I may need to go to Vancouver BC in a few weeks, from Seattle. Do any Dopers know what train and bus options are available, and what they are likely to cost?
Used them this summer for Seattle to Vancouver and back. Don’t make the mistake that one person did and assume that the times on the schedule will be exact. They are subject to traffic and delays at the border. But the border crossing is pretty efficient, special facilities for busses. Pretty cheap too, $99 if you going round trip from the airport and less if you are doing somewhere in between.
Decently comfortable. Wifi did not work very well.
Amtrak and Greyhound have Seattle-Vancouver routes. A quick Internet search (for a random day) indicates $18 for Greyhound and $30 for Amtrak, one way. Either option is scheduled to take about four hours.
The Amtrak is really comfortable. It leaves Seattle pretty early in the morning but you get to Vancouver before noon. The station in Vancouver is only a block from the subway line and all day passes are around $7, so you can be just about anywhere in Vancouver by 2 or 3 in the afternoon.
You might also want to look at a water route: Clipper Ferry. Looks like $109 would be the current fare if you pay a week ahead and it looks like they’re about an hour faster than the Quick Coach schedule. If you need a hotel, they also have some packages that would be worth looking at.
Thanks! I tried to look up the Amtrak price and they wanted me to install a browser bar that would take up permanent residence on my screen. This is much more helpful!
Victoria is another ferry and two drives away from Vancouver, so I might discourage this option.
I’ve done Amtrak and QuickCoach. Both are relatively easy. Several of the Amtrak “trains” each day are actually buses. I recommend the train the most highly especially if during daylight hours. However, you should be warned that the train tracks are often closed this time of year due to mudslides and you end up taking the bus anyway.
There’s also Bolt Bus: https://www.boltbus.com/ I’ve not taken it to Vancouver, but I have to Portland and it’s pretty comfortable for a bus.
I’ve ridden Amtrak trains, Amtrak buses, and Quick Coach. The train is nicer, but it’s twice as expensive. I would not recommend the Amtrak buses (which are, strangely enough, also twice as expensive). Quick Coach was about the same as Bolt Bus.
The Clipper would be fun, but you’ll end up in downtown Victoria and need to get from there, to a different port (about a half hour away by car), take another ferry, and get from there to downtown Vancouver (about an hour away by car). Those are really picturesque ferry rides, though.
I also think it’s possible to do by city/county buses, but I’ve never tried it. Plus, you’d be riding on city buses all day and getting from one to the next and I’m really not sure what would happen at the border.
Well, there are four or five counties between Seattle and the border, each progressively more rural, so I don’t think that’s a method I’d try. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s been done, though.
You’ve gotten good, specific local information, but I’d just like to mention Rome2Rio for inquiries of this type.
That’s exactly the kind of resource I’ve been looking for, thanks!
Although punching Seattle to the Blaine border crossing into Google Maps with transit directions with bus preferred shows it “only” being 4 buses and about 6 hours. Looks like it’d be $5.50 to get you from Seattle to Everett on Community Transit and then there’s a $6 Skagit-Whatcom day pass that’d get you the rest of the way. Not the fastest, but can’t beat that price!
ETA: Oh, looks like one of the Skagit-Whatcom pass doesn’t cover one of the Skagit buses you need, so you’ll need an extra $2 for that. So $13.50 all told.
I’ll plug for the Bolt Bus also. Very comfortable and quick, and more importantly: CHEAP, at about $25.