there to actually obtain one to make the trip.

 

[railiner]

You could also take the CZ between CHI and Burlington, and then Burlington Trailways from there via Davenport to Iowa City....not sure about the connection between the bus and the train...this would most likely be more expensive, and slower than the megabus option described above...

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

You could also take the CZ between CHI and Burlington, and then Burlington Trailways from there via Davenport to Iowa City....not sure about the connection between the bus and the train...this would most likely be more expensive, and slower than the megabus option described above...

Are you sure there is a route from Davenport to Iowa City? I tried entering that city pair Burlington-Iowa City on the Burlington Trailways website and it gives only one option, which involves 4 transfers in St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, and Des Moines. Burlington-Davenport came up as a direct option, but it did not connect with with CZ #5 and nothing came up at all when searching for Davenport-Iowa City.

 

[dgvrengineer]

If they ever get the train to Moline, IL (Quad Cities), that would be close, but not sure of the connections. Originally, Iowa was going to have the train extended I think to Iowa City, but they backed out.

 

[mlanoue]

I don't think it's impossible to get from Mt. Pleasant to Iowa City by bus. Rome2Rio.com shows a Burlington Trailways bus leaving from there every day at 2:45 pm. That doesn't work as a connection to #5, unless you want to book a hotel when your less than an hour away from your destination. It's probably timed to meet other buses going east or west.

Anyhow, the BT website does list Mt. Pleasant as a full service stop, but right now it's not showing up as a possibility for booking tickets. So, I don't know if the route has been yanked due to COVID or something else.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

I don't think it's impossible to get from Mt. Pleasant to Iowa City by bus. Rome2Rio.com shows a Burlington Trailways bus leaving from there every day at 2:45 pm. That doesn't work as a connection to #5, unless you want to book a hotel when your less than an hour away from your destination. It's probably timed to meet other buses going east or west.

Anyhow, the BT website does list Mt. Pleasant as a full service stop, but right now it's not showing up as a possibility for booking tickets. So, I don't know if the route has been yanked due to COVID or something else.

Mt. Pleasant appears to be a stop on the Burlington-Omaha bus route, which passes through Des Moines but not Iowa City.

 

[railiner]

Are you sure there is a route from Davenport to Iowa City? I tried entering that city pair Burlington-Iowa City on the Burlington Trailways website and it gives only one option, which involves 4 transfers in St. Louis, Kansas City, Omaha, and Des Moines. Burlington-Davenport came up as a direct option, but it did not connect with with CZ #5 and nothing came up at all when searching for Davenport-Iowa City.

Found Iowa City to Burlington via connection in Davenport, and Burlington to Iowa City via connection in Des Moines...very roundabout, and not worth pursuing further. I don't like bus websites that don't show route maps and full timetables, that let you construct your own schedule....

 

[MccfamschoolMom]

You might also check with the college itself to see about transportation options to the campus. I remember when my son was attending UIUC, one could find information/links on the university website to bus/train/airplane options for coming to Champaign/Urbana. And my daughter's college would run a campus shuttle bus to the Amtrak station in Galesburg, IL (15 miles away) to meet trains bringing students back to campus (esp. from Chicago). (It sounds like they were even pretty good about sending someone with a car from campus to fetch students from Galesburg, if that was the only student arriving at that time.)

 

[railiner]

You might also check with the college itself to see about transportation options to the campus. I remember when my son was attending UIUC, one could find information/links on the university website to bus/train/airplane options for coming to Champaign/Urbana. And my daughter's college would run a campus shuttle bus to the Amtrak station in Galesburg, IL (15 miles away) to meet trains bringing students back to campus (esp. from Chicago). (It sounds like they were even pretty good about sending someone with a car from campus to fetch students from Galesburg, if that was the only student arriving at that time.)

That sounds like a good idea...I imagine many universities run their own transportation system both within and out of campus for their students, and these are not displayed in normal public transportation sites....

I used to see periodically, Cornell University buses arriving early in the morning in New York City, a 221 mile trip from Ithaca...

 

[mlanoue]

At this point I'm just continuing to investigate this for my own amusement, since a bus from Mt. Pleasant to Iowa City is just not practical with Amtrak even if it were possible. But, there is (or was) a BT route #1489 that's a straight shot up un US 218. I think it's on this map:

Midwest Bus Routes Map

Not sure of the date of the map. It came from this site: AMERICAN INTERCITY BUS RIDERS ASSOCIATION which I found on the Non-Rail Transportation board. It really is a shame that they don't have any sort of route or timetable map on the BT website. Of course right now, most of the routes are either not running or heavily altered.

 

[toddinde]

It’s too bad. It seems lime it might be worth the squeeze to run the Quad Cities train the extra miles to Iowa City to get the additional ridership. The whole demanding state support for the corridors thing creates these absurd results.

 

[mlanoue]

I think having the Quad Cities line extend to Iowa City would definitely get more ridership. Unfortunately it seems hard enough just to get the QC train up and running, let along ever getting Iowa back on board.

