Fun way to not really get from LA to SF | Amtrak San Joaquins
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- Опубліковано 25 лис 2023
- From Los Angeles Union Station, I took an Amtrak Thruway Bus two hours to Bakersfield one morning, then caught the six-hour San Joaquins train up to Emeryville, across the bay from San Francisco. The San Joaquins train (and its predecessors) have been taking passengers through the bountiful Central Valley of California for over a hundred years. As you'll see in this video, the ride is still rural, still pretty, and still a bit of an oddity: not many people aboard, and the endpoints of Bakersfield and Emeryville/Oakland are tantalizingly close to LA and SF... but aren't those places.
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What’s nice in the Bay Area is that Richmond has an easy connection to BART, Emeryville has a dedicated Amtrak bus over the Bay Bridge to DTSF and Oakland-Jack London Square has a passenger ferry connection to the Ferry Building in SF a short walk away.
That’s all nice. But could they just please start building a tunnel that would go from Emeryville-West Oakland-Alameda-Salesforce TC-4th King. It would be so convenient.
@@G-546 that is in the works I believe. They call it the second transbay tunnel. I think they either want to extend the capitol corridor via the tunnel or the CalTrain. Most likely, I think it's an Amtrak connection. Search Link 21
Indeed, you hop off in Richmond and it opens up connections to much of the rest of the bay area. Amtrak encourages you to take the bus (and for late night trips where you risk missing the last BART train, it's a must) but for trips arriving when BART is operating, you can often get to your destination much easier and faster using the Richmond BART connection.
@@ryanvaldezotto7338 I know about link 21. But can they actually like try and start building it now. It’s a significantly more important project than anything else for the Bay Area and Northern California. I think that it could heavily reduce traffic on just about every corridor in the Bay Area. It will greatly help the I-80 corridor in the East Bay and the 280 and 101 on the peninsula. Direct Stockton-SF service could also help the Altamont corridor out. Future Richmond-San Rafael bridge rail could lead to a line from the north bay directly to SF which would help the north 101/Golden Gate. And 880 and 580 could see less cars from new east bay rail services being added. I don’t see why projects like San Jose BART are more important. Also a new tube could help launch some TOD on alameda island.
Thanks for this post. We are two 92 yr. olds, and we are going to Monterey, but via Bakersfield. Southwest Chief and the bus are less costly and a shorter time. Enjoy your trips very much.
Thanks! Enjoy the ride :)
Keep traveling, life is good..!
Live in the SJV myself and had a good chuckle when you described our cities as "smashed, defeated, neglected and run-down". Pretty apt description.
As a regular Amtrak traveler, I've always wondered about this route so thanks for showing it to us in great and informative detail. I agree with you, I like the industrial views as much as the natural ones. And Amtrak's kind of unbeaten for both. There's never a dull moment seeing the world by train.
Riding Amtrak is almost always an 'adventure' and sometimes you can't help but wonder if you will really get from place A to B. Somehow they always seem to do it; even in the worst circumstances. A lot of people don't like any level of uncertainty. Not good prospective Amtrak patrons. Others like an occasional 'E' amusement park ticket ride. Those get great memories and stories to tell later.
Right. If you just want to "see what happens", Amtrak is a lot of fun
Amtrak uses the old Santa Fe route through the central valley. It zig zags because of it's history. Farmers were upset with SP in the 1800s. So farmers donated the land for a new railroad from Stockton to Bakersfield to break the SP monopoly. in 1899 Santa Fe took over the new line. Everyone in the valley celebrated.
@@dfirth224 Interesting. Thanks for sharing.
@@dfirth224 Great update. Thanks. Happy holidays.
You’ll have to travel this route in another seven or so years when California High Speed Rail opens its initial route between Bakersfield and Merced. CAHSR says this service will be operated by SJJPA, who operates the San Joaquins, and be twice as fast as the current Amtrak (80-90 minutes vs 3 hours). It’ll still be slower than driving LA to SF, but will allow people to start experiencing true high speed train travel on US soil. (Acela on the NE Corridor technically does qualify as high speed with its top speed of 150 mph, but it averages 67 mph compared to nearly twice that on CAHSR, which will top out at 220 mph on its eventual SF-LA service.) San Joaquins will be discontinued south of Merced once HSR begins service.
