Passenger Trains > No more Fargo - Winnipeg service

If anyone has ever done or thought of getting to Winnpeg from the States via the Empire Builder and Jefferson Lines, forget it:

* EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 7, 2010 Service between Grand Forks, ND and Winnipeg, MB will be discontinued.

http://www.jeffersonlines.com/

That leaves nothing between the Soo Bridge bus and Seattle - Vancouver.

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If anyone has ever done or thought of getting to
> Winnpeg from the States via the Empire Builder and
> Jefferson Lines, forget it:
>
> * EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 7, 2010 Service between
> Grand Forks, ND and Winnipeg, MB will be
> discontinued.
>
> http://www.jeffersonlines.com/
>
> That leaves nothing between the Soo Bridge bus and
> Seattle - Vancouver.

At least on The Jefferson Lines. What about Greyhound and Trailways?

No nothing. Rimrock killed their Shelby/Cut Bank - Coutts, AB service a few years ago. There is nothing else to Canada from MN, ND, MT, ID, nor WA.

Sad to hear!

It looks like they're putting their buses where their passengers are going.

JeffLines runs four buses from Fargo to Mpls daily vs Amtrak's 2am single trip. Three JeffLines buses run on to MSP airport, and three originate at Fargo's college. Travel time is about the same (4-5 hours) for each mode. Amtrak does it in five, the bus does it as fast as four ten, with other buses clocking in at four thirty, and five. Fare is the same on both modes.

Website:

Now offering Friday/Sunday express service between UW Madison and UW La Crosse and the Minneapolis area!
Blast Off Today On The Jefferson Rocket Rider
New Rocket Rider Service from Duluth and Fargo to Minneapolis/St Paul!
New Express Service from Minneapolis to Mason City, Des Moines and Kansas City!
Great new express service from Duluth & Fargo to Minneapolis

Free Wi-Fi, satellite radio, movies, luxury seating and extra legroom

New Duluth Bus Station Located At The Duluth Airport

$25.00 Duluth to Minneapolis

$40.00 Fargo to Minneapolis

Take A Trip Today And Connect With Family And Friends.

* Daily Express Service from Duluth to Minneapolis, MN
* MSP Airport and Mall of America
* Courteous Drivers
* Deluxe Buses
* Convenient Locations

New Express Service between Minneapolis & Kansas City

Free Wi-Fi, satellite radio, movies, luxury seating and extra legroom

Lackawanna484 Wrote:

> Website:
>
> Now offering Friday/Sunday express service between
> UW Madison and UW La Crosse and the Minneapolis
> area!
> Blast Off Today On The Jefferson Rocket Rider
> New Rocket Rider Service from Duluth and Fargo to
> Minneapolis/St Paul!
> New Express Service from Minneapolis to Mason
> City, Des Moines and Kansas City!
> Great new express service from Duluth & Fargo to
> Minneapolis
>
> Free Wi-Fi, satellite radio, movies, luxury
> seating and extra legroom
>
> New Duluth Bus Station Located At The Duluth
> Airport
>
> $25.00 Duluth to Minneapolis
>
> $40.00 Fargo to Minneapolis
>
> Take A Trip Today And Connect With Family And
> Friends.
>
> * Daily Express Service from Duluth to
> Minneapolis, MN
> * MSP Airport and Mall of America
> * Courteous Drivers
> * Deluxe Buses
> * Convenient Locations
>
> New Express Service between Minneapolis & Kansas
> City
>
> Free Wi-Fi, satellite radio, movies, luxury
> seating and extra legroom


Impressive amenities to be sure. Of course I would opt for the Builder, as I am a railfan, however, to the casual passenger, who isn't going to choose the bus over the train, especially a train with a 2AM departure? The only advantage for Amtrak that I can maybe see is in the dead of Winter, although the train may be several hours late, at least it will be running, whereas I-90 might be slow going or even closed.

Try VIA's Canadian to Winnipeg.
Its a great ride on the old Budd cars and the food is great.
Just take Amtrak from Seattle to Vancouver, B.C. and transfer to VIA (bring passport).

Hal

< who isn't going to choose the bus over the train, especially a train with a 2AM departure? >

You would do the Bus-Train transfer at West Grand Forks & Grand Forks, not Fargo, for better times. In later years, the bus only went to Winnipeg Airport.

Telling people in the midwest to take the Canadian to Winnipeg is a hollow offer. There is now no way to get there other than schlepping via the Soo cites from Chicago and Michigan, then busing it to Subdbury.

Sadly, the inter city bus industry in Canada, especially Greyhound is in as sharp decline as in the US.

Recently, First Group PLC threatened to discontinue northern Ontario and Manitoba service unless it got a Government subsidy. The subsidy was granted, but it will make GLC (Greyhound Lines Canada) a target for future government cost cutting.

For the last thirty five years, I've lived along the route of the Trans-Canada highway between Calgary and Vancouver, one of the more travelled highway routes in Canada. The highway traffic has increased many times since the route opened in 1961, something like 400%. Trucking companies have been established using this route as their main traffic base.

Most of the communities along the route do not have regional airline service.

Despite this fact, Greyhound service has been in a steady decline over the past fifteen years, fewer runs, slower schedules and limited depot opening times. The lack of depot service has resulted in a decline in parcel service on Greyhound, which has been taken over by the courier companies.

Is the death of inter city bus service in Canada possible?. It sure seems so.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/10 14:38 by eminence_grise.

Any thought of expansion of VIA Rail to run also on the CPR west of Winnipeg will be immediately tackled by both CPR and Rocky Mountaineer so that Ottawa would never consider it.

The US/Canadian border, from a ground public transport perspective, is becoming a Chinese wall. Without a Winnpeg-Grand Forks bus, even the Empire Builder is becoming off-limits to Canadian unless they drive across the border.

Montana runs a bus to Sweetgrass, MT a couple of times a week. Whether or not they would take you to the border, I do not know, and I am uncertain if Greyhound still runs Coutts - Calgary.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/10 14:45 by joemvcnj.

I wonder if the border patrol requirements caused the bus company to reconsider the route to Winnipeg? If it took a while for the bus to clear the border, and there weren't many passengers, and you need to overnight the driver, etc maybe it no longer makes sense

I rode it once, I think in 2003 on Canada Day, July 1. There were 2 frequencies then. I took the AM north, which had at one time been a Thruway connection to the Empire Builder. The bus company pulled out, so they didn't do anything to help themselves by doing that. It was a long and expensive taxi ride from Amtrak to their terminal in a warehouse area outside of downtown. With one frequency gone, and Canada Greyhound now self destructing, that did it.

When I took it, there were only 2 of us on board out of Grand Forks, plus some onesies and twosies once in Canada. This bus and one car were the only vehicles at the border. They wanted to see my itinerary, and stamped my passport on the day I planed to leave Canada. I had never had my passport stamped before.

I spoke to the head of Indian Trails last month. He said the Jefferson Lines bus had just come off due to border problems.(Indian Trails has no intentions of crossing the Soo Bridge for the same reason).