Confusing fares

[AmtrakPDX]

I'm looking at amtrak.com

PDX - SBA for 4/30/10 1 adult coach one way

the results show $94 for the CS

BUT then also shows (below that) $124 for PDX - SAC (much shorter distance) and same train.

IF I were going to SAC, why wouldn't I buy a ticket to SBA and just get off in SAC?

Am I reading this right?

TIA

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Other than the fact that it's dishonest in some strange way, absolutely nothing wrong with it at all. The number of people who buy tickets one stop north of Bakersfield just to get California subsidized bus fares to Bakersfield is staggering.

 

[IHC]

The fare for PDX to SAC, if you plug it in, is only $68.00.

Why would you buy a ticket to SBA if you're only going to SAC?

 

[ceblack]

I'm looking at amtrak.comPDX - SBA for 4/30/10 1 adult coach one way

the results show $94 for the CS

BUT then also shows (below that) $124 for PDX - SAC (much shorter distance) and same train.

IF I were going to SAC, why wouldn't I buy a ticket to SBA and just get off in SAC?

Am I reading this right?

TIA

Actually, the $124 fare is for the Coast Starlight from Portland to Sacramento, a bus from Sacramento to Stockton, the San Joaquin from Stockton to Bakersfield, and yet another bus from Bakersfield to Santa Barbara.

Note that the train/bus/train/bus combo actually gets you to Santa Barbara a bit more than an hour earlier than the straight Coast Starlight. So that explains the extra thirty bucks.

Or perhaps the extra cost reflects the opportunity to view California's scenic Central Valley from the delightful combo of bus and corridor coach accomodations rather than the boring San Francisco Bay- Cuesta Grade - Pacific Coast humdrum you'd be staring blankly at from the confines of a Superliner coach or Sightseer Lounge.

Portland to Sacramento on the Coast Starlight is only $68, sans San Joaquin and bus of course.

 

[Long Train Runnin']

I guess it has to do with the buckets and "hot" pairs. I remember reading somewhere recently that the Crescent from WAS to ATL was like $80 to $100 more then WAS to the stop past Atlanta.

 

[DowneasterPassenger]

Or perhaps the extra cost reflects the opportunity to view California's scenic Central Valley from the delightful combo of bus and corridor coach accomodations rather than the boring San Francisco Bay- Cuesta Grade - Pacific Coast humdrum you'd be staring blankly at from the confines of a Superliner coach or Sightseer Lounge.

LOL!

The motto of Fresno is, "at least it's in California!"

 

[DowneasterPassenger]

Other than the fact that it's dishonest in some strange way, absolutely nothing wrong with it at all. The number of people who buy tickets one stop north of Bakersfield just to get California subsidized bus fares to Bakersfield is staggering.

That happens all over the Thruway system here. Going from Martinez to Arcata? But a ticket from Antioch to Arcata, and throw away the train segment. Going from Stockton to San Jose, buy Modesto to San Jose. Bakersfield to Las Vegas? Make it Wasco to Vegas.

Whoever thought up that no-bus-only rule didn't think through the obvious loophole.