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-- and have more trains to travel | |
Madison will be getting weekday shuttle bus service this spring to and from one of the three area communities served by Amtrak's Chicago-Seattle/Portland "Empire Builder", according to a Dec. 12 report in the Wisconsin State Journal. If the operators of the Madison-Portage shuttle decide to include a stop at the Amtrak station in the latter city, it would provide direct connections for weekday (only) "Empire Builder" passengers departing from Madison. The eastbound train is scheduled to depart Portage at 12:27 p.m. and the westbound at 5:34 p.m. It's been about 30 years since Madison had shuttle bus service to any of the area stations, and then only to the one in Columbus When that was discontinued, only Greyhound provided daily service to Columbus, Portage and Wisconsin Dells. Bus schedules were not coordinated with train schedules and the buses did not stop at the Amtrak stations. Greyhound dropped those stops several years ago. Badger Bus offers twice-a-day bus service direct to Milwaukee's downtown Amtrak station and on all six (five on Friday) Madison-Milwaukee daily runs to Milwaukee's airport where an airport shuttle bus provides connections with Chicago-Milwaukee Hiawatha Route trains (excluding the "Empire Builder"). Badger buses to the downtown Amtrak station depart the Madison depot at 10 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., arrive at the Badger depot in Milwaukee at 11:30 a.m. and 2 p.m., then drop off at the downtown Amtrak station a few minutes later. However, there is still no return service to Madison from the downtown Amtrak station by Badger Bus. The bus depot in Milwaukee is located about five blocks away and taxi service is available. The Milwaukee downtown Amtrak stop option is not available online but tickets can be purchased from the depot at least 10 minutes prior to the departure. One way is $19.00, payable in cash, Visa or Master Card only. Click here to view Badger Bus schedules. CoachUSA/Van Galder operates six round-trips daily between Madison and Amtrak's Chicago Union Station. For our Nov. 2 report on the Coach/USA service to Chicago Union Station, click here Read the Wisconsin State Journal Portage shuttle bus story here. Visit the shuttle bus operator's Web site here. View Amtrak schedules here. |
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