If I miss the last Surfliner, can I ride on the thruway bus?

[Spokker]

Let's say I'm holding a Surfliner ticket and I intend to ride the 10:10PM southbound Surfliner and I miss it. Would I be able to ride the southbound bus that stops in Fullerton, Santa Ana, etc. that leaves after midnight?

Now I understand that those buses require that tickets be purchased as part of a trip involving a rail segment or something like that. But if I miss the train and need to get home and explain my situation to Amtrak staff, will they put me on the southbound bus?

The number one reason why I don't take the train into Los Angeles more is because I fear missing that last train. My only other option would be riding Metro to Norwalk and getting picked up there. And that wouldn't make my ride very happy.

If I'm able to ride that bus, I would take the train twice as much. If anyone can help with some first-hand experience I would greatly appreciate it.

As a larger question for this thread, would you ride Amtrak more if they let riders just book travel on the buses with or without a rail segment?

 

[Rafi]

Let's say I'm holding a Surfliner ticket and I intend to ride the 10:10PM southbound Surfliner and I miss it. Would I be able to ride the southbound bus that stops in Fullerton, Santa Ana, etc. that leaves after midnight?
Now I understand that those buses require that tickets be purchased as part of a trip involving a rail segment or something like that. But if I miss the train and need to get home and explain my situation to Amtrak staff, will they put me on the southbound bus?

The number one reason why I don't take the train into Los Angeles more is because I fear missing that last train. My only other option would be riding Metro to Norwalk and getting picked up there. And that wouldn't make my ride very happy.

If I'm able to ride that bus, I would take the train twice as much. If anyone can help with some first-hand experience I would greatly appreciate it.

As a larger question for this thread, would you ride Amtrak more if they let riders just book travel on the buses with or without a rail segment?

Spokker,

Someone will undoubtedly correct me if I'm mistaken here, but I ran into a similar situation on my round the country trip from last year. I was taking the southbound CS, connecting to the 10:10 Surfliner down to San Diego. I was concerned about missing the train, obviously, and when I asked NARP and Amtrak about what kinds of contingencies I needed to have in place, both explained that since the Surfliner and the bus were both unreserved services serving the same stations, the bus driver should accept my Surfliner ticket without an issue. That said, my scenario was a little different in that I would be taking the bus because Amtrak failed to deliver me to LA on time via the CS, but the fact that the bus and train are both unreserved services remains, and I was told that I wouldn't have to get new tickets issued. Fortunately, the CS did, in fact, deliver us on time that night, so I was lucky enough to not have to wait for the bus.

So to make a long story short, that Surfliner unreserved ticket should work just fine on the bus.

Rafi

 

[montereyan]

Let's say I'm holding a Surfliner ticket and I intend to ride the 10:10PM southbound Surfliner and I miss it. Would I be able to ride the southbound bus that stops in Fullerton, Santa Ana, etc. that leaves after midnight?...
The number one reason why I don't take the train into Los Angeles more is because I fear missing that last train. My only other option would be riding Metro to Norwalk and getting picked up there. And that wouldn't make my ride very happy.

As someone who is taking the CS to LA and then the 796 Surfliner to Santa Ana this coming Friday I'm quite interested in this issue. When I did this same trip in June we got into LA on time, but I've noticed the CS having some on-time issues this month.

I've been told, but can't verify, that the 796 is sometimes held for up to an hour if the CS is late. Any truth to that claim?

One thing I am considering is, if #11 is late coming into Salinas on Friday morning, is it possible to switch my ticket to a Thruway bus from Salinas to SLO and catch the Surfliner from there?

 

[BlueJeanGirl]

Spokker sez...Let's say I'm holding a Surfliner ticket and I intend to ride the 10:10PM southbound Surfliner and I miss it. Would I be able to ride the southbound bus that stops in Fullerton, Santa Ana, etc. that leaves after midnight?

If it's potentially an issue that you'd miss 596, consider this:

Purchase your northbound train ticket, and your southbound ticket for the bus before you leave whichever station. This would ensure a space for you on the bus, but if you're early enough for the the train, the bus ticket is accepted on the train without question.

This also gets around the issue of having the bus travel as part of your train itinerary, since you're booking the bus as part of the trip as a whole.

Good luck

~BJG

 

[D.P. Roberts]

That happened on our last trip - our southbound CS was about an hour late, and they held the southbound Surfliner for us. The staff repeatedly told us that no matter how late the CS was, the Surfliner wouldn't leave without us. Plus, if you have the two tickets together as part of the same reservation, Amtrak is required to get you there. As long as you book the tickets together you'll be fine.

Alternately, if you book the bus trip separately & the CS is too late even for the bus, you're out of luck. I think the 10:10 Surfliner exists mostly for people who are continuing from the CS. If the CS is really late, you won't be the only one affected - hundreds of people will be stranded, & there's no way Amtrak could accommodate them all on the same bus. Amtrak would have to either hold the Surfliner or add several extra buses to accommodate everybody.

 

[sechs]

I think the 10:10 Surfliner exists mostly for people who are continuing from the CS.

