Effective Feb. 18 the operations of the Pacific Crest Amtrak Thruway Service will change.
Buses 8309 and 8310 will no longer serve the Oregon cities of Coos Bay, Reedsport and Florence.
However, those buses will begin stopping in Sisters, Oregon. The schedule times have been adjusted for both buses.
Amtrak has launched a new Thruway Bus Service in Illinois between its station in Champaign-Urbana and Peoria.
The service began on Feb. 1 2020, with buses boarding in Peoria at the City Link Transit Center.
In a service advisory, Amtrak said Buses 8092 and 8093 will make intermediate stops at Springfield and Decatur.
The Thruway Service is being operated by Illinois Charter.
Amtrak Thruway bus service will continue to St. Petersburg, Florida, even though the station used by the service closed this past Thursday.
Amtrak said passengers will no longer be able to have access to the waiting area and restrooms at the stop.
Although passengers will be able to check baggage traveling south to St. Petersburg-Clearwater they will not be able to check baggage from St. Petersburg-Clearwater to another destination.
Amtrak said passengers seeking assistance or other services could use the ticket windows with customer service representatives at the Tampa Amtrak station, which is open daily from 9:45 a.m. to 6:15 p.m.
A spring 2020 startup date is expected for a new Amtrak Thruway bus service that will connect Madera, California, with San Jose.
Dan Leavitt, manager of regional initiatives for the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority, said the bus connection will cut the travel travel time buy an hour the San Francisco Bay Area compared with riding the train to Stockton and then transferring to buses or another train service to travel to San Jose.
“This is something that our constituents and partners in Kern County have been asking for a number of years,” Leavitt said. “We believe it will create a new market that isn’t being served today.”
The new Thruwauy route will be coordinated with Amtrak’s San Joaquin schedules.
Officials are eyeing operating two to three round trips daily between Madera and San Jose.
Buses would be awaiting northbound passengers arriving on the train at Madera. In San Jose passengers can transfer to Caltrain commuter rail service on the San Francisco Peninsula.
Buses coming to Madera from San Jose would be timed to meet southbound Amtrak trains through the Valley.
Several existing Thruway bus routes already serve the San Joaquin route, including service from Stockton to Sacramento and Oakland, and between Bakersfield and Los Angeles Union Station. Thruway buses from Hanford link Visalia, San Luis Obispo and Santa Maria.
Affected will be Claremont and Solvang, California.Amtrak has launched a new Thruway bus service between Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin, that is designed to connect with Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service trains.
In a news release, Amtrak said the bus, operated by Wisconsin Coach Lines/Coach USA Milwaukee will have intermediate stops in Appleton, Oshkosh and Fond du Lac.
The Thruway will operate twice daily and is being provided in coordination with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
Initially the equipment used will be a Coach USA bus while the Amtrak bus is outfitted. All buses are ADA accessible.
Amtrak said the new service addresses the gap in Interstate 41 service that resulted from Greyhound Lines ending its service last October.
The new Thruway is designed to supplement the existing Lamers daily round-trip on I-41, and the Jefferson Lines and Indian Trails buses that use Interstate 43.
Amtrak said fares from Green Bay to Milwaukee on the bus start at $28 one way and continuing via a Hiawatha train to Chicago is as low as an additional $11 for a total of $39 each way.
The parade route will affect Thruway buses at the Lompoc stop due to road closures.
In a service advisory, Amtrak said Thruway bus 4762 will not stop at Lompac on June 29. Thruway service will still be available at Buellton.
The parade is scheduled to operate from 10 a.m. to noon.
Effective June 1 the Amtrak High Desert POINT Thruway bus will no longer stop at the Bend River House in Oregon.
In a service advisory Amtrak said buses will continue to stop at the Bend Hawthorne Station, which is 1.7 miles from Bend River House. All traffic in and out of Bend will be at the intermodal facility located at 344 Hawthorne Avenue.
Buses 6111, 6114, 6211 and 6214 will continue to stop at Redmond, Bend (Hawthorne Avenue), Sun River, LaPine and Chemult to connect with the Coast Starlight.
Construction on Interstate 5 in Oregon will affect Thruway bus service provided by Oregon POINT bus service to Cascades Service trains between Eugene and Portland.
Amtrak has announced schedule changes that take effect May 20 and extend through Sept. 30.
In a service advisory, Amtrak said the changed will allow time for connections to the Cascades trains.
Bus 5502 will depart Eugene Willamette Station 15 minutes earlier at 5:15 a.m., on Saturday and Sunday. The Eugene station will not be open for the departure of Bus 5502 and no checked baggage will be available for Bus 5502 at any stop.
Bus 5504 will depart Eugene 1 hour earlier, at 7:25 a.m. Monday through Friday.
Bus 5506 will depart Eugene 30 minutes earlier at 2 p.m. Bus 5518 will depart Eugene 1 hour earlier at 10:55 a.m.
Bus 5528 will depart Eugene 1 hour earlier at 12:15 p.m. Bus 5544 will depart Eugene 15 minute earlier at 7:15 a.m.
Bus 5541 will depart Portland Union Station 1 hour earlier at 6 a.m. Passengers boarding at Woodburn, Salem or Albany should check for updated schedule changes to their times at those points prior to travel.
The Amtrak Thruway bus stop in Vallejo, California, will move to a new location on May 20.
The new stop will be at Curtola Park-N-Ride at 801 Curtola Parkway.
In a service advisory Amtrak said this location will have better ADA accommodations, improve interconnectivity with local services and improve parking options for passengers.
The Thruway bus stop in Vallejo had been at a Denny’s restaurant.
