SLC Amtrak to airport at 3am, arriving by CZ

[Texan Eagle]

Does anyone have experience of arriving in Salt Lake City by eastbound Zephyr which reaches at 03:00am?

I have a rental car booked from SLC airport, so need to get there from the train station at that ungodly hour. How easy is it to get an Uber/Lyft or *shudder* an old-school taxi cab at that time? Is the station and surroundings safe to hang out for sometime if needed?

 

[jis]

Heh heh. One time we arrived SLC on the Westbound CZ at around that time and had no difficulty finding taxis and Uber. So unless something has changed in the last three years I suspect you'd not have much difficulty either.

 

[the_traveler]

I did just the same. This was back before Uber or Lyft. I don't believe there were cabs waiting at the station, but at the time there was a direct line phone, and the cab came shortly and the airport is only 2-3 miles away.

Note that when I went, Hertz was the only desk open 24/7. All others opened at 5 or 6 am.

I had a rental with (I forget) Thrifty for (maybe) $95. The Hertz agent say me waiting and said if I didn't want to wait for them to open that he can rent me a car for $70. That's less then the other rental, so I almost took it! Only when I read the contract did I see it was for 1 day! My other rental was for 2 days! I waited the extra hour.

Unless you want a specific company, my advice is to check them all.

 

[BuffaloBoy]

Uber or Lyft is your best bet from the Salt Lake Amtrak. The area around the station itself is not the best place to be at that time of night but the station itself is quite safe but closes around 6 am. I don't know what car rental agency you are using but not all of the agencies are open 24 hours so I would check on that when you get a chance.

 

[greatcats]

Uber or Lyft is your best bet from the Salt Lake Amtrak. The area around the station itself is not the best place to be at that time of night but the station itself is quite safe but closes around 6 am. I don't know what car rental agency you are using but not all of the agencies are open 24 hours so I would check on that when you get a chance.

You refer to the westbound arriving at 3 am. That is the eastbound scheduled time. The westbound is scheduled to arrive about 11 pm, not ideal for picking up a rental car, either. Several years ago I got off the westbound at SLC and the agent called a cab for me, which did not show up in 40 minutes. I said to hell with it and walked about 1 mile to Little America Hotel. I was not in a good mood. These days I would call Uber or Lift.

 

[jis]

Uber or Lyft is your best bet from the Salt Lake Amtrak. The area around the station itself is not the best place to be at that time of night but the station itself is quite safe but closes around 6 am. I don't know what car rental agency you are using but not all of the agencies are open 24 hours so I would check on that when you get a chance.

You refer to the westbound arriving at 3 am. That is the eastbound scheduled time. The westbound is scheduled to arrive about 11 pm, not ideal for picking up a rental car, either. Several years ago I got off the westbound at SLC and the agent called a cab for me, which did not show up in 40 minutes. I said to hell with it and walked about 1 mile to Little America Hotel. I was not in a good mood. These days I would call Uber or Lift.

Can't help it if the Westbound ran late enough to arrive at around 3am. The traveler and I were on the same train.
But the OP is actually coming in on the eastbound, so if it is running on time, a huge big if, then it should arrive around 3am.

 

[greatcats]

My apologies, my eyes seemed to have been playing tricks on me. Yes, Jis is correct, eastbound 6 arrives at 3am.

 

[Texan Eagle]

The area around the station itself is not the best place to be at that time of night but the station itself is quite safe but closes around 6 am. I don't know what car rental agency you are using but not all of the agencies are open 24 hours so I would check on that when you get a chance.

Good to know there is some semblance of a "station" to wait in while Uber/Lyft/cab arrives. Checked on the Amtrak site, very odd opening hours for it- 10pm to 5.15am! (they seem to have a lot of faith in eastbound CZ not arriving more than 2 hours late heh! )

I have rental car booked from National at the airport and they let me select a pick-up time of 4am so I assumed they would be open then! Just confirmed, they are indeed open 24 hours at the airport.

 

[BuffaloBoy]

The area around the station itself is not the best place to be at that time of night but the station itself is quite safe but closes around 6 am. I don't know what car rental agency you are using but not all of the agencies are open 24 hours so I would check on that when you get a chance.

Good to know there is some semblance of a "station" to wait in while Uber/Lyft/cab arrives. Checked on the Amtrak site, very odd opening hours for it- 10pm to 5.15am! (they seem to have a lot of faith in eastbound CZ not arriving more than 2 hours late heh! )

I have rental car booked from National at the airport and they let me select a pick-up time of 4am so I assumed they would be open then! Just confirmed, they are indeed open 24 hours at the airport.

