Which Thruway Buses Have You Traveled On?

[bmjhagen9426]

I've only been on the Thruway bus between Emeryville and San Francisco.

On the inbound trip, I scheduled my stop at Fisherman's Wharf. It took FOR-EV-ER, as traffic was heavy and it was the last stop.

So, for the outbound trip, I called Amtrak and changed my pickup to the Transbay Terminal. It was early in the morning, so the Uber ride didn't take very long.

I was a little nervous, as I get carsick on buses, but it wasn't bad at all. The bus was spacious, with HUGE windows, and it had better shocks than city buses. I could even see out the front window since the bus wasn't crowded. I thought the seats were pretty comfortable, and the bus driver was friendly. Plus, you get a great view of Treasure Island, Alcatraz, and the San Francisco skyline as you travel across the bay.

I agree with the issues with that connection. When I went to San Francisco last September, it took forever to get to the Transbay Terminal aka the Greyhound Depot, thanks to heavy traffic of the morning hours. Getting out of it was not that bad.

 

[railiner]

Hopefully, when the new Transbay Terminal is completed, it will have direct access ramps to and from the Bay Bridge...the old one did, although the Ambus did not use the upper level, and it had to negotiate street traffic...

 

[JayPea]

I have never been on a Thruway bus. I have been on two bustitutions: One from Portland to Spokane and one, last year, from Galesburg to Bloomington-Normal. The Portland-Spokane trip was made bearable due to A) The scenery for the first part of the trip and B) the driver allowed a teenage kid to show a couple of DVD movies he had on the bus' screen. "A Night at the Museum" and "Marmaduke" isn't exactly intellectually stimulating but it did help pass the time. The bustitution las year made me nervous. Every time the driver shifted gears an unsettling clunking noise ensued. I had visions of the transmission at some point falling out and scattering all over I-74. Fortunately we made it to Bloomington in one piece. If I ever wanted to take a Thruway bus it couldn't be easier as our town has a Thruway bus stop and it is right in front of my apartment.

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

Philly Amtrak Fan, if you ever go to Spring Training in Clearwater again it may be easier to walk from Tampa Union Station to Marion Street (less than 1/2 mile) and take the HART 200x bus to Clearwater. The bus goes very close to the stadium, whereas the Amtrak bus stop is about 10-15 miles away. This only runs on weekdays however.

http://www.gohart.org/Route/route_200x.pdf

Problem is it only runs on weekdays and looks like it is only morning rush hour and evening rush hour. The southbound SS arrives in TPA at 12:23pm for which you'd have to wait for the evening bus and the northbound SS leaves at 5:27pm which is after the first evening bus arrives back in Tampa. I would say it's a good route to go back and forth during the day but it doesn't make a convenient transfer from the Tampa station.

 

[brianpmcdonnell17]

Philly Amtrak Fan, if you ever go to Spring Training in Clearwater again it may be easier to walk from Tampa Union Station to Marion Street (less than 1/2 mile) and take the HART 200x bus to Clearwater. The bus goes very close to the stadium, whereas the Amtrak bus stop is about 10-15 miles away. This only runs on weekdays however.

http://www.gohart.org/Route/route_200x.pdf

Problem is it only runs on weekdays and looks like it is only morning rush hour and evening rush hour. The southbound SS arrives in TPA at 12:23pm for which you'd have to wait for the evening bus and the northbound SS leaves at 5:27pm which is after the first evening bus arrives back in Tampa. I would say it's a good route to go back and forth during the day but it doesn't make a convenient transfer from the Tampa station.

I am used to riding the 300x which runs further South and has more frequencies. That route times out very well with the SS, but ends up almost as far away from the stadium as the thruway bus so would be pointless for you. Another option is to take the SM and get off the Amtrak bus in Tampa to transfer to the 200x. That seems to time out much better. A lot depends on what your mode of transportation is once you reach Pinellas county. The bus between the Amtrak bus stop and the stadium area (19) was recently divided into two shorter routes (19 and 34) so a transfer is now required. If you are renting a car, it would probably be easier to get it in Tampa and drive over the bay.

It is weird that the 200x has such low frequency since that route is the one towards Downtown Clearwater whereas the 300x is more suburban. I think one of the biggest weaknesses of the Tampa Bay bus system (there are many) is that is has no routes between Downtown Tampa and the downtowns of Clearwater and St. Petersburg. Clearwater and St. Petersburg have busses between them, but they take three times as long as driving.

 

[ZiaReba]

I was hoping to take the thruway from Flagstaff to Phoenix tonight but I was told they are sold out!

