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Why thruway bus service between Seattle and Bellingham and not Seattle-Vancouver?

The resolution is to resolve a lack of Amtrak connections between NW Washington and the rest of the NW Rail Corridor, with thruway bus connections. The Seattle-Vancouver service is already taken care by existing Trailways NW service, and local service between NW Washington (Everett and points north) and Vancouver is taken care by existing Greyhound service, therefore there is no need to have state sponsored thruway bus service continue beyond Bellingham.

Why not other thruway bus services within Washington State at this time?

Eventually, the NW rail corridor will have thruway bus services similar to the Amtrak California Train services (San Joaquin, Capitols, San Diegans). We need more train frequencies first. Some of this is evident to the south with Oregon's plan.

Operating a new train just to Bellingham is not cost effective to the following reasons: An electrical connection, and a place to store the train set would be required. Also the population base of Bellingham is not large enough to support a train set. As for a new train trip to Vancouver, WSDOT staff cannot justify another trip to Canada without some financial support from their governments. At this time, we cannot expect any kind of financial help from them, and probably private sector help will be required in the future, if an additional train is to operate. However, Amtrak West is looking at possibly operating a second train up north at this time.

Why not extend the Coast Starlight to Vancouver, BC?

The same reasons mentioned above, plus the timing of the Coast Starlight discourages local only travel, if the train was extended to Vancouver. The train would have to leave around 5:30 AM in Vancouver, to meet the current southbound departure from Seattle. Plus, the train would leave around 8:30 PM in Seattle, arriving in Vancouver around 12:30 AM. Switching of the Coast Starlight cars is required in Seattle, setting out all the sleeping cars, the diner car , the Pacific Parlor Car and the baggage cars. Only the Coach, and Lounge cars would probably continue north of Seattle. This switching of cars consumes even more time.

Why not use existing Trailways Northwest thruway bus services to Vancouver?

This would be an ideal situation to have the existing thruway buses to Vancouver to stop at Everett, Mt. Vernon and Bellingham, except that this is not possible. Trailways NW is a Canadian company and is subject to the Jones Act. The Jones Act prohibits foreign carriers from carrying intra-US passengers. The current service would not change with this resolution, and provide express service between Seattle and Vancouver to/from connecting trains. It should be noted that Trailways NW did have a Seattle-Vancouver thruway bus service in the early 1990's with American drivers and buses to skirt the Jones Act. This lasted only for 6 months.

Why not use existing Greyhound service?

The Amtrak and Greyhound Stations in Seattle are miles apart, and having Greyhound serving Amtrak station requires WUTC approval. If the stations were next door, we would already have Seattle-Bellingham thruway bus services and this resolution would not be necessary. It should be noted that existing INFORMAL connections between the Coast Starlight and Greyhound are very tight and not advisable.

Why not use Airporter Shuttle Service (A Bellingham based company)?

Jeff Schultz, WSDOT Rail staffer did consult the owner of this company. The owner was not interested and contends that he has capacity constraints. This would have been a perfect fit, as it was existing service, operated frequently and served Whidbey Island communities too. There might be a possibility in the future to have their shuttles connect to our thruway buses or trains at Mt. Vernon to connect Whidbey Island communities to the NW Rail Corridor.

Why not ask Northwest Trailways (A Spokane Based Company) to go to Bellingham?

This is another possibility, as their existing trip between Seattle/Tacoma and Spokane ends in Tacoma at this time. Instead of ending the trip in Tacoma, maybe Northwest Trailways (NWT) may be persuaded to operate that trip to Bellingham instead with some state support (with connections with the Coast Starlight only (meaning that there still would be no connections with the Empire Builder and Cascadia). However, NWT feeds NW Washington riders to existing Greyhound service and operating that trip would probably need WUTC approval. This arrangement would work in the future, as when WSDOT/Amtrak West add trains to NW Washington, connections to the Coast Starlight would still remain a problem.

How come does Oregon has so many thruway bus services?

It was easy, when the Greyhound Station in Portland is next door to the train station. It just happened that most of those trips corresponded to an Amtrak train arrival/departure. Also, Bob Krebs, ODOT has nurtured thruway bus services in Oregon. However, in Seattle, the Amtrak and Greyhound Stations are miles apart, and both WSDOT/City of Seattle future plans for King St. Station do not include any consolidation of intercity bus services.

Why WSDOT cannot implement thruway buses now?

1. It is not in the current mandate of WSDOT's Rail Office. (1997-99 budget)
2. It is not funded in terms of operating (bus contract) or administration (FTE)

The resolution is supposed to address these problems, and letting WSDOT, Transportation Commission, and State Legislature know that this is a priority for both WashARP and NW Washington residents. Essentially, WSDOT Rail Office needs to allocate some monies in their next budget (1999-2001) for operating and administration for thruway buses between Seattle and Bellingham.

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Last Update: 01/04/00
Web Author: Warren Y. Yee