Their next goal is to reach SF, then head south of Bakersfield to LA and Anaheim. Once HSR reaches San Jose and SF it’ll be faster than driving between LA and SF, and once it reaches LA it’ll be faster than flying. When that happens is dependent on how quickly funding is identified and secured, plus time for construction.
That will be fun
The San Joaquins Amtrak is a proud success. I enjoy riding the San Joaquins from SF (BART to Richmond) to Fresno to visit my family. It's only $26. It is very busy and is the 5th busiest Amtrak line in the US (pre-Covid). The Capitol Corridor #3 and Pacific Surfliner #2 (from San Diego to San Luis Obispo) are busier (the NE Corridor is #! and the Keystone is #4). I always thought the service was called "San Joaquins" because there are two different lines (to Oakland and to Sacramento) which together are the "San Joaquins".
You might like to know a bit about Fresno and the Central Valley in general. Fresno has a population of nearly 700,00, making it California's 5th largest city after LA, San Diego, San Jose, and SF.
Fresno, Visalia, and Mercer are also very close to Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks. There is a great deal of summer and winter recreational activity in the Sierra Nevada, however this doesn't really benefit those cities as they are mostly driven through except maybe for gas and burgers. A number of years ago Fresno renamed its airport to Fresno Yosemite Int'l Airport, but to little difference. Flying into Fresno is very expensive. It costs as much to fly to LA or SF from Fresno as it does to fly from SF to NYC.
The once prosperous middle and working class of many San Joaquin Valley cities have been in economic stagnation for 40+ years. Fresno has been trying since the 70s to revitalize itself with every effort having failed. Fresno, and most San Joaquin Valley cities have among the highest poverty rates in CA. The highest pollution in CA. The highest crime rates in CA. The worst weather. The fewest college attendees. The fewest hospitals per capita. In fact, Madera lost its only hospital last year and people there have to drive into Fresno. For many advanced medical procedures, you have to go to San Jose. Fresno's economy is driven by low wage jobs in agriculture and distribution centers. There is a very small professional job segment in Fresno w few high paying jobs unless you own a successful local business (restaurant, law firm, Dr, etc). This results in a high level of brain drain as graduates leave for SF or LA for professional careers (as I did). Fresno was once the headquarters city for many Central California agricultural and retail firms. The downtown Fresno skyline has not changed since the late 70s. The only new buildings downtown have been new city and county govt buildings. Last year the last drug store in downtown Fresno, CVS, closed. The middle classes in the Valley have been decimated.
How did this happen? 40 years ago, most of the Valley was farmed by hundreds and maybe thousands of local farmers. They made a lot of money and they did business in the cities of the Central Valley, supporting a great number of service jobs and a vibrant middle class. Today, most of the farmland you saw is owned by mega-corporations and the money they make immediately leaves the region and the state. Being between LA and SF has proven to be a misfortune in many ways as these cities live in the shadow of LA or the Bay Area economies. With agribusiness dead, they have little to offer that LA or the Bay Area doesn't do bigger and better. The building of Interstate 5 far from most of the San Joaquin Valley cities south of Stockton didn't help. Fresno is the largest city in the US not connected to an interstate hwy. The Central Valley has been largely neglected by the state which is why there is a great deal of political grievance there.
Fresno also remains the last large affordable city in California. While Bay Area growth has sprawled as far as Stockton and LA commutes have reached Bakersfield, Fresno is just a little too from either to be convenient to commute from despite being smack dab in the middle. This makes it a great distribution center location with its mainly min wage jobs. Most importantly, Fresno will be where the CA HSR system will begin service. Construction can be seen along the entire path through Fresno. HSR is the last best hope for the revitalization of Fresno which has good urban bone structure and can become a prosperous satellite city for the Bay Area with the resultant needs for goods and services in the city, creating those middle and working class jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities, providing a reason for Fresno State grads to stay in Fresno.
