What's the shortest length you'll regularly ride Amtrak?

[Dovecote]

When visiting my daughter in California, if AGR points are needed, I partake in a five mile trip from Fullerton to Anaheim on the Surfliner. $18 roundtrip that takes a little more than an hour to perform.

 

[HP_Lovecraft]

Well for folks in the Northeast (and I think even on the west coast) if you're able to get a monthly pass then it can become quite economical to go relatively short distances

For a year, I commuted from SAO to WEM. Maybe 35 minutes. Using a monthly pass was cheaper then driving, and my employer covered half the cost (because of some goverment funded program to promote public transit).

But to me is always a matter of weighing my options. I love stepping on and off the train, with no car to worry about. But that only works if the station is near where I want to go, or there is other transit options.

 

[cuppb001]

I regularly travel from Jesup to Savannah just because I can depart in the evening and return back in the morning with a fun night in Savannah. Its a hour ride or as Amtrak conductors tell everyone that asks, 50 minutes. I usually catch dinner in the diner and if it is busy I order to go. (BTW I don't know what takes so long when you sit down and order but when I order to-go my order is usually up in 5 minutes) One-way $16 low bucket. Of course cheaper with AAA and typical price is $21. I do laugh though that a roomette for that short trip is $250.

 

[JoeBas]

I do laugh though that a roomette for that short trip is $250.

Well consider that you booking a room from Jessup to Savannah might prevent someone from booking one from New York to Orlando...

 

[PerRock]

I've been a part of groups before riding from Ann Arbor, MI to Greenfield Village; thats one stop, and probably about 30mins on board.

peter

 

[mjaynes288]

I travel from Salem to PDX via Amtrak for $11 one way. I don't have a car. Public transportation does not run on weekends so Amtrak is the only option. Weekdays I could take a commuter bus to light rail to another bus for half the price but it takes twice as long. I find the comfort, not having to transfer, and extra hours in PDX is worth the extra money.

 

[tonys96]

DAL to FTW for $9.00

 

[saturn04]

Mine is SVT-MKE 29 minutes $10 and right now a round trip gives me 450 points with double bonus and select membership.

 

[SarahZ]

Kalamazoo to Battle Creek. It takes 30 minutes (each way) and costs about $15 if booked in advance.

 

[Barciur]

Lancaster - Parkesburg. 26 miles, 17 minutes. $6.50 one way. I used to do it more often as I used to live in Parkesburg, but not so much. Now I regularly take the Keystone to Philly, which takes anywhere from 1:10 to 1:20.

 

[thully]

I end up taking the Surfliner between San Diego and Solana Beach semi-regularly (a few times per month) when going to North (San Diego) County - as someone who doesn't currently drive, it's much nicer than spending 2 hours on local buses. The Coaster is obviously cheaper (and I'll take that if possible), though given the limited schedule I'll often end up on the Surfliner. Though with Amtrak accepting Coaster tickets on several trains (mostly later at night, when Coaster service is somewhat lacking), I usually end up paying the cheaper Coaster fare even when riding the Surfliner.

(Granted, I don't get AGR points when purchasing a Coaster ticket, but the cost for SOL-SAN is less than half as much)

 

[BCL]

I've done Richmond, CA to San Francisco and back, but it's usually as a points run. 400 points in less than 3 hours on the weekend. Especially nice with the 50% off weekend special.

I've also broken up into segments to collect more points at the same fare for a single segment. Fremont to GAC is 15 minutes. Once a conductor even asked me if I was doing it for the points.

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

This maybe isn't the shortest, but it is cheaper than some of the other ones listed here (didn't look at all of them) Thurmond, WV to Prince, WV is 16 mins westbound, 21 mins eastbound, and one-way price is $5.50!

 

[neutralist]

CHI - SMT for $2.70 one way with AAA discount

 

[TinCan782]

The Pacific Surfliner...either CWT to LAUS or VEC

 

[gwschenk]

Twice monthly I'm on the Surfliner from Anaheim to LA. Although that's about to change, as the parking situation at the new Anaheim Station is a real, how to put this politely, cluster*.

This monstrosity of a station will be useless for the bullet train with the present parking situation. They apparently don't want overnight parking in their little micro-parking lots.

 

[benale]

Looks like CHI-SMT wins the most bang for your buck award. Chicago is a great place to take train trips. I live near Harrisburg Pa and during Double Days I'll make point runs from ELT-HAR or ELT-LNC. Free parking at ELT. $5.52 each way with Senior Discount and the trip takes about fifteen minutes. Being a Select member that's 450 points R/T during Double Days. Sometimes I'll take the 11:20AM to HAR from ELT and back on the Noon to ELT. All the Keystones are unreserved. Other times I'll go to the indoor mall in Harrisburg or take a walk to City Island. Got to rack up those points!

 

[neroden]

I've taken Syracuse - Utica (to catch the Adirondack Scenic). Saves me a couple hours driving.

 

[Bob Dylan]

My shortest ( and Only!) Point run trips are Austin to Taylor on #22 @ 931am and Taylor to Austin on #21 @ 530pm after eating great Bar-B-Q and visiting the great City Library for a few hours!

$12.80 RT Senior,and as a Select AGR member, 450 AGR points during Double Days!

St. Louis has some pretty nifty short point runs on the Eagle, Lincoln Trains and River Runner, but as has been said, its hard to beat the Chicago, Keystone and California short point runs where so many trains run so often!!

 

[John Bredin]

Points runs? Glenview-Chicago uncountable times. Though most of those were "real" rides too because I used Amtrak instead of Metra to go downtown where I was going anyhow.

Shortest non-points-run trip? Chicago-New Buffalo MI round-trip with a little bike ride (Apple Cider Century) between trains. :giggle: And like somebody else posted, for such a short distance, the bike's "ticket" cost more than mine. :blink:

 

[sakers]

Alton Il to St Louis usually only runs $3 great price if your only going for points.

 

[Royal Blue]

I would certainly take Amtrak from BWI airport to DC Union Station if the flight arrived after the MARC trains had stopped running for the night, or the other direction if I had an early morning flight. Very convenient to have frequent Northeast Regional trains. Otherwise, the shortest trip has been DC to Philly for a day trip.

 

[Professor Einstein]

Don't usually use Amtrak for short distance travel, Its not economical. For instance a ticket to PHL runs about $40. I can get to 30th st station for less than $6 via SEPTA.

 

[Seaboard92]

My short points run trips are Charlotte to Salisbury on the midday Piedmont. 7.50 one way. I get a good lunch and turn around. And instead of earning the two hundred points on it. I get about 1000+ I bring first time train riding friends. And register them for AGR so I get 500 bonus points on top of it

 

[StriderGDM]

My short points run trips are Charlotte to Salisbury on the midday Piedmont. 7.50 one way. I get a good lunch and turn around. And instead of earning the two hundred points on it. I get about 1000+ I bring first time train riding friends. And register them for AGR so I get 500 bonus points on top of it

Sweet!

I've only done a single "points run" once years ago, ALB-SDY. When the conductor realized what I was doing, he tried to see if the west bound train (may have been LSL) could hold a few minutes so I could catch that back instead of having to wait for a later train.

Unfortunately the delay would have been too long.

Fortunately somewhere I've got a great shot of the Ethan Allen approaching the station.

If they ever add baggage cars to any more upstate NY trains, I'm very likely to do short runs to other stations so I can then ride home.