transferring in Flagstaff to Phoenix via Grehound

[history buff]

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I'm considering taking 3 to Flagstaff and on to Phoenix via the Greyhound connection. The amtrak website describes the connection as self transferring. Also I'm not sure if this is a guaranteed connection. I would any comments based on past experience. Since this is a middle of the night transfer, I'm wondering what I'm running into. Also I will have a golf bag that I will have to carry with me. I would return to 4 via the Greyound connection. Thanks for any insight.

 

[the_traveler]

It is NOT a guaranteed connection! Besides being separate companies, Amtrak and Greyhound are in separate locations in Flagstaff. You either have to walk or (most likely) take a cab between them.

 

[spidersfan351]

I did this two summers ago, but from PHX. The Greyhound station is about a half mile from the Amtrak station, I believe. Great experience, but when I looked at the timetable, you might be better off taking the Arizona Shuttle option. That leaves straight from the Amtrak station, and has a 10:20pm and 12:20 am departures, so if you miss the first you can make the second.

I would recommend you stay in Flagstaff. I really love that town! Great microbrews and restaurants right there by the tracks.

I booked Greyhound a month in advance, I think it was $13 a person - great deal. No idea what AZ Shuttle costs.

 

[greatcats]

Good morning - I live in Flagstaff and I like it here, too. The present Greyhound station, to which it moved a few years ago, is about one mile from Amtrak on Butler Ave., a very small station. ( The former station, a much larger building, was closer and has been torn down. ) It is walkable and I would not call it particularly unsafe, but if it was late at night and I had baggage, I would take a cab. The Arizona Shuttle is probably a better idea. The fare is $45, or $4 less if an Internet reservation is made. If it was me arriving by train, I too would rather stay overnight and there are several places within walking distance of the Amtrak station. If you don't mind arriving Phoenix in the middle of the night, then go ahead. Please private message me if you need more information.

 

[greatcats]

One might wonder why Greyhound moved from a larger station closer to town. I stopped in one day and asked some questions of the Greyhound agent. He said the former building had structural problems and was too big for their purposes. The present very small station is a rental space. While I like to keep informed on what transportation options are available to me here, I find the Greyhound schedules not very convenient to go to say, Los Angeles, or shudder, to Chicago. The air service here tends to be expensive and has only suited my purposes a few times. I would much rather take the train. To go to and from Phoenix, which I do often, I drive. Now before someone asks why there is not a train between Flagstaff and Phoenix, I will provide an answer. ( And getting off topic. ) There was such service until I believe the late 60's. The railroad is very much in existence, which diverts at Williams Junction through Williams on the route of the old Santa Fe mainline and continues west about 18 miles to Ash Fork and turns south. ( The old mainline continued west, with some of the roadbed being visible from Interstate 40. A new mainline was built north of Williams around 1960. ) The existing freight line to and from Phoenix sees daily freight service, but it is a circuitous route and unsignalled. It heads south via Chino Valley, to the west of Prescott via Skull Valley through a remote route known as the Peavine, and winds down to Wickenburg and then approaches Phoenix from the northwest. Passenger service did exist here at one time, but that was in the days when Arizona had a skeletal highway system and before the direct Interstate 17, the now main highway from Flagstaff to Phoenix. If a railroad did parallel I17, it would be a hellish routing up and down mountain grades, quite an engineering challenge. I don't know of any excursion trips that have been operated on the Peavine, but if one is ever arranged, I would like to ride it. Thanks for reading this off the topic discourse.

 

[the_traveler]

Continuing the OT discussion, I-17 drops in elevation probably 1,000-2,000 feet just south of Flagstaff - with much of that within 10-15 miles or so! I don't know of many trains that can handle grades like that. Thus, this is the reason the line first goes west out of FLG to Williams Junction.

 

[greatcats]

Yes, tank you Traveler, exactly. Interstate 17 goes down one long grade off the Mogollon Rim to Camp Verde, and then goes up another mountain and then descends toward Phoenix. The old Santa Fe route was sent far to the west for good reasons!