Thanks for the information. Shame to know what the mega corporations did to the Central Valley
The San Joaquins are state supported / subsidized. That's the reason we have 6 round trips every day. The only subsidized trains on the coast route are the ones running from San Diego to SLO.
What a myopic comment. You make Fresno sound like a post-apocalyptic hellscape. Have you even been to north Fresno or Clovis in the last 20 years? Freakin’ millionaire-ville. The colossal estates, the housing boom which has never waned, and the revitalization of older neighborhoods undermines the doom and gloom narrative. The 168-Shepherd development wedge hasn’t seen a slowdown since 2008. And then there’s the east side/foothill region boom picking up steam. Your comment is only convincing to those not on the ground. Lots of bad parts, yes, but same can be said for LA or The City.
@@freakybuzz Talk about myopic. Fresno is way more than north of Herndon.
Yeah, I've been there often and recently. I'm from there and my family lives there. Sure, the north is wealthy but most of Fresno is a total shithole. There is hardly any middle ground. Fresno has among the state's highest poverty rates, highest pollution, the state's 5th highest property crime rate and a violent crimes rate higher than LA's, among the state's lowest educational attainment, among the state's highest unemployment rates, and the worst city for working households of the biggest 50 cities in US in a recent study w 57% of Fresno households unable to meet their basic needs.
Fresno's wages are among the lowest with the biggest job categories being min wage. There are very few professional class jobs, unless you own your own business or inherit Daddy's company, which is why most college graduates leave Fresno as soon as they can for real careers in LA SF or anywhere else. If you're looking for a min wage distribution center job, Fresno is your place. Those are about the only businesses that the city can attract in any meaningful number. Even Fresno's tech startup darling Bitwise went bankrupt, another downtown failure.
Yeah there are some good things like the Tower Dist, baseball downtown, an Mural District downtown, and taco truck festivals, but that isn't enough. Downtown also no longer has a drug store. The last CVS closed last year. There hasn't been a high rise built in Fresno since the 70s and the only major new non-govt building downtown was built 20 years ago. Blackstone south of Shaw is a commercial wasteland. The "new" Manchester Mall is emblematic of Fresno; big talk ends up as a big disaster. You can't just remodel Manchester Center. You have to remodel all of Blackstone first but, the city can't think that way. At night, downtown Fresno is apocalyptic. Nobody in their right mind would be caught there. Fresno is economically stagnant and nothing the city has done so far has changed that. The city's gov't for the last 20 yrs has been negligent by catering to north Fresno and nobody else.
The city has embarked on another effort to infill the central city but they haven't had much luck. Now, they're focusing on new developments in SE Fresno. Fresno's powerful developers don't want anything to do w central Fresno. So you end up w new Harlan Ranch and Fancher Creek developments for the upper classes while the rest of the city festers and rots.
The vast majority of Fresno is poor. The older neighborhoods have not been revitalized and most of the city is blighted. Many old middle class neighborhoods are now poor neighborhoods. The streets are in terrible shape. I've driven through most of Fresno's central neighborhoods including the one I grew up in near Roosevelt HS. Good luck finding a decent grocery store in central Fresno south of Shaw.
It pains me to see the city in such a state but that's been Fresno's story since the late 70s and every 10 years there's a big plan and every 10 years it dies. Fresno just received $250 million from the state for downtown improvements. Hopefully the city will spend it wisely, but history says it won't make a difference. I'm beginning to wonder whether high speed rail will actually kickstart Fresno's economic redevelopment but unless there is a sea-change in the way Fresno's govt works, I have my doubts.
@@bryanCJC2105I spent most of my life in Bakersfield. I no longer live in California but was back for Thanksgiving. I landed in Fresno International before taking the bus to downtown to wait for Amtrak.
