How do I get to Santa Fe from Lamy?

[Karrie]

Hello! I am planning a surprise anniversary trip at the end of this month (July, 2023). I am having trouble figuring out how to get from the Lamy train station to Santa Fe (and back again at the end of the trip). It appears there is or was a shuttle service (Roadrunner?) that used to take passengers from Lamy to Santa Fe, but I am having trouble finding if that service is still relevant or if the route still exists. I am also open to taking an Uber if that is a possibility. I plan on renting a car in Santa Fe...does anyone know if the rental car company will pick you up from the Lamy station? Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Septa9739]

The service seems to still exist. I just did a test booking. It is bookable by entering your originating station to SAF online. A ticket agent or 1-800-USA-RAIL could also help. Another option is changing at ABQ to RailRunner, the local commuter rail option, especially if you are coming from the West.

 

[Karrie]

Hi, thank you for responding! I am coming from the Dodge City, KS train station. Albuquerque is the stop after Lamy which would put us into Santa Fe later since we would be on the train longer and then have to backtrack. I might need to call a ticket agent (thank you for the number). If you think of anything else, please let me know. Appreciate the help!

 

[Bonser]

The service seems to still exist. I just did a test booking. It is bookable by entering your originating station to SAF online. A ticket agent or 1-800-USA-RAIL could also help. Another option is changing at ABQ to RailRunner, the local commuter rail option, especially if you are coming from the West.

Or you could detrain in Alburqueque and take the Rail Runner right into Santa Fe.

 

[MARC Rider]

When I did this trip in 2015, the van would take you to any point in the city of Santa Fe for the fare paid. If you wanted to go outside the city limits it was an extra $10. Naturally we were renting a car at the Santa Fe Airport, which is just outside the city limits. We had to rent from the airport, because I was doing a one-way rental to Denver, and they would only book between airport locations.

 

[Rasputin]

This is the link to the service but it dates from 2020 so you might want to give them a call. Note that the shuttle only has one stop in Santa Fe and that is at the Santa Fe depot. They used to stop and pick up at multiple places in Santa Fe so they could take you directly to your hotel and pick up there but that no longer appears to be the case. Any update on the current situation would be appreciated.

https://rideroadrunner.com/lamy-amtrak-station

 

[Rasputin]

This is the link to the service but it dates from 2020 so you might want to give them a call. Note that the shuttle only has one stop in Santa Fe and that is at the Santa Fe depot. They used to stop and pick up at multiple places in Santa Fe so they could take you directly to your hotel and pick up there but that no longer appears to be the case. Any update on the current situation would be appreciated.

https://rideroadrunner.com/lamy-amtrak-station

I should add that in years past you could book directly with Roadrunner Shuttle for service between Lamy and Santa Fe without having to book your trip through Amtrak but it now appears that you must book your shuttle ride through Amtrak. Current information on this would be helpful if anyone has it.

 

[Karrie]

Thank you all for your help and advice! I reached out to both the Roadrunner Shuttle (505.424.3367) and called Amtrak directly at (800-USA-RAIL) to discuss the options. After speaking with someone at the Roadrunner shuttle, she told me I had to call and book my Amtrak tickets via phone to add the shuttle to my trip. You can't book it online even though it says somewhere that you can (which is what I was having issues with). She said to make sure to ask to add on the "thru-way service" or we would not be booked for the shuttle. She said the shuttle would receive a generated list from Amtrak of the customers who needed the shuttle to Santa Fe. She was super helpful! I followed her directions which were precisely what I needed. I was able to book both the train tickets and the shuttle service. When I was done booking with the Amtrak representative on the phone, he emailed me my e-tickets which also showed my reservation on the shuttle to and from Santa Fe (I booked round-trip tickets). The Roadrunner service representative also told me that the shuttle driver will drop you off at the Santa Fe Train Depot unless you ask him if he can take you to your hotel. She said it would depend on how many people were on the shuttle and how busy he was, so no guarantee that the driver will do that. It would be best to plan on reserving an Uber to pick you up from the train station and take you to your hotel, car rental place, etc. I let the shuttle rep. know it was very difficult to figure out how to navigate it since it is so unclear on both the Amtrak website and the shuttle website. Hopefully, all of this information helps someone else in planning their next trip!

 

[zephyr17]

I got the option of booking the Roadrunner shuttle online using station code SAF (Santa Fe Central Area) doing a dummy booking.

Got a normal 2 segment option with the SW Chief and Thruway codeshare on Roadrunner.

 

[Rasputin]

Karrie,
Thanks for posting that very helpful information.

One of the problems with using the Lamy shuttle a few years ago was that you could not book a trip to Santa Fe using points because you could not use points for the shuttle. On our trip we purchased our tickets to Santa Fe one way and Amtrak booked us direct to Santa Fe using the shuttle. Then on our return trip we booked directly with the Roadrunner Shuttle to take us from Santa Fe to Lamy and we booked our return on the train from Lamy using points. As I recall at the time it cost about $5 more to book directly with Roadrunner than with Amtrak.

I am not sure if you can still purchase directly from Roadrunner as the website indicates that you cannot. I tried a test booking today and you still cannot book to or from Santa Fe using points. The website response you get is that the train is sold out (but it isn't because you can still buy a ticket to Santa Fe on that day or book with points to Lamy on that date).