Vancouver BC bus connection to Coast Starlight

Has anyone ever ridden the bus connection to the Coast Starlight in Seattle that departs Vancouver, Canada, at 5:30 in the morning? That's certainly an early hour! My wife and I are booked to ride it early next week and are wondering what time we need to arrive at the Vancouver station to handle baggage, customs checks, etc. Advice will be appreciated ...

I have not ridden it, but I think the baggage and customs procedures are handled at the border at Blaine, WA.

the_traveler said:

I have not ridden it, but I think the... customs procedures are handled at the border at Blaine, WA.

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That is true. Everybody off the bus, walk through customs with your stuff, then back on the bus (assuming you meet the criteria for entering the US of A).

IIRC, you'll need to show your passport to the bus driver when boarding the bus in Vancouver, but it's not a formal customs check.

According to amtrak.com, this Thruway bus does not offer checked bags, so basically you'll be stowing them underneath the bus by handing them to the driver curbside and picking them up curbside in SEA. Not sure if there's enough time in SEA to check them during your layover...that will depend on traffic and how long in takes to clear border formalities (but to a certain extent that's baked into the schedule).

Just as a reference point, I took the CS starting in Seattle in 2015. I got there really early and checked in, but the last call for checked-in baggage was about 12 minutes before departure. So if you're in there past the published 45 minute cutoff there's a good chance it'll still go on the train.

Worst case scenario if you barely make it on the CS is that you carry on your luggage.

You know that there is a train connection as well as bus. The Cascades connects with the CS at King St. station and delivers you to downtown Vancouver where Customs does the required checks.

leemell said:

You know that there is a train connection as well as bus. The Cascades connects with the CS at King St. station and delivers you to downtown Vancouver where Customs does the required checks.

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The train takes longer, and there are only two of them a day, but it is a very scenic and comfortable ride and, as the previous poster stated, border formalities are taken care of in Vancouver. US Customs does walk the train checking forms and IDs at the border, but it's very low-key.

The food is a lot better, too!

The only thing is that the trains do not make a same day connection to/fro either the CS or EB.

leemell said:

You know that there is a train connection as well as bus. The Cascades connects with the CS at King St. station and delivers you to downtown Vancouver where Customs does the required checks.

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The morning Cascades does NOT connect with the southbound Coast Starlight, scheduled to arrive 10:55 am, an hour and twenty minutes after the Starlight departs. The whole reason for that early Thruway bus (5:30 am) is to connect with the Coast Starlight.

Nor does the northbound Starlight connect with the afternoon Cascades to Vancouver. It, too, has a bus connection to Vancouver.

zephyr17 said:

leemell said:

You know that there is a train connection as well as bus. The Cascades connects with the CS at King St. station and delivers you to downtown Vancouver where Customs does the required checks.

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The morning Cascades does NOT connect with the southbound Coast Starlight, scheduled to arrive 10:55 am, an hour and twenty minutes after the Starlight departs. The whole reason for that early Thruway bus (5:30 am) is to connect with the Coast Starlight.
Nor does the northbound Starlight connect with the afternoon Cascades to Vancouver. It, too, has a bus connection to Vancouver.

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Ridden that bus northbound. CS was very early but we still had to wait until scheduled departure time since apparently you can buy that bus standalone without any rail transportation. At the border, first stopped at duty-free for anyone wanting to buy something, then to the Canadian formalities. Same everyone gets off with their bags and walks through the border check, then re-boards as was described for southbound.

lstone19 said:

At the border, first stopped at duty-free for anyone wanting to buy something, then to the Canadian formalities.

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Wait...what??? Are you serious? This would have been around 11 p.m., based on the schedule. The only stops after the border are "D" stops (i.e. drop-off only, can leave before time on timetable). And the driver pulls over in case anyone wants to go buy cigarettes and perfume? And this is *before* the possibility that the bus will be held up at the border itself for any number of reasons.

What an utterly asinine policy. Those Thruway buses are *transportation*, not a tourist excursion.

fairviewroad said:

lstone19 said:

At the border, first stopped at duty-free for anyone wanting to buy something, then to the Canadian formalities.

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Wait...what??? Are you serious? This would have been around 11 p.m., based on the schedule. The only stops after the border are "D" stops (i.e. drop-off only, can leave before time on timetable). And the driver pulls over in case anyone wants to go buy cigarettes and perfume? And this is *before* the possibility that the bus will be held up at the border itself for any number of reasons.

What an utterly asinine policy. Those Thruway buses are *transportation*, not a tourist excursion.

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I would bet you a Happy Meal that someone is getting a commission out of this. Possibly Amtrak, but more likely the driver.

