Ground Transport in the Pacific Northwest

[Willbridge]

More problems on the DEN <> SLC <> BOI <> PDX bus route. When the Pioneer was discontinued in 1997 there were three through Greyhound Lines trips on this route. By the time that FlixBus took over, it was down to one trip. Various combinations were tried. Recently, as I reported here, it was split into three runs, with Flix taking PDX <>BOI and BOI <> SLC. GL kept S:C <> DEN.

Now, Flix has dropped the BOI <> SLC run. Salt Lake Express is running in that time slot, but not using the same "stations" and so the Greyhound/Flix reservation system is routing DEN <> PDX passengers via Los Angeles. And charging a fare for the extra mileage.

DEN > PDX departing Sunday, October 27th:

GL/Flix = $240 = 46 hours via Los Angeles and Sacramento.
Amtrak = $233 = 56 hours via Sacramento.

 

[Willbridge]

Here's the PDX to SEA line-up for Sunday, December 1st as of Wednesday night, November 6th. Usually I have avoided holiday travel, but it might be interesting to look at it. Most Amtrak fares were set at the top bucket, $66 for Coach and $90 for Business Class.

0645 AT $66/$90
0715 FB $53
0830 AT $66/SO
0830 FB $45
1040 AT SO/SO
1040 FB $53
1410 AT SO/SO
1500 FB $54
1556 AT SO/--/$249
1755 AT $66/SO
1910 FB $51
1925 AT $53/$90

And here's PDX to SPK:

0645 AT SO/SO/$1298 chng at Seattle
0715 FB SO via Seattle
0950 FB $138 chng at Pasco
1040 AT SO chng at Seattle
1645 AT $147/--/$406
1755 AT+NW $117/SO chng at Seattle (not a Thruway service)

AT = Amtrak Coach/Business/Sleeper,
FB = Flixbus includes $3.99 service charge rounded,
NW = Northwestern Stages,
SO = Sold Out!

 

[Willbridge]

Here's the PDX to SEA line-up for Sunday, December 1st as of Wednesday night, November 13th. Compare these fares with the prices on November 6th. Most Amtrak fares were set at the top bucket, $66 for Coach and $90 for Business Class and there has been almost no change. In contrast, Flixbus has added a trip PDX > SEA > SPK and it appears that there is no ceiling on prices.

0645 AT $66/$90
0715 FB $54
0730 FB $51
0830 AT $66/SO
0830 FB $60
1040 AT SO/SO
1040 FB $60
1410 AT SO/SO
1500 FB $90
1556 AT SO/--/$249
1755 AT $66/SO
1910 FB $51
1925 AT $66/$90

And here's PDX to SPK:

0645 AT SO/SO/$1298 chng at Seattle
0715 FB SO via Seattle
0950 FB $137 chng at Pasco
1040 AT SO chng at Seattle
1645 AT $147/--/$350
1755 AT+NW $121/SO chng at Seattle (not a Thruway service)

AT = Amtrak Coach/Business/Sleeper,
FB = Flixbus includes $3.99 service charge rounded,
NW = Northwestern Stages,
SO = Sold Out!

 

[Willbridge]

Here's the PDX to SEA line-up for Sunday, December 1st as of Thursday night, November 21st. Compare these fares with the prices on November 6th. Most Amtrak fares were set at the top bucket, $66 for Coach and $90 for Business Class and there has been almost no change. In contrast, Flixbus has added a trip PDX > SEA > SPK and it now appears that there is a ceiling on their prices -- higher than Amtrak's coach fares.

Note that sleeping car fares for these short segments have been reduced since last week.

0645 AT $66/$90
0715 FB $53
0730 FB $60
0830 AT SO/SO
0830 FB $109
1040 AT SO/SO
1040 FB $109
1410 AT SO/SO
1500 FB $109
1556 AT SO/--/$211
1755 AT SO/SO
1910 FB $103
1925 AT $66/$90

And here's PDX to SPK:

0645 AT SO/SO/$314 chng at Seattle
0715 FB SO via Seattle
0730 FB SO via Seattle
0950 FB $174 chng at Pasco
1040 AT SO chng at Seattle
1645 AT $147/--/$238
1755 AT+NW SO/SO chng at Seattle (not a Thruway service)

AT = Amtrak Coach/Business/Sleeper,
FB = Flixbus includes $3.99 service charge rounded,
NW = Northwestern Stages,
SO = Sold Out!

