Vegas..this way or that way?

[njulian]

I have 2 options to go to Las Vegas (Nevada). The Sunset Limited..easier to get to for me..goes into LAX, then a bus to LV..almost 7 hour ride which seems long since I've been on that road and thought it was closer to 4 hours? Plus route only 3 days a week so more difficult for planning.Big bonus..gets in during daylight hours..negative..arrives at downtown bus station which I know nothing about (lived in Vegas and no clue about this)

Southwest Chief..much shorter, off in Kingman for a 3 hour bus ride, and lets off at the airport so plenty of cabs around. Negative. Middle of the night and early morning ride and arrival time. Harder to get to station since it's 3.5 hours from me.

So those of you with experience with either of these routes, would you please chime in with opinions? Thanks

 

[the_traveler]

The bus station in LV is in downtown, next to the Union Plaza and across the street from the Golden Nugget and the Fremont Street Experience. The reason for the 7 hour bus trip vs the 4 hour car drive is due to the stops. Most likely, your drive is nonstop and doesn't include all the stops off I-15 plus a meal stop.

My advice is to take the SL, if that is so much easier for you.

 

[john h]

Too bad the X Train has not yet started service, maybe some day

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Too bad the X Train has not yet started service, maybe some day

Several private projects have failed to make any demonstrable progress creating a passenger rail link between Las Vegas and Southern California. Seeing as how each private funding solution has failed to make it past the concept stage I would not expect a project this large to get off the ground without government assistance or assurance of some sort. Which is extremely unlikely to happen in the current political climate. In wasn't that long ago that a purely fictitious high speed train to Las Vegas was used by politicians to routinely mock increased funding of passenger rail on completely unrelated projects.

 

[Bob Dylan]

I agree with taking the Sunset Ltd. and then hop on the Bus @ Union Station for the Ride to Vegas! (Be sure and use the New metro lounge @ Union Station and Breakfast @ Philippe ! As was said, it's eEasier for you to Catch the train, it's a Daylight Ride to Vegas and the Bus Station is right downtown by Freemont Experience in the Union Plaza Hotel which is convenient to everywhere in Vegas!

 

[njulian]

Thanks! Looks like that is a plan. Is there anywhere online to see the actual details for bus schedule? If there are stops and opportunities to hop on and off (I'm thinking real bathrooms here) then that is doable. I know Fremont well, so hopefully can get cab to strip where I'm staying.

 

[the_traveler]

The schedules are on the Amtrak.com website. The major stop where you could get off is at the meal stop. (Maybe Barstow.) All other stops are just quick stops.

 

[gswager]

I heard that you can take a luxury bus if you want. I can't remember what is the name of bus company.

 

[Texan Eagle]

Here is another alternative- take the Sunset to LA, take the FlyAway bus right from Union Station to LAX airport and fly to Vegas. You will reach in 2-3 hours after reaching LA, compared to 7 hours by bus. LAX-LAS flights can be really cheap if you book far in advance, I checked some random dates in February and Spirit is offering $30 tickets. Virgin America has $60 fares too.

 

[afigg]

Too bad the X Train has not yet started service, maybe some day

The X Train was going to run limited service: one train LA to Vegas on Thursday and Friday and then 2 trains Vegas to LA on Sunday. Not very useful for general travel to and from Vegas; aimed at weekend trips from LA to Vegas. These how to get to Vegas questions and the 2007 feasibility study show that there would be a market for a daily train between LA and Vegas. Many of the route improvements in the LA - SoCal region that were listed in the 2007 study as necessary for a viable daily service have been or are being done as part of Metrolink and freight train improvement projects. X Train had signed an agreement with UP for around $30 million in track upgrades for passenger service, but had to surrender their deposit because they could not raise the rest of the funds.

So if Nevada and Las Vegas were to agree to support a daily Amtrak train, it does not appear that it would be that costly. VA for example is spending $92 million to extend service to Roanoke and Roanoke is a lot smaller than Vegas. But the X Train, Xpress West private ventures effectively block any direct public subsidy initiatives from what I can tell.

While the fate of the X Train plan is very murky, there are reports on trainorders that 2 refurbed cars with X Train on the side were on the westbound Cardinal and are currently in CHI. They are to head west on #5 on Wednesday.

 

[chakk]

If the X train uses the existing UP right of way, then you can expect a ride of at least 5 hours from LA to Vegas -- and possibly more. Driving your own car would be about 4 hours from the Amtrak station in downtown LA to the Vegas Strip.

 

[Old MM]

We have a trip reserved on the SWC to LAX then bus to LAS, so I'll be better able to respond then. If we don't cancel it. Undecided for a lot of reasons. Someone had clued me in to a MTX connection on the Zephyr, but that routing doesn't appear on the Amtrak website so it probably requires a call to the service center.

 

[the_traveler]

If you want the MTZ connection mentioned, you would have to (if a paid trip) either:

1) Speak with an agent, or

2) Reserve 2 trips (or use the multi-city booking) to book point A to CHI, CHI-MTZ, MTZ-BFD and BFD-LV.

If it is an AGR trip, you would have to call an AGR agent anyway, plus you would have to book 2 award trips - one to MTZ and the second MTZ-LV.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Since you decided to take the bus from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, that is operated by Greyhound Lines. Timetable here: http://extranet.greyhound.com/Revsup/schedules2/pdf/556.pdf.

All schedules are regularly operated with MCI D4505 equipment built 2010-2013, equipped with Wi-Fi, power outlets, and Premier LS (the seating). Unfortunately, Premier LS doesn't have very good lumbar support. All Greyhound seats are now reserved and ID is required for every passenger.

No use going for that "luxury" bus since a D4505 is better than a H3-45 anyway.