It is a small amshack and quite safe as I said, but make sure you tell Uber to pick you up at the shack and not the greyhound hub.

 

[sicariis]

If you're delayed TRAX (light rail) starts around 5:45am on weekdays and 6:30am on weekends, I'd give that a try, the Blue line is right outside the Amshack (Salt Lake Central) North to Arena, and switch to the Green Line which will take you to the Airport and its only $2.50.

http://www.rideuta.com/-/media/Files/Route-Schedules/April-2017/Route701_SCh_APR2017x.ashx

Or you could try the Frontrunner commuter train (starts earlier 4:30am and 5:30am northbound trains) up one stop to North temple bridge and connect to the green line there. Same price.

We were on the EB Zephyr last Winter and got stuck in the Sierra's waiting for a plow train. We were having breakfast in the dining car when we finally arrived in SLC.

 

[Texan Eagle]

If you're delayed TRAX (light rail) starts around 5:45am on weekdays and 6:30am on weekends, I'd give that a try, the Blue line is right outside the Amshack (Salt Lake Central) North to Arena, and switch to the Green Line which will take you to the Airport and its only $2.50.

Or you could try the Frontrunner commuter train (starts earlier 4:30am and 5:30am northbound trains) up one stop to North temple bridge and connect to the green line there. Same price.

I'm traveling on a Sunday, so EB CZ would have to be 3+ hours late to be able to reach SLC after the light rail starts, and cannot use Frontrunner because it does not run at all on Sundays. Not even a single service! Yay?

 

[sicariis]

If you're delayed TRAX (light rail) starts around 5:45am on weekdays and 6:30am on weekends, I'd give that a try, the Blue line is right outside the Amshack (Salt Lake Central) North to Arena, and switch to the Green Line which will take you to the Airport and its only $2.50.

Or you could try the Frontrunner commuter train (starts earlier 4:30am and 5:30am northbound trains) up one stop to North temple bridge and connect to the green line there. Same price.

I'm traveling on a Sunday, so EB CZ would have to be 3+ hours late to be able to reach SLC after the light rail starts, and cannot use Frontrunner because it does not run at all on Sundays. Not even a single service! Yay?

Ah, thats a tough spot. If you were delayed and willing to walk to the North Temple Bridge station (0.8 mile) and the first green line train to the airport is at 6:06am.

 

[Chief0792]

We traveled to SLC in July and there were plenty of cabs waiting in the parking lot adjacent to the station. Our daughter met us when inbound so not a problem being a couple hours late, but still noticed that there were no shortage of cabs meeting the train. Can't speak for Uber or Lyft, though. SLC has a large transient population and there are some who hang out at the station...but I don't recall seeing anyone bothering anyone else while there (either coming in or waiting for the E/B train at 3AM). Amtrak has a conductor who meets both Train 5 and 6 and checks tickets, etc before the train arrives, and there are a couple of other employees working at the station who, while I was there, had no hesitation calling SLC's finest to check on one transient who was having some problems.

We took a taxi from our hotel at the airport to the station and it was fine - nice driver and probably about the same cost as an Uber would have been. Dropped us off right in front of the station and made sure we knew how to get in.

 

[BuffaloBoy]

We traveled to SLC in July and there were plenty of cabs waiting in the parking lot adjacent to the station. Our daughter met us when inbound so not a problem being a couple hours late, but still noticed that there were no shortage of cabs meeting the train. Can't speak for Uber or Lyft, though. SLC has a large transient population and there are some who hang out at the station...but I don't recall seeing anyone bothering anyone else while there (either coming in or waiting for the E/B train at 3AM). Amtrak has a conductor who meets both Train 5 and 6 and checks tickets, etc before the train arrives, and there are a couple of other employees working at the station who, while I was there, had no hesitation calling SLC's finest to check on one transient who was having some problems.

We took a taxi from our hotel at the airport to the station and it was fine - nice driver and probably about the same cost as an Uber would have been. Dropped us off right in front of the station and made sure we knew how to get in.

I have arrived at SLC Amshack many times and I have never seen a cab anywhere in sight. You are correct, however, that there are taxi's parked across the street as it is the lot for a local cab company and they are driverless.

 

[CoachSlumber]

I once got there about midnight on a late westbound. There had been some kind of concert event in town and cabs were absent and seemingly unavailable. About a dozen of us were hoping for cabs and had little luck gettting through to companies on the phone or getting a promise of the cab. I ended up walking with my luggage to my hotel downtown, which took me by some unsavory homeless characters between the station and downtown. They did not bother me, though, and I made it OK, if a bit grumpily.