PaulM
Engineer
Recently we traveled from LMY (Santa Fe) to St. Petersburg, Fl the last segment being on Thruway Bus 6091 that connects with the southbound Silver Star at TPA (Tampa) and stops in STP (Clearwater/St. Pete). From STP we wanted to continue to SBG (Sebring, FL). According to the timetable thruway bus 6098 arrives in TPA at 10:40AM and the southbound Silver Star departs at 12:45, leaving plenty of time for the connection.
However, neither Amtrak.com's standard query nor the multi-city option show STP to SBG, or anywhere south of TPA for that matter.
I asked the STP agent about this; and he said that the bus doesn't arrive in time for the connection. Not having memorized the schedule at this point, not to mention being a bit disorriented after 3 days on the train, I had to accept this BS.
I then called the 800 number; and when the agent said it can't be done, I countered with the info from the timetable. She said that was an out of date edition. The effective date on the timetable: January 13, 2014. I then asked to speak to customer relations. The agent did her best, but eventually concluded, it can't be done, but could give me no reason why.
When I got to TPA, I asked the agent; and his response was: you tell me. He had been trying to get an answer from Amtrak to the same question for a long time.
I sent an email to Customer relations explaining what I wanted to do and asking the rhetorical question of why Amtrak would turn away business from an existing service. If there is one thing I've discovered from several trips to Florida is that there is a huge amount of interstate passengers. I consider the response nothing less than insulting, whether a human actually concocted it or not.
So what's my next step?
However, neither Amtrak.com's standard query nor the multi-city option show STP to SBG, or anywhere south of TPA for that matter.
I asked the STP agent about this; and he said that the bus doesn't arrive in time for the connection. Not having memorized the schedule at this point, not to mention being a bit disorriented after 3 days on the train, I had to accept this BS.
I then called the 800 number; and when the agent said it can't be done, I countered with the info from the timetable. She said that was an out of date edition. The effective date on the timetable: January 13, 2014. I then asked to speak to customer relations. The agent did her best, but eventually concluded, it can't be done, but could give me no reason why.
When I got to TPA, I asked the agent; and his response was: you tell me. He had been trying to get an answer from Amtrak to the same question for a long time.
I sent an email to Customer relations explaining what I wanted to do and asking the rhetorical question of why Amtrak would turn away business from an existing service. If there is one thing I've discovered from several trips to Florida is that there is a huge amount of interstate passengers. I consider the response nothing less than insulting, whether a human actually concocted it or not.
In fact I did use PSTA. The disadvantages of this option are many and the subject of another rant.Thank you for your inquiry.
Please contact Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) online at www.psta.net for schedule and fare information about local travel from St Petersburg to Tampa.
We hope that this information will be helpful and we look forward to serving you onboard Amtrak..
Sincerely,
John
Amtrak Customer Service
So what's my next step?