I do not understand the 7-hour bus ride, but I guess Amtrak tickets you on the 6006 Local.

Shouldn't be a bad ride, I ride those new D4505's in the West all the time, never had a problem.

 

[Bruce-C]

If you are paying for this trip yourself. The BoltBus can get you from LAUS to Las Vegas for as low as $8.00!

 

[njulian]

Here is another alternative- take the Sunset to LA, take the FlyAway bus right from Union Station to LAX airport and fly to Vegas. You will reach in 2-3 hours after reaching LA, compared to 7 hours by bus. LAX-LAS flights can be really cheap if you book far in advance, I checked some random dates in February and Spirit is offering $30 tickets. Virgin America has $60 fares too.

Yes..but I can fly from El Paso to Vegas quickly also..since I hate to fly and only do if train is totally outrageous time wise I check out all train options first. Luxury bus option? Where might I find info on that?

 

[njulian]

Since you decided to take the bus from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, that is operated by Greyhound Lines. Timetable here: http://extranet.greyhound.com/Revsup/schedules2/pdf/556.pdf.

All schedules are regularly operated with MCI D4505 equipment built 2010-2013, equipped with Wi-Fi, power outlets, and Premier LS (the seating). Unfortunately, Premier LS doesn't have very good lumbar support. All Greyhound seats are now reserved and ID is required for every passenger.

No use going for that "luxury" bus since a D4505 is better than a H3-45 anyway.

I do not understand the 7-hour bus ride, but I guess Amtrak tickets you on the 6006 Local.

Shouldn't be a bad ride, I ride those new D4505's in the West all the time, never had a problem.

Nice! AMTRAK would have me take a bus arrivingin LA at 1:10 pm for a 10pm departure. Is is possible for me to just get off in Anaheim, enjoy the day then take a Surfliner into Union Station for the last leg? Since they are Greyhound buses anyway and not AMTRAK specific would this work?

 

[Agent]

While the fate of the X Train plan is very murky, there are reports on trainorders that 2 refurbed cars with X Train on the side were on the westbound Cardinal and are currently in CHI. They are to head west on #5 on Wednesday.

Visually confirmed that two X Train cars were on the end of Amtrak #5(22).

 

[njulian]

OK..so I got the tickets..and they are not attached like they usually are..have to get them from an agent at station? I thought AMTRAK had gone to E tickets totally? Is this because of the Bus leg? Also..noticed the bus I'm scheduled on is not scheduled to stop at Anaheim. Am I allowed to take an earlier bus that does? Also..the sleeping car passengers lounge is open at LAX? Is that right? Where is it located? Last time there were NO seats..the courtyard and half the station had a wedding so restricted areas, I was stuck in station 6 hours and was told I couldn't sit on the floor..(who does actually,,but after pacing for a hour or so and midnight approaching looked appealing)

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Actually, if BoltBus is available, they are the EXACT same as Greyhound except for stop locations, you might want to ride them for super cheap. I forgot that BoltBus had started a Los Angeles-Las Vegas route.

Looking at the schedules, if Amtrak wants you to ride a bus that arrives in Los Angeles at 1:10 PM, that would be 6023 Express, which only makes a single stop at San Bernadino before arriving in Los Angeles. So you cannot spend the afternoon in Anaheim because Greyhound is reserved and you can't just swap runs.

If you want to visit Anaheim, go to Greyhound's website and book 6021 Local which departs Las Vages at 7:00 AM and gets to Anaheim at 1:35 PM. Then you can spend the afternoon in Anaheim and go to Union Station later that night. That'll be $15 online.

Otherwise, you could ride a transit bus from Downtown to Anaheim, that's Route 460 but it takes 2 hours to get to Anaheim. Even so, you would still have at least 3 hours in Anaheim. Well, I guess you get to see Los Angeles for a very cheap price.

As for the "luxury bus", the inside is like this: http://corporate.luxbusamerica.com/support-teasers/corp-teaser-inside.jpg.

The inside of a Greyhound D4505: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crown426/5369434956/.

LuxBus actually has less :excl: legroom than Greyhound, 32" compared to 36".

 

[njulian]

OK..so I guess a quick trip to Disneyland would be a kind of pain. Where is the new First Class lounge at LAX located? It is open now, right? Just seems like a looonnngg wait from 1:00 until the train leaves at 10:00.

 

[the_traveler]

The metropolitan lounge at LAX is located on the 2nd level of Union Station basically above the ticket windows. It is now open and is a nice place to wait.

 

[tonys96]

We took Megabus FROM Las Vegas to LA and it was just fine. Room to spread out and wifi. 5 hours or so with just one stop en route. We did it for 17 dollars for the two of us. Arrival was at LA Union Station.

No reason that I can see for it not to be the same going in reverse.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

We took Megabus FROM Las Vegas to LA and it was just fine. Room to spread out and wifi. 5 hours or so with just one stop en route. We did it for 17 dollars for the two of us. Arrival was at LA Union Station.

No reason that I can see for it not to be the same going in reverse.

I would still recommend Greyhound or BoltBus because Megabus drivers get paid much less than Greyhound, and they are not as skilled as Greyhound drivers. Greyhound has Wi-Fi too and more legroom than Megabus.

I've taken Megabus a few times including a back-to-back trip with Greyhound and the Greyhound was better. Don't say I'm biased because I'm a Greyhound fan, that's not true, I'm an open-minded traveller and I don't like Megabus.

Greyhound buses have better mountain performance too, it's cool to go uphill and pass three trucks in a row, can't do that with a big slow Astromega.

 

[njulian]

I thank you all for all the input and info. Are there cabs waiting at the Bus station in LV to get you to your hotel or do I have to call for one?