I couldn't believe how nice and quaint downtown Fresno was. It was so much cleaner and quieter than downtown Bakersfield or Augusta GA. The way I described it to my sister was that there were people out and about but not hectic or loud. The buildings looked taken care of and the bus system made a hell of a lot more sense than most bus networks in cities these size.
The next time I'm back in Cali I told my family I want us to take a train ride to Fresno to hang out downtown since my younger sister has not been on a train.
I did see that the neighborhood I rode through on the bus looked poor, but it just didn't seem dangerous to me.
If you sit on the right side going north on the San Joaquins and you are lucky when get to Martinez you can see the tide race up the Sacramento River. It is an awesome sight.
Before Amtrak the Southern Pacific Daylight train went from Oakland to Los Angeles, without any buses. But the track from Bakersfield to Los Angeles is slow and twisty. The train in the old days took 5 HOURS to go from Bakersfield to Los Angeles. The track was laid out in 1872 before modern earth moving equipment. Santa Fe passenger trains from Bakersfield to Los Angeles always used a bus that took only two hours.
tejon pass is too steep even for modern trains
And they think that they can build a high speed line through passes that won’t support a modern Amtrak train? Good luck!
@@thuggoe No its not, with a 3.3% grade every amtrak train can deal with it just fine. Brightlines going to be building high speed lines that reach 4-4.5%
@@gdrriley420 you must have the wrong pass
@@gdrriley420 Watch a UA-cam video of the Grapevine Highway, and see trucks struggle climbing the grade. While the former Southern Pacific pass leading to Bakersville from Los Angeles is nearly as steep. Trucks can climb steeper grades. The Coastal Mountains are higher than many think.
Personally when I hear "San Joaquins" it makes me think of the multiple trains that run this route per day. There are like 7 of them.
I took the Coast Starlight to LA in September and returned on the bus/San Joaquin’s route. I was actually surprised how great the bus trip was. Even at 1 am.
Stockton has one of the oldest stations in California. Beautiful.
Appreciate watching your channel. You've given me an opportunity to see places that I may never experience in person. Keep up the good work. 🙂
Thanks!
Glad you got to see the Kern River with water in it! That's unusual.
A very different view and feel to the costal route. I would like to travel this route at some point just a shame it does not go all the way to LA. I slept through the valley many years ago on Greyhound from SF to LA. The snack box reminds me of the United snack box they serve on domestic flights.
the bus to van nuys is ok but to union station is usually packed with coughing children
From the San Joaquins Wikipedia article on why Amtrak trains don't run from Bakersfield to LA:
"The San Joaquin[s] could not continue south of Bakersfield due to capacity limits over the Tehachapi Loop, the only line between Bakersfield and points south and one of the world's busiest single-track freight rail lines."
In order to take the bus to LA I need a train ticket saying Waco 2 LA
Apparently back in the early 1900s, the Santa Fe Railroad (predecessor to today’s BNSF), did seriously consider building tracks over Tejon Pass to better compete with the Southern Pacific (now owned by Union Pacific), for intra-California traffic between LA and SF, since their route was the longest, having to go out over Cajon Pass and back across Tehachapi Pass on a shared line with SP to connect with its own route up the Central Valley.
They even went so far as to start grading a right of way, but it was decided a railroad couldn’t compete with state-funded highways being built at the time, so instead they invested that money into upgrading their Chicago-LA mainline.
In its place they launched a new passenger train service between Oakland and Bakersfield, with a bus connection to LA, that would evolve into today’s Amtrak San Joaquins service. The right of way graded over Tejon Pass would be utilized by the new (1930s) Grapevine Highway alignment, which would later be replaced by I-5.
