Northampton to Montreal?

[Lonnie]

I'm imagining a trip from Northampton, MA, to Essex Junction, VT. Local bus into Burlington where we eat well and possibly spend the night. Ferry to seasonal station at Port Kent, NY, which I'm sure was closed down the past two years. Stay at an Airbnb there, then from Port Kent to Montreal. But Amtrak says I can't even do Port Kent to Plattsburgh in the middle of the summer, much less Montreal. Any idea how I find out if the Port Kent station will be open this summer? Is everything north of Albany just not running?

 

[zephyr17]

The Adirondack is not running north of Albany and likely will not until international service to Montreal is resumed. There are no dates set for service resumption, the service is indefinitely suspended.

 

[Lonnie]

The Adirondack is not running north of Albany and likely will not until international service to Montreal is resumed. There are no dates set for service resumption, the service is indefinitely suspended.

I did just find this:

"Effective Early 2022

Amtrak is working with federal agencies to resume cross border service on the Maple Leaf to Toronto and Adirondack to Montreal.
We hope to resume passenger rail service between our two countries in early 2022. More details to come."
https://www.amtrak.com/maple-leaf-adirondack-cross-border-service-resumption-planThat means working with the governments of two countries. Maybe we'll have to do this in August...of 2023!

 

[zephyr17]

As I said, indefinite...

 

[Amtrak25]

Trains 68/69 are not running at all, leaving a three hour gap in NY -Albany-Ren schedules. Ethan Allen to Rutland and VT Transline bus to Burlington is the only way north besides the Vermonter. Adirondack Trailways is running twice a day to Montreal, Greyhound once.

There is no bus service between Burlington and Plattburgh. That has been gone many years, possibly with the death of Vermont Transit.

Don't count on the Port Kent ferry. There is a local rumor it is gone for good as the Burlington waterfront is very valuable and they could try to sell their space. The ferry company also scrapped and sank the "Adirondack" boat, which means a one boat schedule four times a day every 2 hours and 40 minutes, which is all they ran in 2018 and 2019. That does not connect well with the train at Port Kent. As much as I detest Greyhound's constantly sloppy and late operations, I took them south to Burlington in 2018.

Greyhound has again suspended their Vermont - Montreal route. It had been running once per day.

I suspect the PCR test requirment has ruled out discretionary travel for many.

 

[Lonnie]

Trains 68/69 are not running at all, leaving a three hour gap in NY -Albany-Ren schedules. Ethan Allen to Rutland and VT Transline bus to Burlington is the only way north besides the Vermonter. Adirondack Trailways is running twice a day to Montreal, Greyhound once, and once per day to Lake Placid, which is a separate branch.

There is no bus service between Burlington and Plattburgh. That has been gone many years, possibly with the death of Vermont Transit.

Don't count on the Port Kent ferry. There is a local rumor it is gone for good as the Burlingtom waterfront is very valuable and they could try to sell their space. The ferry company also scrapped and sank the "Adirondack" boat, which means a one boat schedule four times a day every 2 hours and 40 minutes, which is all they ran in 2018 and 2019. That does not connect well with the train at Port Kent. As much as I detest Greyhound's constantly sloppy and late operations, I took them south to Burlington in 2018.

Greyhound has again suspended their Vermont - Montreal route. It had been running once per day.

I suspect the PCR test requirment has ruled out discretionary travel for many.

All of this is pretty sad. I wasn't going to depend on good connections, hence the possibility of staying at an Airbnb in Port Kent. But that does of course depend on there being a ferry.

 

[Deni]

It's really sad that in this country is continues to get harder and harder to get places without a car.

 

[BlackDiamond]

It's really sad that in this country is continues to get harder and harder to get places without a car.

While transit in major cities seems to be improving with new light rail systems coming online, it seems that the decline in the intercity bus system has left many communities that are not on an Amtrak route without alternatives. There is also the "last mile" problem even if you do have Amtrak service, some places outside of cities it can be hard to find taxis or ubers.

 

[Amtrak25]

Transit systems live within their political boundaries, not people boundaries. Green Mountain Transit will get you to Montpellier and St Albans weekday rush hours, but no way to get to Plattsburgh. Clinton County, NY has buses, but how do you use it with the Plattsburgh- Grand Isle, VT ferry for a useful trip as a pedestrian ? They also run up to Rousses Pt, but no way to get to LaColle and beyond. How do you get from the Grand Isle ferry landing to Burlington ? It is physically possible to extend the St Albans GMT bus to the Canadian border at Highgate Springs, and have Quebec Exo 450 bus come down to meet it from St Jean Sur Richelieu, but it will never happen. The resources are there, but so called "planners" don't think out of their jurisdiction. I'm afraid Vermont is not as Green a state as they would like everyone to believe.

 

[Lonnie]

Transit systems live within their political boundaries, not people boundaries. Green Mountain Transit will get you to Montpellier and St Albans weekday rush hours, but no way to get to Plattsburgh. Clinton County, NY has buses, but how do you use it with the Plattsburgh- Grand Isle, VT ferry for a useful trip as a pedestrian ? They also run up to Rousses Pt, but no way to get to LaColle and beyond. How do you get from the Grand Isle ferry landing to Burlington ? It is physically possible to extend the St Albans GMT bus to the Canadian border at Highgate Springs, and have Quebec Exo 450 bus come down to meet it from St Jean Sur Richelieu, but it will never happen. The resources are there, but so called "planners" don't think out of their jurisdiction. I'm afraid Vermont is not as Green a state as they would like everyone to believe.

It's a wonder anything large ever gets done in Vermont, a wonderful and unique state. Its total population is less than the Syracuse NY metropolitan area. 55 percent of its roads and streets are unpaved. Its capital, Montpelier, pop 7850, makes many villages look like cities. It seems to me that without pressure from Boston to have a rail connection to Montreal, Vermont itself would be hard pressed to make it happen.

 

[MARC Rider]

While transit in major cities seems to be improving with new light rail systems coming online

I'm not so sure this is true. In most cities, even with rail systems, most of the transit is in the form of local bus lines. My experience is that many of these local routes have less frequent service than they did, say, 40 years ago. Also, the routes aren't always designed to be the most convenient for general transportation, as they may be optimized for access to employment, medical service, and human services for people who can't afford cars or are unable to drive.

There is also the "last mile" problem even if you do have Amtrak service, some places outside of cities it can be hard to find taxis or ubers.

This is definitely true. My daughter attended college in a town that had Amtrak service, but there was absolutely no local transit or even taxi service once you got off the train. Campus security would drive students from the campus to the train station. We ended up driving her there most of the time, though she would occasionally take the train.