Of course, it's not entirely unreasonable for passengers on a three-hour bus ride to want to stop and stretch their legs. I just think that it's likely that some dollars are changing hands to influence exactly where....

Or Canadians returning home are happy to have a place to buy expensive items without being highly taxed like they are within Canada... British Columbia isn't bad, but the eastern provinces, amongst others, are as high as 15%. There's a reason I can't stand buying stuff to take home, when I visit my husband's family in Nova Scotia...

All Canadian Provences have a Goods and Services Tax which varies in amount as Triley said, plus a National GST that the Tories passed and the Liberals promised to repeal, but haven't in any of their recent Governments.

Also Canada has High Income Taxes and everything costs more than the US except Prescription Drugs!(but Health Care,Unemployment/Welfare and Old Age Pensions and Assistance are vastly Superior to our Profit (read Greed) driven Systems!

Thanks for the responses. My wife and I are riding the bus this morning, planning to arrive at the Vancouver station at 5 a.m. According to the Amtrak website, the station is closed until 5 a.m., so there is no point in arriving before that. It would be nice to pick up a cup of coffee to take onto the bus but I doubt anything will be open that early. We have a fair amount of luggage so I can't bring any along with me.

ehbowen said:

fairviewroad said:

lstone19 said:

At the border, first stopped at duty-free for anyone wanting to buy something, then to the Canadian formalities.

Click to expand...

Wait...what??? Are you serious? This would have been around 11 p.m., based on the schedule. The only stops after the border are "D" stops (i.e. drop-off only, can leave before time on timetable). And the driver pulls over in case anyone wants to go buy cigarettes and perfume? And this is *before* the possibility that the bus will be held up at the border itself for any number of reasons.

What an utterly asinine policy. Those Thruway buses are *transportation*, not a tourist excursion.

Click to expand...

I would bet you a Happy Meal that someone is getting a commission out of this. Possibly Amtrak, but more likely the driver.

Of course, it's not entirely unreasonable for passengers on a three-hour bus ride to want to stop and stretch their legs. I just think that it's likely that some dollars are changing hands to influence exactly where....

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You may be right about the driver getting a commission.

FWIW, the border is about a 2 hour drive from SEA (not 3 hours) and EVERYBODY gets a chance to stretch their legs just a few feet north of the duty-free shop when they disembark to clear Canadian border formalities.

As far as another poster's comment about Canadians liking a place to buy expensive items w/o being taxed, I get your point but keep in mind this is at 11 p.m. with people connecting from a LD train. What's the greater good for the greatest number of people? Bear in mind too that the ultimate destination of the bus is just a few miles north of the border...people living in the Vancouver metro area can easily head south of the border with a brief car ride. This isn't some rare chance for them. Just watch the border crossing at the Peace Arch...the vast, vast majority of vehicles do not stop at Duty Free. Most Canadians just want to get home.

Yumacool said:

Thanks for the responses. My wife and I are riding the bus this morning, planning to arrive at the Vancouver station at 5 a.m. According to the Amtrak website, the station is closed until 5 a.m., so there is no point in arriving before that. It would be nice to pick up a cup of coffee to take onto the bus but I doubt anything will be open that early. We have a fair amount of luggage so I can't bring any along with me.

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Please report back and let us know how it went! Hope it went well.

The driver usually does get a "commission" for stopping at a border duty free shop, and just about any other business he brings a bus load eager to spend within...

And at a restaurant, a commission plus a comp meal.

fairviewroad said:

ehbowen said:

I would bet you a Happy Meal that someone is getting a commission out of this. Possibly Amtrak, but more likely the driver.

Of course, it's not entirely unreasonable for passengers on a three-hour bus ride to want to stop and stretch their legs. I just think that it's likely that some dollars are changing hands to influence exactly where....

Click to expand...

You may be right about the driver getting a commission.

FWIW, the border is about a 2 hour drive from SEA (not 3 hours) and EVERYBODY gets a chance to stretch their legs just a few feet north of the duty-free shop when they disembark to clear Canadian border formalities.

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While the ride to the border is only two hours, the ride in total is 3 hours and a bit. Passengers might well want to break that trip, and a duty-free shop might be more conducive to, um, relaxing than a queue at a Customs and Immigration station.

However, I do agree with you: If I were taking that bus, I'd want to forego the tourist trap.

I rode a Thruway to Vancouver last November, it was during the day, and we did not stop at the Duty Free. First time off the bus was at Canadian Customs and Immigration.

