Bike on Amtrak California Throughway bus
 

Not exactly a question about touring, but it seems like folks here might have the most experience with this:

My girlfriend and I are on exchange for school in Chico California this semester, need to get home to Tucson AZ mid-December with our 2 bikes. We plan to take Amtrak throughway bus from Chico to Stockton, the San Joaquin train from Stockton to Bakersfield, Amtrak throughway bus from Bakersfield to Los Angeles, then Sunset limited from LA to Tucson.

Once we get to LA, we can (must) box and check the bikes. I have had no problem with this in the past when getting to or returning from a tour.

The San Joaquin, according to Amtrak's website has 3 bike racks per car, no reservation needed. I don't forsee any problems there as I have taken that train twice and have always seen the bike racks empty.

The potential problem arises with the throughway buses. An Amtrak California brochure I have and the Amtrak website say that one can store a bike unboxed in the cargo compartment of the bus. I called Amtrak and spoke to an agent who, after telling me that the brochure and website were wrong, called the bus line that provides the throughway service, and apparently they said that indeed it is as I had thought, that an unboxed bike may be stored in the cargo area if there is room.

I am wondering if anyone has had any success or failures taking a bike unboxed on these Amtrak buses? Is it likely that the bus will not have room? It seems like we would just be out of luck if that were the case. We will be traveling the week before Christmas, which could increase this risk, though it will be on a weekday.

Any ideas or suggestions? We are thinking of taking the bikes on Amtrak as we will already be riding the train and if this works would only cost $20 for a box in LA, which seems cheaper than most other ways to ship a bike.

i've taken the Amtrak thruway bus service multiple times between SLO and Salinas.
no problems
even using a Surly Big Dummy
simply lay the bike down inside the cargo hold.
my typical tactic is to be very helpful, and offer to do the back work of loading, re-arranging, etc...
however... I imagine that only the driver is supposed to actually handle other passenger baggage.

We've had it work both ways. Twice in the US they put our bike on the buses unboxed. Going into Canada they made us box them. It seems like it is up to the drivers, and depends on how much room they have.

i've taken all of those bus/train routes that you mentioned many times. if i were doing what youre doing, i'd just box the bikes in chico since you'll have to do it eventually anyway. it eliminates any problems that might come later in the trip. that's alot of transferring and it just takes one cantankerous driver to leave you in a bad situation. chico to bakesfield you'd have no problems at all (most likely) but the bus from LA to bakersfield will probably be packed full of people. with the bikes in a box, they'll take up alot less room and make it less likely that they wont fit or that the bus driver wont just be pissy about it and not let you put them on, because that CAN happen sometimes!

edit: on the san joaquin train they MIGHT want you to check the boxed bikes in, but i've never been charged for it. usually they have the lower level of one of the cars reserved for this sort of thing and i've never had a problem.

I've put an unboxed bike on amtrak thruway bus cargo holds many times. I've even u-locked the bike to a support beam inside the bus. They normally give me my own little section of the cargo hold.

Also, if you're at LA union station, you've got a good chance of finding a previously used bike box or two from bike tourists... Just ask the station attendant if there are any. When I've boxed up my bike in LA I've always gotten a free one.

Oh, and just in case you wanted to know, there's also a coast route you can use to get down south from up here. You get on the capital corridor to oakland, take a thruway bus to santa barbara, and then the pacific surfliner from Santa Barbara to LA. It's the way I normally go, because it leaves at night and I don't mind sleeping on the bus.