@ChrisJones-gx7fc how would that work out everything I drive up and down the 99 and 1-5 I see nowhere in the grapevine to put it with all that mountains
you can still ride the coast train up though..just not the central...freight tracks control everything
That's what tunnels are for.@@bobbyjenkins7946
As they get venture cars they'll get back to 7RT a day. 2 to sac and 5 to the bay area. They'll expand further as CAHSR results in the service being cut back to Merced
You needed to mention he extensive thruway bus services that are coordinated with the schedule
You're right, access to other places and those National Parks too
Pluralization: Central Californians generally considered themselves a part of the Southern San Joaquin to Hanford. Central is Tulare, Kings, Fresno, and Madera Counties. Modesto and northward is Northern SJV. Colloquially, we refer to them as North Valley, The Valley, and South Valley. Stockton, Fresno and Bakersfield being the anchors of these population concentrations. Thus, we have three separate San Joaquins. I'm 2nd gen native to the valley.
The problem with the term “Central Valley” is that it could mean either the central San Joaquin Valley OR the entire San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys together (as in the big valley in the center of California).. Geographically, they are all one valley as there are no mountains between the San Joaquin and the Sacramento valleys. The terminology can get confusing.
@@trwent Horrors! No!! The San Joaquin Valley should be very distinct from what goes on in the liberal north. Good grief! 🥴 It's a hard geopolitical boundary
@@svollmer You just HAD to bring political hate into this, didn't you?
@@trwent The story needs to be told. I forgot to tell you about the tongue that was in my cheek when I said that.
I had to do this trip when I missed the connection between the Southwest Chief and the Coast Starlight. Amtrak gave me a nice refund for the inconvenience. The Coast Starlight is a gorgeous ride up to Emeryville. The "Bus to Bakersfield", as I now call this dread connection miss, is hardly as good. Still, it beats walking. 😁
To me the San Joaquin is just a commuter train for the inland valley people.
I rode the San Joaquin from Emeryville to Stockton a couple of months ago. Spent a few days in Stockton and then had to take Throughway bus from Stockton to Sacramento to catch the California Zephyr back to Chicago.
Not a bad way to travel around the US.
Nice video! Worth noting you can connect to YARTS (Yosemite Area Regional Transportation) buses at Fresno and Merced, and even buy this as a single trip through Amtrak.
Good info, thanks
I took this exact route when I was transferring from the Southwest Chief in Los Angeles to what was *supposed to be* the Coast Starlight. However on that day, there were wildfires along the route in the Santa Barbara area, so I was forced to switch to this service to get to Emeryville (where I was to catch the California Zephyr the next day). Although it was a big downgrade in terms of views and comfort, the trip went well. And I had an extra two hours to unwind in Emeryville before the next day's journey, as this route was actually much faster than taking the Coast Starlight.
coast starlight from LA to san jose is worth doing. an interesting climb out of san luis obisbo , and the coast north of santa barbara is incredible
I like your trip reports on The Amtraks. So inclusive, plus they use both trains and buses to haul passengers.
Thanks!
As a lifelong LA resident I’ve never taken this route. Thanks for an informative and entertaining video.
I have been curious about the San Joaquins train. You could disembark in Antioch and take BART directly to San Francisco. I’ve been thinking of taking this to Yosemite from the North
While it is true there are both BART and Amtrak stations in Antioch, they are about 3 miles apart - about 10 minutes by car. There are some BART stations somewhat near or within walking distance of Amtrak stations in the same city, but the only place you can transfer directly from BART to Amtrak is Richmond (and then only the San Joaquin, Capitol Corridor and California Zephyr trains, but not the Coast Starlight.)
@@jerseydevs2000 Yes I was thinking about that too and realized it wasn’t that convenient. Thanks for your input
I’m surprised you didn’t catch any footage of the CA High Speed Rail construction thru the Central Valley, you can see a bunch of it. You go under the Wasco viaduct which was just recently finished
There are updates posted on youTube.
3:33 The northbound and southbound lanes of I-5 run on opposite sides than usual along part of this pass
Southbound side is the original grapevine route. The northbound side was started in 1930s and in 1971 a new earth fill was built on the south end because of the state Aqueduct. The soil removed from the bore holes in the mountain was used to build the new section of I-5. Sections of old Highway 99 are now at the bottom of Pyramid Lake, which is filled by the aqueduct water.