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

I seem to remember Iowa pretty much saying no to that. The QC train is getting very close, but hopefully the expenditures on our little pan thingy won't derail that (but it would be a good infrastructure project).

 

[Charles785]

Would anyone here know if in the pre-Amtrak days did each private railroad that served the Quad Cities stop both on the Iowa side of the metro, and the Illinois side, to effectively serve the entire Quad Citie area? (And I've always wondered about another thing; of these five cities - Davenport, Bettendorf, Moline, East Moline, and Rock Island, which four were considered the 'quad cities?'

 

[railiner]

Would anyone here know if in the pre-Amtrak days did each private railroad that served the Quad Cities stop both on the Iowa side of the metro, and the Illinois side, to effectively serve the entire Quad Citie area? (And I've always wondered about another thing; of these five cities - Davenport, Bettendorf, Moline, East Moline, and Rock Island, which four were considered the 'quad cities?'

I don't think Bettendorf was included....

This may answer your question...]
http://www.streamlinerschedules.com/concourse/track8/rockymtrocket194106.html
I rode the last remnant of that route in the mid seventies...by that time, the train only ran from Chicago to Rock Island...

 

[willem]

And I've always wondered about another thing; of these five cities - Davenport, Bettendorf, Moline, East Moline, and Rock Island, which four were considered the 'quad cities?'

My Rand-McNally road atlas labels the Quad Cities map with Davenport, Moline, Rock Island, and Bettendorf, and that's what I recall as the members of the gang.

When I lived there, there was a story that East Moline had wanted the metro area to be called the Quint Cities. The notion gained some traction until someone noted that another up-and-coming town (that I don't recall, sadly) would soon want to be included in the club, and then the grouping would be known as the Sex Cities, and that put an end to any reform of the moniker.

 

[Eric S]

I believe I've read that at some point in the past, the area was known as the Tri-Cities (Davenport, Moline, and Rock Island), hence the NBA team Tri-Cities Blackhawks, a team which after a number of stops along the way eventually landed as the Atlanta Hawks.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I believe I've read that at some point in the past, the area was known as the Tri-Cities (Davenport, Moline, and Rock Island), hence the NBA team Tri-Cities Blackhawks, a team which after a number of stops along the way eventually landed as the Atlanta Hawks.

Yep, they went to Milwaukee,St Louis and then Atlanta.

 

[mlanoue]

Yes, you can find old references to the "Tri-Cities" in old encyclopedias. My wife is from there, and she said that at one time East Moline was--I suppose unofficially--the fourth city, but in order to balance the Illinois-Iowa split, it gradually became Bettendorf. Might be true, might not.

 

[jloewen]

Yes, you can find old references to the "Tri-Cities" in old encyclopedias. My wife is from there, and she said that at one time East Moline was--I suppose unofficially--the fourth city, but in order to balance the Illinois-Iowa split, it gradually became Bettendorf. Might be true, might not.

Several years ago, I spoke in four of the five Quad Cities. (I wrote the book LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME, a best-seller, and enterprising folks put together engagements for me and for Chris Crutcher, author of terrific teenybopper novels that relate to HS social studies inter alia.) Spoke in Bettendorf (a community college), Davenport, Rock Island (Augustana) and the Moline Public Library. What about East Moline? Well, went past its city limits, marked by a big sign: "East Moline, One Of The Quad Cities."
It's a great country! No other country has five Quad Cities!

 

[Deni]

Several years ago, I spoke in four of the five Quad Cities. (I wrote the book LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME, a best-seller, and enterprising folks put together engagements for me and for Chris Crutcher, author of terrific teenybopper novels that relate to HS social studies inter alia.) Spoke in Bettendorf (a community college), Davenport, Rock Island (Augustana) and the Moline Public Library. What about East Moline? Well, went past its city limits, marked by a big sign: "East Moline, One Of The Quad Cities."
It's a great country! No other country has five Quad Cities!

Off topic, but I LOVE your book. Want my 11-year-old to eventually read it as well.

 

[Night Ranger]

Several years ago, I spoke in four of the five Quad Cities. (I wrote the book LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME, a best-seller, and enterprising folks put together engagements for me and for Chris Crutcher, author of terrific teenybopper novels that relate to HS social studies inter alia.) Spoke in Bettendorf (a community college), Davenport, Rock Island (Augustana) and the Moline Public Library. What about East Moline? Well, went past its city limits, marked by a big sign: "East Moline, One Of The Quad Cities."
It's a great country! No other country has five Quad Cities!

One of the greatest gifts I ever received from a student was a copy of your book. In part, the inscription on the inside reads "Thanks for never lying to us." I enjoyed the book immensely as well as the compliment paid to me by a very special student.

 

[jloewen]

Off topic, but I LOVE your book. Want my 11-year-old to eventually read it as well.

Last year LIES MY TEACHER TOLD ME came out in a new version for 11-year-olds!