Backup Plans

[kevin_standlee]

It's most likely that Lisa will be able to drive down Saturday morning and collect me from Fremont after we leave the RV with my mechanic again. However, if she is unable to do so, I have two backup plans.

The former super-tight connection between the Capitol and the California Zephyr at Emeryville is now impossible, as schedule changes mean that the Capitol now runs behind the Zephyr arriving at Emeryville after #5 leaves. (This makes sense because the Chicago train makes fewer stops between Emeryville and Sacramento than the corridor train to Sacramento, so the trains don't interfere with each other this way.) So an all-Amtrak routing requires taking at 10 AM train from Fremont and a connecting Amtrak Thruway bus to Reno. I don't like this one, but it does work.

Alternatively, I could leave the RV with Cory very early in the morning and walk the three miles over to Fremont BART, then ride BART up to Richmond to connect with the California Zephyr. This one is all rail plus a fair bit of shoe leather. It's not so much the walking that puts me off, but doing so with a heavy computer backpack and my luggage. But this is the plan I'll probably use if Lisa is for some reason unable to make the trip.

Comments

[joycemocha.livejournal.com]

It's interesting to read about the dance of your commute between Fernley and the Bay Area...somewhat matches what we do between Portland and Enterprise for gardening and Portland business stuff's sake....except we don't have a train option.

[dave-wallace.livejournal.com]

Is there a reason you can't take a cab (or Uber/Lyft/whatever) for the 3 miles over to Fremont BART? That would make the schlep with luggage easier.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Mainly that I don't trust taxis (etc.) to come when you call them. It's different when you go to a taxi rank like at the BART station, but my luck with calling taxis in the USA has been bad. They always seem to have trouble finding me unless I'm at a hotel or something of that nature.

If there was more than one train per day between the Bay Area an Reno, this would be less of a worry because it would not be so vital to hit every connection.

[dave-wallace.livejournal.com]

There's also the option of taking an AC Transit bus to BART, which might be quicker than walking. I'm not sure exactly where your mechanic is, but the 99 bus (for example) stops across the street from the Fremont Amtrak station, runs roughly every 20 minutes (including 7ish Saturday morning), and takes about 14 minutes to get to BART from there. Google Maps works well for figuring out those routings.

My boss uses Uber consistently to get to the airport, and it seems to be pretty reliable, at least midday. The app lets him know where the driver is and when he or she should arrive, and they seem to get here (Santa Clara, near Great America) in about 5 minutes pretty consistently. Not sure how long they would take on a Saturday morning.

Finally, if you do miss your connection to the Zephyr in Richmond (or can see that you will do so), I would think you could either (1) wait for the Capitol Corridor at Richmond, and go with your backup plan A, or (2) take BART back to either Oakland Airport or SFO, and grab the next available flight to Reno. It would probably be a bit pricier, but with a bit of luck, you could get up to Reno faster than the Zephyr would have, let alone the Corridor + bus. Southwest, for example, has an 11:05 nonstop OAK-RNO that gets up there at noon, plus a 12:10 through LAS that gets to RNO at 3:50. Both are currently showing as seats available for tomorrow, starting at $149-158.

I probably should stop playing travel agent now and get back to my day jobbe, but it does seem like you have multiple options if Lisa can't make it.

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

The AC 99 bus is a good option of which I was unaware, and I'll bear it in mind should the situation come up again. (And it probably will.) Thank you. My mechanic's shop is about 1 km from the Fremont/Centerville Amtrak station, which makes it convenient to that bus stop as well.