Before Amtrak I used to ride the Southern Pacific San Joaquin trains directly into Los Angeles Union terminal. One could ride either the daytime San Joaquin Daylight or the overnight Owl. You can google Southern Pacific San Joaquin Daylight or Southern Pacific night Owl. I'm puzzled as to why Amtrak cut the San Joaquin trains off at Bakersfield and makes one ride a bus from Bakersfield to LA Union station. But then when Amtrak took over in 1971 it butchered the entire national passenger train system sometimes providing buses where there used to be trains or eliminated services completely.
Amtrak hurts. And so does the guy filming this.
Apparently once UP assimilated SP, they “banned” passenger trains from going through Tehachapi, it’s not an Amtrak matter it’s a freight railway greed matter.
The route via Tehachapi's and Palmdale is way too long. Also.. The SP took an additional hour between Richmond and Fresno. We always took the Santa Fe and called the SP "Slow Poke."
@@AsrielDreemurr56SP banned Amtrak in 1971, 25 years before UP bought them out. UP is actually going to let the ACE trains from Stockton run commuter trains down to Merced.
@@jimprice1959The SP Daylight and Owl trains took 5 hours just to get from Bakersfield to LA Union Station! The track over the mountains was laid out in 1872. If it had been built 30 years later it would have been straighter and faster.
I get on in Merced all the time either going to Martinez or to Bakersfield and I love it so affordable just wish the last train out of Martinez back to Bakersfield wasn’t a single level and they jam everyone in it hits capacity once they pick up in Stockton and hardly anyone gets off until I get back to Merced
I used to occasionally have to travel from Oakland to Bakersfield, and it was a nice train trip.
It's been over 25 years since I've been in the Central Valley and my, Merced and Stockton have gone even further down hill. The things that made this region great have been corporitized and automated and the outcome was the death of the communities. Those left live on the scraps that remain of the local and regional business that are left to support industry and agriculture. Edit to add: it's a shame, but the fiscal and social commitment to the people of the Central Valley began eroding a long time ago, making dicey livings an even greater gamble. There is still a great concentration of natural wealth there, but concentrated in corporate structures.
You are in the crappiest areas when riding trains 85% of the time. I don't think new 2 minion dollar homes are built close to any train track
@@brianweber4154 Railroading is inherently heavy industry. Most housing is not built in industrial areas. It's not that an area is "crappy" but that an area is industrial and blighted, as is any unfortunate housing stock still in those areas.
@@brianweber4154 Yes. Especially in the Central Valley.
As for me, I am not interested in washrooms and/or sleeping quarters as I watch you and Grounded Life Travel plus I have been on the train several times. But I understand you have friends who have never been on a train. I have no problem, and if I don't want to watch those segments I advance to the rest of the video. You and Ground Life Travel are tied for #1 in my eyes. You are awesome.
Thanks a lot, glad you're watching
Some major changes in the Stockton to Emeryville stretch of track since I last worked out there. Interesting video and sadly you missed the Santa Fe steam engine at the Modesto station.
Thank You!
Capitol Corridor is a commuter train to/from Sac to Emeryville/Oakland where you can connect to BART and buses.
Great video! I loved it all.
That's how I get to San Francisco, except I catch the first leg of the journey from Van Nuys to get to Bakersfield. IMO my favorite part of the ride between Richmond and Antioch as you coast along the Bay
Ps. You were on the same northbound train as me and my family!
I fondly remember those footrest from the last time I rode an Amtrak Thruway bus!
Nice vid. Its refreshing to see it from the passenger's perspective 🙂
Thank you from denmark.
hello again took this train many tijmes going to santa clarita from san jose whch hd to take a bus then rode the san jooaquins from stockton to bakersfield. interesting train
Very nice video! I’ll be taking the reverse trip from Sacramento to LA on the San Joaquins train and bus service in about two weeks. I can’t wait!
A short bit about graffiti on freight cars, since you wondered aloud. From what I’ve read, the large mostly flat sides of a freight car make a nice canvas just sitting around to paint (write) your nickname or mark upon (your tag). Unlike spraying your mark on a building in your town, these move all over the USA, and might eventually return. It’s a bit like a message in a bottle, if you will. Just as there are train spotters who pay attention to locomotives, there are graffiti spotters who look for their favorite tags rolling around.