 

[Willbridge]

As of Sunday night, November 24th, the PDX > EUG flow from Portland back to the university cities on December 1st has every train and Thruway bus sold out except for the 7:00 a.m. bus trip and sleeper rooms on Train 11 (at $4 a mile).

Flix only has two trips on the PDX > EUG run via Corvallis, and they are sold out. A third trip running PDX > SAC via SLM still has room.

 

[Willbridge]

Here's the PDX to SEA line-up for Sunday, December 1st as of Wednesday night, November 27th. Compare these fares with the prices on November 6th. Most Amtrak fares were set at the top bucket, $66 for Coach and $90 for Business Class and there has been almost no change. In contrast, Flixbus has added a trip PDX > SEA > SPK and it now appears that there is a ceiling on their prices -- higher than Amtrak's coach fare ceiling.

0645 AT $66/SO
0715 FB $90
0730 FB $95
0830 AT SO/SO
0830 FB $98
1040 AT SO/SO
1040 FB $109
1410 AT SO/SO
1500 FB $109
1556 AT SO/--/$211
1755 AT SO/SO
1910 FB $106
1925 AT SO/SO

And here's PDX to SPK:

0645 AT SO/SO/$320 chng at Seattle
0715 FB SO via Seattle
0730 FB SO via Seattle
0950 FB $168 chng at Pasco
1040 AT SO chng at Seattle
1645 AT $147/--/$268
1755 AT+NW SO/SO chng at Seattle (not a Thruway service)

AT = Amtrak Coach/Business/Sleeper,
FB = Flixbus includes $3.99 service charge rounded,
NW = Northwestern Stages,
SO = Sold Out!

 

[Willbridge]

Here's the PDX to SEA line-up for Sunday, January 12th as of Wednesday night, January 8th. Flix has discontinued another trip that ran EUG<>PDX<>SEA. It served Corvallis, which has been added to their lone SEA<> PDX<>SAC overnight run. Northwestern Stages is discontinuing their night TAC<>SEA<>SPK trip.

0645 AT $33/$86
0715 FB $34
0830 AT $27/$90
0935 FB $34
1040 AT $37/SO
1410 AT $66/SO
1500 FB $37
1556 AT $37/--/$166
1755 AT $37/$90
1910 FB $35
1925 AT $33/$57

And here's PDX to SPK:

0645 AT SO/SO/$281 chng at Seattle
0715 FB $83 via Seattle
0950 FB $53 chng at Pasco
1040 AT SO/SO/$232 chng at Seattle
1645 AT $77/--/$208

AT = Amtrak Coach/Business/Sleeper,
FB = Flixbus includes $3.99 service charge rounded,
NW = Northwestern Stages,
SO = Sold Out!

 

[Harmon Shay]

Lots of bad news. Hate to see the overnight Northwest Stages run between Seattle and Spokane going away, but I thought its schedule was weird, getting to its destinations still in the middle of the night and not really routed to hit any population centers along the way. Either the states or the federal government are going to have to step in soon if we're going to have any reasonable intercity bus service in lanes outside the major corridors like Seattle-Portland. Have you seen the proposed state plan to expand intercity bus service in Washington? It's in The Urbanist and available on Trainorders. That's the type of thing the Northwest states need. Yes, I know, the political environment is likely to be really bad for at least a while.

 

[Willbridge]

Lots of bad news. Hate to see the overnight Northwest Stages run between Seattle and Spokane going away, but I thought its schedule was weird, getting to its destinations still in the middle of the night and not really routed to hit any population centers along the way. Either the states or the federal government are going to have to step in soon if we're going to have any reasonable intercity bus service in lanes outside the major corridors like Seattle-Portland. Have you seen the proposed state plan to expand intercity bus service in Washington? It's in The Urbanist and available on Trainorders. That's the type of thing the Northwest states need. Yes, I know, the political environment is likely to be really bad for at least a while.

I hadn't seen it. I'll look for it.

The night Northwestern trip was weird, but even weirder was it being timed to depart King Street at the identical time as Train 508. And it should have been a Thruway service. I kept getting the feeling that it was run for a single customer, such as an express shipper or as in the old days, a morning newspaper.