I took this bus last October to connect to the Starlight. You can pretty much arrive whenever as long as the bus hasn't left, though I would suggest being 10 minutes early just to be safe. Luggage all goes under the bus (except for a backpack or something small.) You'll receive a form on board to fill out on your way to the border. About an hour into the trip you'll get off and go through border security at the border itself. There's quite a few buses a day that go through there, so they're well equipped to handle it. The security portion feels a bit like airport security with the border officers then asking about your trip as well. We had NEXUS cards, which didn't get us any special privileges but may have made our questioning shorter (a minute or so instead of the 2-3 minutes most of the other passengers seem to have.) Once you're through border security, it's back on the bus for a non-stop trip to Seattle. The bus itself is fine - standard coach bus. Can't remember if it had power outlets, but I don't think it had wi-fi.

I'd highly recommend eating breakfast before boarding - there's a Tim Horton's less than a block from Pacific Central Station that was open when we were there (I think it's 24 hours, but not sure.) There isn't a whole lot to eat at King Street Station and there wasn't a whole lot of time to grab food before boarding the Starlight - I think we got there between 8:30 and 9 and the train left at 9:30 or so (I'm not looking at a schedule, so don't quote me on this.) There are a couple vending machines in King Street Station in Seattle if you need to grab something quick, but it's just vending food fare that I recall.

I have no experience with bus traffic there, but the questions asked entering Canada and reentering the US have been pretty bizarre recently.

I was just going overnight without a hotel room, and I was asked the purpose of the trip, where I was from, and even if I was driving my own car. A lot of the questions seemed to be meant to check for nervousness and possibly whether to perform a more detailed inspection.

Strangely enough I'd brought back some rather exotic cooked meat I'd bought at various Asian eateries in BC, and that didn't phase CPB.

The quickest and easiest border crossing I ever had was there in 1986 while driving from Vancouver to Seattle.

The Border Agent asked me "Citizenship?", and I said "US" and he waived me on! (Remember that this was WELL before 9-11!) I don't even think the car came to a complete stop!

Maybe it was my honest face! :giggle:

the_traveler said:

The quickest and easiest border crossing I ever had was there in 1986 while driving from Vancouver to Seattle.

The Border Agent asked me "Citizenship?", and I said "US" and he waived me on! (Remember that this was WELL before 9-11!) I don't even think the car came to a complete stop!

Maybe it was my honest face! :giggle:

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I did that in 1986. I was there for Expo 86. The entry to BC was in Victoria via Black Ball Ferry, and the border agent was actually a Mountie. It was almost like he was out of a Canadian tourism ad. Polite, funny, and very welcoming. I've been several times since and I've had everything from stern to friendly.

In 1986 I think I might have been asleep when I returned, because I don't remember anything. I was traveling with relatives and they probably just handed over our travel documents while we were dozing well after midnight. The last time I returned was with my wife, and I was told to wake her up.

My very first crossing into Canada (aside from as a crew member during USS Missouri's Vancouver port call in 1988) was as a truck driven in 1995, hauling a load of specialty chemicals to Thunder Bay. The Canadian Customs officer literally took the cab of my truck apart...unscrewed everything which would unscrew, opened every door, looked behind every panel, combed every cubic centimeter of that tractor. I presume he was looking for drugs, or a weapon, but he found nothing. Eventually, about an hour and a half later, he put everything back together and politely sent me on my way....

My wife and I rode the bus May 23rd so I thought I would provide a report. The bus departs the Vancouver station at 5:30 a.m. and the station itself doesn't open until 5: a.m., so that's when we arrived. The station was bustling, primarily with people arriving to board the Cascade departing for Seattle at 6:30 (but NOT connecting with the Coast Starlight.) We filled out a declaration form for use when departing Canada then made quick visits to a couple shops in the station that were just opening. The bus itself is boarded at the front of the station, which was a bit confusing. We had to ask several people where to find it and received conflicting information. However, we located it in plenty of time. The bus driver helped stow our luggage and we joined 12 others for the trip. At the border, about 90 minutes away, we all disembarked the bus, picked up our luggage and presented ourselves to border patrol personnel in Blaine, Washington. The process went smoothly. We passed duty free shops at the border but did not stop. We drove non-stop from there to Seattle, running into a bit of heavy traffic on the way. We arrived in Seattle at about 9:15 -- 15 minutes late, but enough time to catch the Starlight which departs at 9:35. The ride on the Coast Starlight itself was great. The dining car was well organized and operated, and our sleeping car attendant was an attentive, friendly fellow who made our trip a pleasure. There was no Pacific Parlour Car but a Sightseer Lounge Car substituted. All in all, a nice trip. .

Thanks for posting that informative information...

What made finding the bus departure point difficult...I've never been to the Vancouver station....do buses depart from other locations at the station, besides where you boarded in front?

I would be somewhat nervous, with such a close connection, in light of what can be a double-whammy of border delays (imagine if bus was full with 56 passengers), as well as Seattle traffic...wonder how long they would hold the CS for the bus?