 

[chakk]

Greyhound moves to less convenient locations (relative to Amtrak) when they lose their lease, among other reasons. In GSC, greyhound used to have their office across the street from Amtrak, then they moved several miles away to a gas station in West Glenwood. Now they've lost that site also and stop at a simple unmanned bus shelter in West Glenwood. Last time I was there no greyhound signage at the shelter, either.

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum

 

[SubwayNut]

Greyhound also seems to be trying to get out of the real estate business. In Memphis Tennessee two years ago they moved out to a new station out by the airport that was an a hour and forty-five minute city bus ride into downtown from (granted on a weekday it would be been faster but I arrived on a Sunday)

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Another reason Greyhound has to move out of town a lot is because their old stations were been besieged by drunks, homeless, vandals, and degenerates. To improve their reputation, Greyhound wants to separate their passengers from everyone else. At least every Greyhound passenger needs an ID and enough money for a ticket, they can't be as bad as the "outside".

Greyhound really pulled out of Flagstaff when they bought too many G4500's for Los Angeles Garage and those drove away passengers because they kept breaking down and catching on fire. They were used on the New York-Los Angeles route via Saint Louis and Albuquerque, that route was axed and split into pieces so the G4500's would break down less, but they still didn't hold up so Greyhound quickly switched them out in favour of older 102DL3's that are significantly better buses.

Greyhound schedules are very inconvenient to Chicago because they have no service west of Chicago. For example, if you were to go Flagstaff-Chicago, you would have to go through Saint Louis. That's actually a great route to ride if you take some overngiht rest stops since they got the 102DL3's back on it.

The G4500 disasters are probably the same reason why you can't ride Greyhound from Flagstaff to Los Angeles without transferring in Phoenix or Las Vegas.

Good thing Greyhound suspended most of those for rebuilds 'cause they can't afford fixing them after each breakdown.

Here the timetables, yours would be 470 and 553: http://extranet.greyhound.com/Revsup/schedules2/pageset.html. 470 should have better buses. If you ride a Greyhound, please take a picture so we can see if they use a rebuilt 102DL3 or one of those new D4505's.

Anybody that thinks Greyhound buses are old and uncomfortable should first realize that those two words don't go together, Greyhound oldest buses are the most comfortable and the newest ones ain't so great. Plus the oldest ones have been rebuilt to run like new anyway, but they still have the good old seats.

 

[greatcats]

Are the trouble prone buses the ones that are sort of a grayish blue? Thanks for your information, but I would rather take the train or drive, or if necessary, fly from Phoenix.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Are the trouble prone buses the ones that are sort of a grayish blue? Thanks for your information, but I would rather take the train or drive, or if necessary, fly from Phoenix.

No, not grayish blue, they're the ones with white base paint, a round nose and a curved red and blue stripe along the side. Most of the grayish blue ones are nice.

Pictures I found in a search: http://www.jazno.net/recentwork/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/greyhound-bus-station-2.jpg, http://www.flickr.com/photos/mbernero/5456982809/in/set-72157625959347317.

Basically Greyhound heard from the public, "Mexican buses are SOO MUCH better than American buses, especially Greyhound junk!" and Greyhound's management at that time didn't have a lot of money. So they ordered a modified Dina design with Americanized cosmetics and enlarged by a few feet, then slapped a US or Canada flag on the front. At a very cheap price of course. Turned out to be a horrible bus.

No matter how much time, money, and effort Greyhound poured into the bus, they just couldn't fix it. Sometimes 40% of their G4500 fleet was OOS trying to fix it. Now the Gina War has been on for 13 years and Greyhound has resorted to a total rebuild of the bus, rip every wire and cranny out, then replace it.

One time I got a BAD headache on this bus, I heard someone else got a fever and another passenger actually vomitied in the lavatory but the lavatory door broke and wouldn't shut so you can tell what happened later on.....Not to mention the famous axle detachments and fires.

Pretty much everything bad said about Greyhound can be traced in some way to the G4500.