Hardly. Even if you discount the Bakersfield bus, which connects the San Joaquins, plenty of people stay late in Los Angeles and want to get to points south.

Considering that the last Metrolink train on the Orange County Line is 6:30, it wouldn't be unusual for regular commuters to take either of the late Surfliners.

 

[sportbiker]

I recently went from Irvine to San Jose and back. For the northbound leg, Arrow gave me the option of Surfliner to LAUS + CS, which is what I booked. Southbound it didn't even give me the option -- I had to bus it from SJC to SLO, catch the 798 Surfliner to LAUS, then the next Surfliner to IRV. I figured that the southbound CS was so chronically late that Amtrak didn't want to guarantee the connection, which is why Arrow didn't offer it. But it's now sounding like others have been able to book that combo. Hmmm...

 

[sechs]

I recently went from Irvine to San Jose and back. For the northbound leg, Arrow gave me the option of Surfliner to LAUS + CS, which is what I booked. Southbound it didn't even give me the option -- I had to bus it from SJC to SLO, catch the 798 Surfliner to LAUS, then the next Surfliner to IRV. I figured that the southbound CS was so chronically late that Amtrak didn't want to guarantee the connection, which is why Arrow didn't offer it. But it's now sounding like others have been able to book that combo. Hmmm...

If you book from far enough north, you'll get the guaranteed connection with the Coast Starlight. Given that there are more reliable options, they choose to cut their losses.

On my recent trip down south, I took the noon ACE out of San Jose and went via the Central Valley. However, I could have caught one of the buses from San Francisco and connected via the Coast Starlight instead.

 

[Spokker]

I have taken the Surfliner bus because of a late Starlight into Los Angeles before. However, it wasn't the bus that leaves LA at 1:05AM. It was a bus that was there specifically for Starlight riders or some other reason and left around midnight.

However, I wouldn't be coming from the Starlight. I would just be holding an unreserved ticket for the Surfliner. I understand that Metrolink monthly pass holders are allowed to ride those buses, but I don't know if Surfliner ticket holders can. I guess I will just call Amtrak and ask.

Purchase your northbound train ticket, and your southbound ticket for the bus before you leave whichever station. This would ensure a space for you on the bus, but if you're early enough for the the train, the bus ticket is accepted on the train without question.

I understand what you're saying here. But I wouldn't be taking Amtrak INTO Los Angeles. I would be taking Metrolink into Los Angeles. It's much too expensive to take Amtrak both ways and Metrolink allows me to ride Metro bus and rail with my ticket, eliminating the need for me to buy a day pass.

Basically it would cost me $24 for Amtrak round trip and $5 for a Metro day pass for a grand total of $29. I'm just a college student. I can't afford that.

Metrolink on the other hand cost $7.50 one way ($5.75 weekend) and $12 for Surfliner ticket back, for a grand total of $19.50 (or $17.75 weekend). Since I'd be doing this two to three times a week, I'd be saving a bunch of money.

Of course, if Metrolink ran until midnight like Caltrain does there wouldn't be an issue!

 

[jackal]

Of course, if Metrolink ran until midnight like Caltrain does there wouldn't be an issue!

I think they're working on it...didn't OC recently approve some capital funding for more trainsets to run additional services on the OC line? I don't know if it'll quite be midnight, but it might help get closer to that mark...

(At least you guys have weekend service..."my" line, the Ventura County Line, is kaput on weekends!)

 

[Spokker]

I think they're working on it...didn't OC recently approve some capital funding for more trainsets to run additional services on the OC line? I don't know if it'll quite be midnight, but it might help get closer to that mark...

They are working on it, but only from Fullerton to Laguna Niguel. Trains will run every 30 minutes from 5am to midnight.
However, none of those trains are currently planned to go to/from LA.

 

[BlueJeanGirl]

Spokker sez....Basically it would cost me $24 for Amtrak round trip and $5 for a Metro day pass for a grand total of $29.

I hear what you're saying, and would suggest you look into a 10-ride ticket. You say you travel 2-3x/week; the 10-ride is good for 45 days from date of issue, is approximately a 30% discount, is valid on both trains and buses, can be used by more than one person provided the ticketholder is present, and runs around $80 for your city pairs. You could still take Metrolink into LA, but your peace of mind might be greater knowing you could get home again.

Another option to consider, seeing's you're a student, is the Student Advantage card, which offers a 10% discount when reservations are made 3 days in advance of travel.

Re: Metrolink early/late trains...there may be funding for additional runs, but some of the host RRs are already stretched to the limit with the Metrolink service on their 'roads. A dispatcher friend of mine tells me they have to get their freights started down the pass by 3am, 'cuz if not they're all delayed by the "Metrolink Parade" out of SNB. I haven't asked him how the afternoon "Metrolink Parade" affects the line, but as I take the 91 Line Metrolink home, I see freights lined up waiting for us to go by.

Travel light!

~BJG

 

[Spokker]

I was told that the triple tracking between LA-Fullerton needs to be completed before BNSF allows Metrolink trains to operate past the times they do now. After that, it's all a matter of funding I guess.

The 10-trip ticket I hadn't looked into it. I'll check it out.