Thanks. Kinda makes me want to tag some freight cars...
@@T1DWanderer Freight car graffiti goes back at least to civil war era hobos* scrawling their names, and notes, on box cars they rode. (* Many of them were discharged Union army vets returning home, or to new homes.)
I HATE the graffiti on rail cars. I remember when there was NO graffiti on any of them. It's ugly. The graffiti started in the 1980s or 90s. This is also the time when gang members started moving into the central valley from Los Angeles. There was NO graffiti or drive by shootings in Fresno before 1985. Today the police department has the biggest budget of all the city departments. And the local DAs do not put up with the retail crime that's going on in other cities in the state.
Awesome job! I see you have more fans/followers...that's great😊
Thank you :D
Another great Amtrak video...not the most picturesque ride, but still very interesting nonetheless. I hope you do more Amtrak rides across this great country! Cheers!
Thanks, I hope to
Well depends in the time you travel, during harvest time, you are to see different color fields
Another great video.
Thanks
At least the train personnel communicated with the passengers on the northbound SJ route. That Coast Starlight south was horrible with the dissemination of information, not to mention the lack of kindness on the coast route.
Good description of San Joaquin valley towns.. "smashed, defeated.."
Hopefully someday Calfornia high speed rail makes connecting between these 2 cities better. Easy to take BART, ferry or Amtrak Bus to get to SF for now at least. Thank you for taking us on this route, hopefully someday we will get to ride all of them!
Not bad...see you next video 😊
Nice video 👋
I have to give credit to Amtrak and local governments for the wide network of Amtrak bus routes that spider-web around main Amtrak routes. The efforts were well worth it and attracts a lot more ridership.
The buses at Bakersfield connect to many places around Southern California making the San Joaquins quite useful.
The private railroads did this in the 1920s and 30s. This is how Greyhound and Trailways buses got started. The buses would bring people from rural areas to the train depots. Greyhound was partly owned by Southern Pacific and several other railroads. Trailways was owned by Santa Fe, "Santa Fe Trail".
@@dfirth224 Thanks for a lot of info I did not know. The airline industry moved to a hub and feeder spokes system as well decades ago. With a lot more folks traveling now more direct routes are possible. Airlines want to fly full airplanes to improve profitability. Hub and spoke helped to do that. Fiddling with the size of aircraft helps too but is complicated even with massive computer power and few people enjoy it when flights are routinely oversold or almost empty.
I used to take this train from Stockton to Bakersfield with a thru bus from San Jose as well as a thru bus to Palmdale it was never my favorite route but it got me to my destination. When they discontinued the thru bus to Palmdale I started to take the coast starlight to and from San Jose longer ride better views in my opinion.
I believe graffiti to be a sign of social disconnect and disrespect. It's worth fighting against it.
Stockton wasn't the smoke break station? Huh... shocking!
This is the only AMTRAK route west of St. Louis I have never ridden so found it interesting. Looks like your bus ride from L.A. to Bakersfield goes well and from the comments it is used due to heavy freight rail traffic between L.A. and Bakersfield. I have had good experiences using a bus between Seattle and Vancouver for connention as it was better timed for my connection than by rail and once had a bus between Kansas City and Omaha for connection that may no longer exist. St. Louis for years has had a bus connection between St. Louis and Carbondale Illinois for the City of New Orleans. Interesting video seeing a part of California first for me.
If done right with clean modern busses like the Seattle bus connections it's not all that bad. Plus as shown in the video the ride over the Grapevine is actually quite scenic. The other issue with the train going all the way to LA is that the ride over Tehachapi would take at least 5 hours with no delays. The bus ride takes about 2.5 hours sometimes faster.
