Train cancelled... an 8 hour bus ride?

[James]

I just received an alert from Amtrak that my family vacation... which was supposed to be a train trip from Salt Lake City to Colorado Springs is now going to be a a trip on the bus. We were all looking forward to the train. I've taken the train one time previously from SLC to Denver and loved the views, and the train experience. I'm not rich so I took advantage of all the prepaid deals I could find. Hotel is prepaid so we can;t lose all that money and cancel or reschedule.

So I need some advice from you experienced travelers. My wife and I have are travelling with 3 children - 15, 14, and 9. The train would have had plenty of room for us to play games, walk around, watch scenery, etc. Now we will be stuck on a bus. It is what it is.

I am asking for any ideas you may have for this extended trip on a bus. I assume we will need to pack lunches since there is no dining or lounge car... The trip will be about 8 hours. I want to make the best of this, but honestly I am concerned. I hope my idea to take the train (now a freaking bus) will not ruin my family vacation.

Also, are the Amtrak thruway busses at least half way decent? Should I seriously consider cancelling the trip even though I would be out $$$? I don't want to make my kids endure a terrible experience, and an 8 hour bus ride scares me a bit.

 

[the_traveler]

Where is the 8 hour bus ride from and to? :huh: If the route thru the Colorado Rockies is closed (like for trackwork), the CZ will detour from SLC to DEN via Wyoming running nonstop. Amtrak never served Colorado Springs.

 

[KmH]

When is your trip? So others will know what date the #6 train got canceled.

Amtrak.com has nothing about that.

I think Denver to Colorado Springs is always by bus (1.5 hr bus trip)on an Amtrak ticket.

There is currently a service alert for a train #6 temporary schedule 4/30 to 5/9.

 

[James]

Oops.... I typed Colorado Springs when I meant to type Glenwood Springs, Colorado. My bad. Trip is June 8. I was notified there will not be an eastbound train on June 8.

 

[UTJames]

I wonder if the online alert shows the wrong dates. There is an alert for train #6 4/30 to 5/9; however, my trip is on June 8. I tried making a new reservation from SLC to GSC and there is no train availability, only thruway bus #5106 4:30 am to 12:01 pm.

 

[PRR 60]

Are you going to Colorado Springs (COS) or Glenwood Springs (GSC)? If GSC, then if the train is rerouted via Wyoming, intermediate Colorado stops are covered by bus service. That appears to be the case on June 8. The train is bookable SLC to DEN (and on to COS via the regular Thruway bus), but not SLC to GSC. Only bus is offered SLC to GSC.

 

[AlexandriaVaTraveler]

This gentleman's unfortunate situation exemplifies, I think, some of the natural tension of Amtrak's western long-distance routes...is Amtrak's job to get you between two points in a given time span, or to provide a land cruise?

 

[UTJames]

Are you going to Colorado Springs (COS) or Glenwood Springs (GSC)? If GSC, then if the train is rerouted via Wyoming, intermediate Colorado stops are covered by bus service. That appears to be the case on June 8. The train is bookable SLC to DEN (and on to COS via the regular Thruway bus), but not SLC to GSC. Only bus is offered SLC to GSC.

Yes, this is correct. I meant to type Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

 

[PRR 60]

Are you going to Colorado Springs (COS) or Glenwood Springs (GSC)? If GSC, then if the train is rerouted via Wyoming, intermediate Colorado stops are covered by bus service. That appears to be the case on June 8. The train is bookable SLC to DEN (and on to COS via the regular Thruway bus), but not SLC to GSC. Only bus is offered SLC to GSC.

Yes, this is correct. I meant to type Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

Then, it appears that Union Pacific track work is the issue with the train detouring through Wyoming from SLC to DEN. If you could push your trip back one day, the train is running to GSC on June 9.

 

[SteveSFL]

This gentleman's unfortunate situation exemplifies, I think, some of the natural tension of Amtrak's western long-distance routes...is Amtrak's job to get you between two points in a given time span, or to provide a land cruise?

If there wasn't supposed to be any difference between Amtrak and Greyhound, then people would take Greyhound, as they seem to get people between two points in a given time span. Unfortunately the OP doesn't have a whole lot of options due to his advance planning and reservations. He is rightly upset, but it's not necessarily Amtrak's fault. I imagine that they would probably compensate him nonetheless if he were to call customer relations after the trip.

 

[SteveSFL]

Are you going to Colorado Springs (COS) or Glenwood Springs (GSC)? If GSC, then if the train is rerouted via Wyoming, intermediate Colorado stops are covered by bus service. That appears to be the case on June 8. The train is bookable SLC to DEN (and on to COS via the regular Thruway bus), but not SLC to GSC. Only bus is offered SLC to GSC.

Yes, this is correct. I meant to type Glenwood Springs, Colorado.

