Rent a car or take a bus from Amtrak LA to Las Vegas

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BillVasi

Train Attendant
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Mar 16, 2012
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I am taking the train to Las Angeles and then will be renting a car to go to Los Vegas NV ... I have ridden both the Amtrak Bus to Vegas and back before. The last time though we were told the Las Vegas bus would leave for LA at 8:30 and it id not leave till 9:30 am... so I deceided to rent a car. But I am having second thoughts on driving as the fooling around with a car coming back to Los Angeles though I will drop the car off at the Amtrak station. What are your thoughts on the bus vs the car???

bill Vasilion
 
Get a car, it's a Greyhound bus that just interlines with Amtrak anyhow and far as I've seen, they're not terribly reliable. If you're heading to Vegas, might be worthwhile to simply take the FlyAway to LAX and fly into Vegas.
 
BillVasi said:
I am taking the train to Las Angeles and then will be renting a car to go to Los Vegas NV ... I have ridden both the Amtrak Bus to Vegas and back before. The last time though we were told the Las Vegas bus would leave for LA at 8:30 and it id not leave till 9:30 am... so I deceided to rent a car. But I am having second thoughts on driving as the fooling around with a car coming back to Los Angeles though I will drop the car off at the Amtrak station. What are your thoughts on the bus vs the car???

bill Vasilion
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Get the car. It's a nice drive, you're on your own pace. It may be a 4 hr. drive but I actually enjoy going through the desert and up and over the mountains.
 
Another vote for the car. Actually, depending on where you're coming from, the drive from Flagstaff to Vegas is pretty nice as well, and you go past the Hoover Dam on the way into town.
 
It would help to know if you have to arrive at LAX and on what train.

If you have the flexibilty in your itineray and to avoid downtown LA freeway system I would detrain and rent a car at one of the outlying Amtrak stations and drive over to Vegas. Weekend car rental rates are really cheap. Hertz and Enterprise have a lot of off-airport locations.

Also, I would even consider a quick flight out of LAX (the airport) which, I think are available for as low as $49.

.--anything to stay off the bus! :blink:
 
As others have pointed out, the "Thruway" from LA to Las Vegas is just an interline ticket on Greyhound, so it is just the dirty dog with all that goes with it.

On the other hand, there is a service called Lux Bus from either Anaheim or Los Angeles that sounds pretty good.

http://www.luxbusamerica.com/bus-to-las-vegas-service.php

And I agree, it would help to know which train you are arriving into LA on.
 
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I disagree with most other posters. I think it's fine to take the Greyhound. Never really had a problem with them. I would greatly support Greyhound over cars, especially if you get a D4505.
 
I for one do not care for driving across the Mojave Desert. Maybe because I broke down one 103 degree day and AAA towed me 70 miles to Needles. It has been ten years since I did this, but I took the Amtrak Greyhound bus from LV to LA Union Station and it was rather full, but otherwise was fine with a rest stop at Barstow.
 
Hi,

As a visitor to the USA I have always enjoyed my Greyhound bus rides... probably nostlgia from watching old American movies. It always surprises me that many American smaller towns have neither rail or bus service, although that is increasingly the same picture here in the UK, as rural services lose public funding.

Ed :cool:
 
It's not a bad drive. One great place to rent a car is at Burbank Airport. Amtrak trains (as well as Metrolink) stop there so its really easy to get back and forth from Union Station. Plus I think they have longer hours than the car rental in the downtown train station although I'm not positive about that.
 
Or if you're arriving on the Southwest Chief (SWC) from the east, you can take the shuttle van to LV. The calling hours are not the greatest at Kingman, AZ, but the van goes right from The SWC to the airport in LV. And you have all the car agencies, both major and minor, to chose from! And many times, car rentals in LV are inexpensive!
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