Bus from Maricopa to Phoenix

[texline]

We have a trip planned to Phoenix and we are traveling east bound on the Sunset Limited. I saw they added a bus connection so I called Amtrak to set up the reservation. The agent said she couldn't book the bus segment. I tried a couple other agents and got the same answer. The last agent said the timetable is too close to guarantee a connection. I asked why they showed the bus connection in the timetable. She said west bound only.

I called the bus company and asked about reserving a bus seat. She asked if I reserved through Amtrak. I told her the response from Amtrak. She was puzzled. She said the bus connects either way. She said it waits for the SL as the bus is not on a regular schedule, it is based on the train.

I wonder if it is miscommunication or something else. Has anyone used this connection?

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[niemi24s]

Suggest you call Amtrak, ask to speak to a supervisor and then relay this information plus the name and phone number of the person at the bus company. Then, call the bus company and suggest they also call Amtrak as they may well be losing some business because of all this.

 

[texline]

I did follow up and notified both. On a follow up to Amtrak, I asked why west bound is out. Because the bus left an hour early before the train (in November). I pointed out the time zone change and AZ time. Dead silence. Then the supervisor said still wouldn't work. I hope the bus company follows up or Amtrak revises the time table.

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[PVD]

Arizona time gets screwed up all the time by people who don't realize they don't do Daylight Savings (with a few small exceptions none of which are germane to Amtrak) If I call my sister in Phoenix right after my breakfast I'm in trouble 6 months out of the year.

 

[Lonestar648]

The bus company needs to contact their person at Amtrak to start the discussion, that their agreement is not being followed by Amtrak. I would think that Amtrak proposed an average number of tickets would be sold, thus the Amtrak system is cutting out potential revenue.

 

[ABQFloridian]

It's definitely related to Arizona time, because it's available to book online in October, but not December.

 

[fairviewroad]

It's definitely related to Arizona time, because it's available to book online in October, but not December.

"Related to" yes.

But the real culprit here appears to be the humans running the system.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

It's definitely related to Arizona time, because it's available to book online in October, but not December.

"Related to" yes.

But the real culprit here appears to be the humans running the system.

I'm often amused and astounded when I encounter someone who works for a coast-to-coast national scale business that still cannot remember how time zones work in 2017. How are they not repeatedly embarrassed by their lack of knowledge and understanding of the world around them? And then I remember that most of us simply gave up trying to understand the metric system or the Celsius scale or the scientific method and it all starts to make sense again.