Then, it appears that Union Pacific track work is the issue with the train detouring through Wyoming from SLC to DEN. If you could push your trip back one day, the train is running to GSC on June 9.

And Amtrak may be willing to honor the same pricing for that change.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

This gentleman's unfortunate situation exemplifies, I think, some of the natural tension of Amtrak's western long-distance routes...is Amtrak's job to get you between two points in a given time span, or to provide a land cruise?

If there wasn't supposed to be any difference between Amtrak and Greyhound, then people would take Greyhound, as they seem to get people between two points in a given time span. Unfortunately the OP doesn't have a whole lot of options due to his advance planning and reservations. He is rightly upset, but it's not necessarily Amtrak's fault. I imagine that they would probably compensate him nonetheless if he were to call customer relations after the trip.

That's a moot point, because Greyhound does not operate between Salt Lake City and Glenwood Springs. One would have to go through Denver, which is a huge detour and goes through Wyoming anyways. Elevated Transit (ET) does provide a connection from SLC to Green River.

 

[BoulderCO]

OP - when is your return trip? Is it also affected? 8 hours on bus may not be too bad with kids as old as yours as long as they had the train ride to look forward on the return.

 

[Anderson]

This gentleman's unfortunate situation exemplifies, I think, some of the natural tension of Amtrak's western long-distance routes...is Amtrak's job to get you between two points in a given time span, or to provide a land cruise?

The problem is that there are specific amenities included with that basic transportation purpose which a Thruway does not offer. Yes, one of them is the view; however, there are others such as the ability to buy food on board, the ability to stretch one's legs at will (and, I strongly suspect, the quality/pitch of the seats) which are not included in or available with a standard bus service.

Even setting aside the Western trains, I'm thinking of the one time I was bustituted on the Adirondack. Instead of snoozing most of the way to Montreal in an Amfleet II, I was awake almost the whole way and ended up crashing spectactularly when I got to my hotel. The bus's legroom was roughly on par with an airliner, I swear the seat width was less than I would have had on Amtrak, and I wasn't able to grab a snack en route. While I did, in fact, get from A to B I cannot say I was wholly satisfied with the substitute service.

I raise this example to point out the fact that the issue isn't that a given slab of scenery isn't available to the rider. There is a lot more to a train ride on many routes than just the scenery. I think this gets dismissively termed the "experience", but there really is a substantial bundle of amenities that your "standard" LD Amtrak train has which most substitute services do not offer.

 

[Alice]

What about just driving? It's only 6 hours plus stops. If your own car isn't appropriate, a rental might still be less than the train fare you should get refunded.

 

[chakk]

Amtrak will provide a chartered bus for passengers traveling from SLC to GSC that day, so it will probably be slightly better than an ordinary Greyhound. Early arrival into GSC is highly likely. The bus route is within a few miles of the CZ's regular route, except for the Ruby Canyon area of eastern Utah.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Amtrak will provide a chartered bus for passengers traveling from SLC to GSC that day, so it will probably be slightly better than an ordinary Greyhound. Early arrival into GSC is highly likely. The bus route is within a few miles of the CZ's regular route, except for the Ruby Canyon area of eastern Utah.

I guess I'll have to point out that what Greyhound did basically caused me to stop supporting Greyhound. You see, at this point, there's no such thing as an "ordinary Greyhound", because their entire fleet currently consists of 50% HORRIBLE POS buses and 50% comfortable buses, which means Greyhound should no longer be used as a basis for comparisons.

The average charter bus is what a Greyhound used to be like, somewhere in between. Unfortunately, Greyhound no longer has anything in between good and terrible. Also, newer charter buses will often be less comfortable than older ones as bus manufacturers cut quality in an attempt to speed up retirement and boost new sales. Some charter buses can also be a lot better than others. The wheelbase often determines how comfortable the ride will be.

I'm disillusioned at buses in general due to total inconsistency. These days, you have no idea what a bus is going to be like until you know the specific model with the specific seats. There's good buses with bad seats, bad buses with good seats, good buses with good seats, and bad buses with bad seats. So I would not make any predictions as to what the bus ride will be like, just that it's more likely to be a bad ride than a good ride due to what the manufacturers are doing.

Edit: If I were in your situation, I would just go, but Amtrak better give me a voucher and better not charter a POS bus or a new bus.

 

[AlexandriaVaTraveler]

@Swadian

My DC-NY runs have all featured fine Greyhound coaches, the new prevost ones. Perhaps regional variations?

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Prevosts? Greyhound's Prevost are some of the least comfortable buses I've ever ridden! Their seats are tortuous! I'm boycotting all Greyhound routes operated with new buses, which now compose 50% of the fleet, because they are all torturous in terms in terms of seating. Actually, I'll probably still ride Greyhound to San Francisco, but that's it. That's bad enough already

The Prevosts can be considered good buses with bad seats. Bad enough for me to boycott them.

