cbn42

I am trying to book an Amtrak bus route (say from A to B), which is illegal in California unless it includes a train segment. I can book an itinerary from X to A to B, with X to A being one stop on a train and the rest on the bus, for only a few dollars more. If I booked this, and just skipped the train segment and showed up for the bus, would anyone find out? Does Amtrak have any way of knowing that I wasn't on the train? Would they care?

Adding a train segment at the end of the bus trip instead of the beginning would be substantially more expensive.

diburning

No, unless it's an e-ticket (conductor scans a barcode).

Not really. Conductors can lose the tickets after collecting them. However, if your ticket is an e-ticket, it may complicate things.

Yes.

amamba

Hidden city ticketing used to be NO problem on amtrak - until the advent of e-tickets this summer. Now, if you don't show up for the first segment of your reservation, the rest of your reservation can (and will) be cancelled.

However, for your specific question, I don't believe e-ticketing is available yet on certain bus routes. This means that if your train and bus combo is all paper tickets, you should be fine. But I can't guarantee that. The key word is "should." As with all things amtrak,YMMV.

diburning

You can always claim that your printer doesn't work and get your ticket printed at the station. Or, you can always buy your tickets from the Quik-Trak machines and do it that way.

cbn42

So can anyone explain how tickets work on Amtrak trains and buses? Do they scan them when you get on, or just look at them? I haven't ridden Amtrak since e-ticketing started.

The route is the San Joaquin, by the way.

RogerD408

Not a hidden city question. Try reading http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/amtra...kets-here.html

calwatch

To avoid the risk of cancellation, what you need to do with the hidden city ticketing thing is to use multi-city ticketing. It doesn't have to make sense. For example, I did multi-city ticketing from Bakersfield to Los Angeles on day X, and then Wasco to Bakersfield on day X+1. I was able to purchase the ticket should I choose. The problem is that, because the bus and train are de-coupled, that the cost for doing it this way will be more. In this example, doing it the above way was $37.50 compared to $17 low bucket.

The "and will be canceled" thing doesn't necessary apply for unreserved trains, either, which are the Surfliner and Capitol Corridor. You can use any ticket, within the period of validity, at any time. They will not cancel. On most San Joaquin trains and buses, they are scanning regardless of whether it is a e-ticket or not, although they pull the stubs off anyway.

With the issues inherent in e-ticketing, and the psuedo-ticket generated by Quik-Trak, you could likely get on the bus even without having gotten on the train. The system is not that intelligent to cancel connecting tickets immediately, as there are times when conductors don't pass through to scan or collect tickets (this is especially true on busy days on the Surfliner, where they group up and collect tickets for two or three intermediate stops at once, since some of the stops are so frequent). In addition, some of the time, the conductor hits "lift all" and you are assumed to have gotten on anyway, whether you like it or not. The risk for trying this out would not be significant, but again, if you want to be 100% safe, do either multi-city ticketing or put your required train trip at the end of your journey.

calwatch

According to the e-ticket thread there is "officially" two hours built in to allow for later boarding. So you can continue to make those "hidden city" trips, although I would make sure that you had a paper ticket or "electronic document" if possible, as opposed to a printout on your own copy paper.

roadman3313

For the San Joaquin Route most of the buses now use e-ticketing as well. Multi-City is a great alternative in the mean time.

mezzowithcorigis

OK, old thread, but curious how e-ticketing affects this plan in 2016. I need to do exactly what the OP did.... bus from Bakersfield to Union Station. I can add the train segment from Wasco at the beginning, at the end, anything that would be the first stop after Union Station.

cbn42

I did this journey last year with no problem. You can either add the train segment to Wasco on the Bakersfield end, or Fullerton on the LA end. The former is cheaper. In fact, even if you need to go to OC, adding the Wasco segment will bring down the price.

Glad to see another BFL FTer!

mezzowithcorigis

Thanks! Did you actually ride the train segment, or just hop on the bus in Bakersfield? I need the midnight-ish departure, and I'd rather not hang around train tracks in Wasco at midnight. I try to fly out of BFL when I can, but this this trip priced me out. Going LAX-MSP at 5:30 am returning just before midnight same day.

cbn42

I didn't ride the Wasco segment. I didn't have any issues, but of course YMMV.

You're aware of the AVE shuttle to LAX, right? http://www.airportvaletexpress.com/

mezzowithcorigis

I am, but it won't get me there in time for a Monday morning 5am flight unless I take the Sunday evening shuttle and spend the night.

cbn42

I see. Well good luck and let me know how it goes with Amtrak!