Indian Trails' Entire Bus Network Now Connects with Amtrak

OWOSSO, Mich. - March 1, 2017 - PRLog -- People in more than 100 towns served by Indian Trails' daily bus routes throughout Michigan can now connect with Amtrak's Wolverine Service,which runs between Chicago and Detroit. This gives Indian Trails passengers access to more than 500 Amtrak destinations in 46 states, the District of Columbia and three Canadian Provinces.

In fact, Indian Trails' entire network of daily scheduled routes is now linked with America's national railroad as a result of new "thruway" connections between Amtrak and Indian Trails' stops in Alma, Mt. Pleasant, Clare, Houghton Lake, Grayling, and Gaylord. This includes travelers from Central Michigan University and Alma College.

Indian Trails made the new thruway connections with Amtrak possible by changing bus schedules to better match the train schedules.

"This really simplifies things for Michigan residents and visitors who don't drive a car or prefer not to," says Chad Cushman, Indian Trails' president. "Before, for instance, a person in Mt. Pleasant who wanted to take Amtrak to Chicago couldn't just hop on our bus to catch the train in East Lansing because the schedules didn't match up. But now it's pretty seamless. Someone in Mt. Pleasant can buy a ticket on Amtrak's website that includes travel on both our bus and the train all the way through to Chicago."

Northbound Indian Trails thruway buses connect in Battle Creek with Amtrak trains coming from Chicago. Southbound thruway buses connect in Kalamazoo with Amtrak trains going to Chicago.

Travelers headed to or from many Michigan towns can purchase a single ticket on the Amtrak.com website that includes travel on both the train and bus segments of their trips. (Alternatively, tickets can be booked by calling 800-USA-RAIL.)

Existing Amtrak and Indian Trails routes offer a multitude of connections between towns in Michigan and throughout North America. For passengers looking to find the best travel options, it's wise to explore possibilities at IndianTrails.com as well. For example, separately from Amtrak, Indian Trails operates three daily bus runs between Lansing and Chicago (originating in Flint).

As an example of the new thruway connections in central Michigan, a traveler could board Amtrak Wolverine train #350 in Chicago's Union Station at 7:20 a.m. CT, transfer to an Indian Trails bus in Battle Creek, and arrive in Gaylord at about 7 p.m. ET—all for a fare as low as $78.

Although the same Indian Trails bus from Battle Creek picks up and drops off passengers in Lansing before heading north (and can be booked online at IndianTrails.com (https://webstore.indiantrails.com/?d=&a=&t=1&...)), the Capital City itself doesn't appear in the Amtrak ticketing system, though the train's East Lansing stop does. Also, the same Indian Trails bus serves towns north of Gaylord, such as Mackinaw City and St. Ignace, which are listed in Amtrak's ticketing system.

Here are some more examples of coach thruway fares (adult, each way, as low as, subject to further discounts):

Alma to Chicago – $55
Mt. Pleasant to Chicago – $59
Grayling to Chicago – $75
Gaylord to Chicago – $78

Additional discount (https://www.amtrak.com/student)s are available to students at Central Michigan University, Alma College, Michigan State University, University of Michigan and other schools throughout the Amtrak network who purchase tickets three days in advance.

Free Wi-Fi, comfortable seating, footrests, restrooms, 110V outlets, and wheelchair accessibility are all typically offered by both Amtrak trains and Indian Trails' motorcoaches.

Five of Indian Trails' 33 daily routes throughout Michigan and into Chicago, Duluth and Milwaukee are operated under contract with the Michigan Department of Transportation. The partial subsidies are designed mainly to extend and preserve daily service in rural areas of Michigan's northern Lower and Upper Peninsulas, where intercity buses can't be operated on passenger fares alone.

Of the 230,000 annual passengers who use Indian Trail's daily routes, 36 percent live in households that have no car, and about 20 percent don't or can't drive. Besides Amtrak, Indian Trails' buses also connect passengers with airports and the Greyhound national network.

About Indian Trails, Inc.

Indian Trails, Inc.—which has served as Michigan's premier, family-owned, intercity motorcoach carrier for more than 100 years, and is based in Owosso, MI—operates one of the largest and newest fleets of deluxe motorcoaches in Michigan. Its services include charters, tours, shuttles, airport transfers, and casino runs, as well as daily scheduled route service. On the web at www.indiantrails.com.

Ranked by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation in the top 5 percent of transportation companies nationwide for safe driving, Indian Trails is also the parent company of the Michigan Flyer, which offers affordable, comfortable, and reliable motorcoach connections between East Lansing, Ann Arbor and Detroit Metro Airport. On the web at http://www.michiganflyer.com.