Thruway bus Chico - Sacramento, CA

Is there still a thruway bus between Chico and Sacramento, CA. The bus did not appear when I chose Chico to Chicago. Where is the thruway schedule?

It exists in the San Joaquin timetable and shows up on Amtrak.com when searching for Chico-Sacramento (though you can’t book without a train segment due to I believe a CA state law). However, you are correct that it doesn’t seem to be offered as a connection to the eastbound CZ to Chicago.

It does seem to be possible to book it as a multi-city itinerary, using bus 3714 departing at 7:40am, arriving at 9:45am which should be enough time to connect to the CZ at 11:09 am. That is within their normal connection guideline of 1 hour, but Amtrak doesn’t guarantee connections booked via multi-city. It is strange that they don’t offer it when booking Chico-Chicago (they offer it Chicago-Chico) - I might call and ask about this...

denmarks said:

Is there still a thruway bus between Chico and Sacramento, CA. The bus did not appear when I chose Chico to Chicago. Where is the thruway schedule?

Click to expand...

I've been thinking of making this trip.  There should be 4 daily buses in each direction attached to Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin trains.  Chico to Sacramento is 3714/3702/3704/3718.  As stated, you can force it using multi-city as long as you book it with a train segment.



I did a sample booking and there are several options.  The first option is the CS (#11).  Your biggest issue with the bus will be that this isn't a guaranteed connection.  If the bus is late you're on your own trying to catch up to the CZ.  And sorry about the following schedule.  After I uploaded it there's no way to remove it.

Interesting that it's not showing as a connection, as I've used the 3714 bus as a connector to train #6 more than once. It not being listed as a automatic option is a new thing. I'm thinking someone didn't program the reservation computer correctly with the last update.