If I were the OP, I would find another way to get out of this situation. There's no saying Amtrak won't charter a torture machine because the bus industry now has more bad buses than good buses and it's only going to get worse as manufacturers keep pumping out modern junk.

 

[me_little_me]

If the train is still running to Denver, what about ticketing through to there then renting a car or taking a bus to Glenwood Springs?

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Yeah, that could work out for the OP, though it would be a huge detour. It would have to be a rental car, not Greyhound, from Denver to Glenwood Springs. I don't think the OP would want to ride a 00:20 departure out of Denver that gets to Glenwood at 3:55. BTW, that's the bus to Las Vegas since Greyhound doesn't run Glenwood to SLC anymore.

I guess the OP could just deal with the charter bus, but most of them are bad or at least not good enough for a 8-hour ride. Some are so bad, I wouldn't even ride them for 1 hour. One time long ago I did take a tour bus that was a H model from San Fran to Los Angeles and back. That was actually a good bus ride, but the H model is pretty much the only good charter bus and it's more used for tours than for other charters. If Amtrak bustitutes you, they probably won't charter a tour bus as they're slower and more expensive. Well, the E model is good too, but is very, very rare. Chances are, James would be on a bad bus.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

I did some checking on Amtrak.com since I am scheduled to travel to Glenwood Springs from Chicago May 28 and then continue on to Emeryville May 31. I will then return to Denver from Emeryville on June 3. I discovered that the days of re-routing the CZ through Wyoming are June 1-8. My train on May 31 from Glenwood Springs May 31 is the last day train will go through Colorado instead of Wyoming before the reroute. According to Amtrak.com the train on June 9 will be the first to resume traveling through Colorado.

Based on this, if you can change your trip to one day later on June 9 the train will be operating through Colorado to Glenwood Springs. Just don't travel June 1-8.

Looks like I get to see Wyoming on June 4. Many years ago I did the SLC to DEN ride non-stop via Wyoming plus I did ride that route when the Zephyr was scheduled through Wyoming prior to assuming the Colorado route from the Denver and Rio Grande.

 

[Cina]

I did some checking on Amtrak.com since I am scheduled to travel to Glenwood Springs from Chicago May 28 and then continue on to Emeryville May 31. I will then return to Denver from Emeryville on June 3. I discovered that the days of re-routing the CZ through Wyoming are June 1-8. My train on May 31 from Glenwood Springs May 31 is the last day train will go through Colorado instead of Wyoming before the reroute. According to Amtrak.com the train on June 9 will be the first to resume traveling through Colorado.

Based on this, if you can change your trip to one day later on June 9 the train will be operating through Colorado to Glenwood Springs. Just don't travel June 1-8.

Looks like I get to see Wyoming on June 4. Many years ago I did the SLC to DEN ride non-stop via Wyoming plus I did ride that route when the Zephyr was scheduled through Wyoming prior to assuming the Colorado route from the Denver and Rio Grande.

Where are you seeing this about a reroute on the site? We're taking a westbound CZ trip June 3rd and I'll be super disappointed if it's rerouted through Wyoming.

 

[jebr]

Frankly, while the scenery is very nice through the Colorado Rockies, much of the reroute through Wyoming is nice in its own respect. If you've taken the CZ through the Colorado Rockies already, I would personally recommend keeping the trip with the reroute. It's a nice change of pace.

 

[Tennessee Traveler]

I did some checking on Amtrak.com since I am scheduled to travel to Glenwood Springs from Chicago May 28 and then continue on to Emeryville May 31. I will then return to Denver from Emeryville on June 3. I discovered that the days of re-routing the CZ through Wyoming are June 1-8. My train on May 31 from Glenwood Springs May 31 is the last day train will go through Colorado instead of Wyoming before the reroute. According to Amtrak.com the train on June 9 will be the first to resume traveling through Colorado.

Based on this, if you can change your trip to one day later on June 9 the train will be operating through Colorado to Glenwood Springs. Just don't travel June 1-8.

Looks like I get to see Wyoming on June 4. Many years ago I did the SLC to DEN ride non-stop via Wyoming plus I did ride that route when the Zephyr was scheduled through Wyoming prior to assuming the Colorado route from the Denver and Rio Grande.

Where are you seeing this about a reroute on the site? We're taking a westbound CZ trip June 3rd and I'll be super disappointed if it's rerouted through Wyoming.

See a new post I began California Zephyr Rerouted June 1-8. If you try to book passage to Glenwood Springs on those days you will discover you will travel by bus between Denver and Glenwood Springs; however, you will note that the train does travel from Denver to Salt Lake City. Only option is Wyoming.