Want an Amtrak ticket to downtown Burlington? Middlebury? Manchester? Bennington? Vergennes? Rutland at additional times that the train doesn’t run?
You can get one! Today! Even though the Ethan Allen won’t roll into Burlington until 2022.
How? By using the Amtrak website (amtrak.com) which will sell you a coordinated ticket on the Vermont TransLines bus down route 7 to Albany and on Amtrak beyond that.
The service runs twice a day in each direction. Besides the Amtrak station in Albany it also serves the Albany airport and stops in downtown Albany at the Greyhound/Trailways terminal (get tickets to non-Amtrak points at https://www.vttranslines.com/buy-tickets/).
The bus makes additional stops as well:
Colchester (I-89 Exit 17 Park and Ride)
Burlington Downtown Transit Center
Burlington Airport
Vergennes/Ferrisburg Park and Ride at Rt7/22a
Middlebury (at Davis Family Library)
Brandon (at the green)
Rutland (Marble Valley Transit Center)
Wallingford (Cumberland Farms)
Manchester Center (bus parking area)
Bennington (Green Mountain Community transit hub)
Rensellaer NY (Amtrak Station)
Downtown Albany (Greyhound/Trailways station)
Albany Airport
For Rutland this means you now have three times of day you can choose to travel – just notice that the bus uses the transit center (where it can connect with local buses) and the train uses the station behind Wal-Mart (it’s 3 blocks between them).
Getting through tickets to these points from amtrak.com (or1-800-USA-RAIL) is easy and the connection is guaranteed (which means they’ll make sure they get you there even if there is a delay – you’ll be accommodated on the next train if necessary or the bus will wait (or they’ll call an Uber or something).
I can tell you this is a pretty nice bus run by a quality operator. It is a much nicer option than driving (you can relax. Or get work done). I know a bus isn’t a train, but it will get you there and do so conveniently.
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