 

[PVD]

See if you can still get Arizona Shuttle Flag to Phx, they aren't bad and pickup at the train station.

 

[BCL]

I got some experience understanding where Thruway locations were through the Amtrak iPhone app's since discontinued "Passport" check-in function. I don't recall what it was called though, but I remember being within 1 mile of any physical station or even a bus stop allowed for it. I remember taking BART or even Caltrain and learning where the various bus stops were. I happened to be in random locations and just played around with it to see if it worked. I was kind of surprised when I was in Pleasanton, CA or Santa Cruz and it worked. Or a trip to Las Vegas.

 

[NYP]

The Phoenix-Flagstaff service stops booking 48 hrs in advance to send reservations but you can book directly with Arizona Shuttle or Greyhound.

 

[PVD]

A perfect example is the connection mentioned a few posts ago in Flagstaff. If you use the bus, you have to transfer yourself and any luggage to the bus "terminal" which is a short distance away. The van come to the parking lot of the station, making it easier than the bus, but a little more expensive. Not sure if it is much different than the bus if you add a cab to the GH.

 

[Philly Amtrak Fan]

It looks like the most popular here are the buses to/from San Francisco and Phoenix. I would say these are the two largest cities not served by Amtrak trains (the only way to get to the city is Thruway from the CZ or CS).

 

[Karl1459]

6098 from Tampa to Orlando three times, once on the way to Niagara Falls, once Chicago, and once New York. Also one time each on 6092 and 6091 between Pinellas Park (St. Petersburg) and Tampa on a round trip to Philadelphia.

Philly Amtrak Fan, if you ever go to Spring Training in Clearwater again it may be easier to walk from Tampa Union Station to Marion Street (less than 1/2 mile) and take the HART 200x bus to Clearwater. The bus goes very close to the stadium, whereas the Amtrak bus stop is about 10-15 miles away. This only runs on weekdays however.

I really wish the Tampa-Ft. Myers busses could be replaced by trains. They would have to be two separate trains, one to Clearwater and St. Petersburg and the other to Ft. Myers. I also believe that a commuter rail line to St. Petersburg would be successful, and if that was built only the one Amtrak route to Ft. Myers would be necessary.

Sounds like a plan. But I'm more likely to take the SM than the SS because it leaves PHL later and arrives earlier so I won't be anywhere near the Tampa Amtrak station in that case. Maybe one day I take the SS and get a roomette without paying for Amtrak steaks and the HART becomes an option.

I'm surprised there are so many unplanned Thruway buses. These buses don't just come out of the sky. Most often they are run by another company like Greyhound. I find it hard to believe Amtrak would call Greyhound or someone else and say "Hey, our train is late, can you give us a bus in a few hours and only for our passengers?"

Bob Dylan, you seem to have a lot of experience with Thruway buses!

There are a fair number of companies that operate buses for "charter" only. Ski resorts, casinos, athletic teams etc. These will make themselves for charter on short order if not otherwise committed. The "charter" bustitution I was on had an Amtrak conductor on board to handle receipt of tickets.

 

[bmjhagen9426]

It looks like the most popular here are the buses to/from San Francisco and Phoenix. I would say these are the two largest cities not served by Amtrak trains (the only way to get to the city is Thruway from the CZ or CS).

Or to ride Caltrain from SJC (CS and Capitols), or BART from OAC (Capitols only) or RIC (Capitols or CZ).

 

[Ronbo]

I haven't been on a Thruway yet, booked a trip last year but unfortunately had to cancel:

Coast Starlight, Seattle to Salinas.....Thruway, Salinas to Monterey Bay Aquarium, spend a couple of days and return.

Still want to make this trip, have an eVoucher I can use to try again!

 

[tomfuller]

On my first Amtrak trip (2001 North America Railpass), I was to connect to the SWC in San Bernardino. About 10 minutes out of Bakersfield, driver side rear duals blew. We were hoping for another bus to come along to transfer to. They sent out a truck to jack the bus up and put on new tires. Somewhere north of LA, another bus took two of us north on I-15 to Barstow to catch the SWC. When he got to Barstow the driver had to ask where the train station was since he had never been to Barstow.

My wife and I once rode from Adelanto to Bakersfield. Amtrak no longer picks up in Adelanto.

Since I have family that lives near Newhall, we have ridden the LA bus as far as NHL from BFD.

Of course I/we have ridden the SAC-SKN route a few times.

I once missed the Crescent out of NOL due to a schedule change while I was on my railpass trip, I rode in an Amtrak owned Jeep from New Orleans to Slidel to catch up with my train.