bthorny

This is one of the useful thread on here wow

RichardInSF

There's the airport shuttle service, presumably there is then transit in from SMF to Sacramento.

http://www.northvalleyshuttle.com/

However, it's not a real budget alternative at $52 one way!

mlshanks

BUMP!

Mandapower

I have taken the train form downtown sd to Long beach a million times....its $22 and an enjoybale ride...its even faster than the car ride in traffic

rally

can you tell me where the train station is in San Diego,

and how much advance purchase was it to get the $22 fare ?

thanks

Rally

Non-NonRev

The station is downtown at Broadway and Kettner - next to a Trolley stop and also the airport bus (Route 992):


http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie...9&z=14&iwloc=A

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8703e/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

A few Amtrak trains also stop at Old Town Station (OLT), located at 4005 Taylor Street. However, there is no ticketing facility at OLT.

jackal

The Pacific Surfliner route is an unreserved route. When you buy a ticket, it is valid for any train between the city pair listed on the ticket, regardless of the date or time of day.

Therefore, there are no fare buckets or purchase restrictions. You should be able to get the same fare for a train departing in 5 minutes as a train departing in 330 days, since you could also buy the ticket for the train departing in 5 minutes but still use it on the train departing in 330 days.

I believe the Surfliner fares vary slightly by season, but with proper planning, you can get around this by buying tickets in the low season but using them in the high season.

Also, the fare might not be $22 anymore--Amtrak recently raised Surfliner prices across the board. Looks like the fare is now $29.

Even on reserved routes, where Amtrak sells tickets for specific trains and prices tickets by fare buckets, there are no arbitrary fare restrictions like 21-day APEX fares or Saturday night stays or anything. If a seat is available on a train leaving in one hour at the lowest fare bucket, it is sold at the lowest fare bucket. In fact, a train leaving in 10 minutes can be more expensive than a train leaving in six months if that train leaving in six months is on a busy holiday weekend or something and all the lower fare buckets are full! (Round trips are also always simply the sum of the two one-way prices.) It's a lot simpler than airline fares.

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8703e/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

Yes, but ....

If one wants to apply a discount when purchasing a ticket on the Pacific Surfliner route, one still has to comply with the advance-purchase requirements (if any) that pertain to the discount. For a list of available discounts, go to



http://www.railserve.com/amtrak_coupons.html

rally

OK....and does the train go to Long Beach as mentioned above or just Downtown LA-Union Station ?

Rally

guv1976

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8703e/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

Amtrak only serves Long Beach via connecting "Thruway" bus service, to/from Union Station. It will be cheaper and probably faster to take the MTA trains from Union Station to Long Beach (a connection will be required). You can also pick up the MTA train service at Norwalk , which is served by Metrolink, but not by Amtrak. MTA info available at www.mta.net; Metrolink info available at www.metrolinktrains.com.

lexande

No. MTA's Norwalk light rail station is almost three miles from Metrolink's Norwalk station. Not really a feasible connection point at all.

guv1976

You're right; mea culpa. I was misled by the Norwalk station information page on Metrolink's website, which lists the "Metro Green Line" under "Connecting Transit." It does appear, however, that the City of Norwalk offers an inexpensive bus transfer between the Metrolink station and the MTA Green Line station:

http://www.ci.norwalk.ca.us/pdf/NTS_...ffec9-1-08.pdf

mlshanks

Here's a thread bump and update....
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++

The price has gone up on the original $5.15 routing to $7.25,
and the routing has actually become slightly easier with one less bus:
$2.00 NCTD Route 101 (UCSD to Oceanside)
$2.00 NCTD Route 395 (Oceanside to San Clemente)
$1.50 OCTA Route 1 (San Clemente to CSU Long Beach VA)
$1.25 LB Transit Route 81 (CSU Long Beach VA to Long Beach Transit Mall)
+ $0.50 Inter-agency Transfer
(free w/ transfer) MTA Local bus 232 (Long Beach Transit Mall to LAX [Lot B])

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++

Also, exciting news for the public transit junkies who followed my thrashing of the schedules of local transit to find a way from south to north a few years back...

See this link to "Adventures in Public Transit - 1 day from UC San Diego to Mammoth Lakes"

jackal

Did I miss the link?