Thanks for the info. @@markdm4805
Nice vid! I looked into taking this train to the Bay Area since I live in BFD; I did take the San Joaquins train once to Hanford to buy my car, so it was useful going up the Central Valley one way. Sadly, I wish I could take this to LA (my hometown)
Riding the San Joaquins to Sacramento has changed since the pandemic. There used to be more direct trains in and out of Sacramento
I will say the ride is quite pretty in winter. The Valley* is usually snow free, but the mountions are not so driving through the Cajon pass is quite pretty. Also spring where it and the valley do get considerably green for a month or so.
And then it’s over 100 degrees all summer.
Right; I took a road trip through there and it was like 108º. Locals were complaining
No snow but we do have a FOG season Nov. through February. Not as bad as it was years ago. Sometimes it causes pileups on 99 and I-5 from people driving too fast when you can't see more than 50' feet in front of you.
@@dfirth224 Yes. I remember when I was growing in Stockton. Sometimes the fog would just smother the city for over a week. That cold we get in the Central Valley is very uncomfortable when it's combined with fog.
@@T1DWanderer Weather service office for the southern SJ Valley (based in Hanford) doesn't even issue heat advisories until it breaks 100. When I lived in Fresno 105 was normal in later July-August, with frequent 110. Worst part in July-August is the 80+ lows just before dawn, and 100 until after midnight. Though the only time I saw it approach 115 was in Sacramento.
Not the prettiest route for sure but by Amtrak standards it’s more efficient than the Coast Starlight to get from A-B. In fact, you can leave from LA 3 hours later than the CS, take the thruway bus and San Joaquins, and *still* catch up to the CS.
A tour through the poorest counties in California. A part of California long neglected by stage and hard hit by drugs, crime and poverty. Still tho a culture of tough people with a deep sense of humor.
Do a follow-up in 20 years. Hopefully high-speed rail will be done by then.
This is how not to go
So much easier and faster to take the coast starlight than the San Joaquin route
I did take the Coast Starlight after this one - great scenery but not the best train ride... ua-cam.com/video/9_wCfTAOlTc/v-deo.html
The Coast Starlight actually takes almost 3 hours longer to Emeryville from LA than the San Joaquins. This user left on a bus at 9:15am from LA and got to Emeryville at 6:15pm. The Starlight leaves LA at 9:51am and arrives Emeryville at 9:31pm. It’s about 3 hours longer on the starlight but the starlight has the better view and drops the bus transfer
Not sure I would call Bakersfield a little station? It is larger than Cleveland, OH!
There is definitely something to be said for avoiding airport security hassles at all costs.....this bus and train ets you into downtown SF from downtown LA. No need for taxis or rental cars, no need for baggage and security hassles. If you have time, this is the way to go. IF YOU HAVE A FULL DAY, its great.
They named the Train The San Joaquins because they are several trains a day.
I can't remember the names. But I've heard of names for locations being used in a plural manner.
Nice video about San Joaquin train service between Oakland/Emeryville/Stockton (easy bus connection to/from Sacramento and Bakersfield (buses to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and even to Santa Barbara)!!!
I consider this as best alternative and faster alternative for coastal route, San Joaquin travel is fast and spark, even 6 hours goes fast. Usually not delays, easy connection to/from Capital Corridor trains, Coast Starlight Amtrak long distance, as well as California Zephyr!!! I recommend for overnight stay in San Francisco or Emeryville to return on Coast Starlight to Los Angeles, you travelling along Coastal Range, then passing it and as bonus get almost 6 hours along California Coastal route from San Louis Obispo!!! You arrive by 9 pm to Los Angeles.
You should have taken the Coast Starlight.
You're in luck; I did! ua-cam.com/video/9_wCfTAOlTc/v-deo.html
These trains can get very busy on certain days and certain times!!!
Holidays they are often standing room only between certain stops. They start out mostly empty from Bakersfield and get crowded from Fresno north. Modesto north is when the commuters get on.
That route takes you through cows, tree nuts, olives and other cash crops. The land owners spend most of the time complaining that they have to pay for the water for their exports which everyone in the cities subsidize. 😆 Your Clif Bar was produced in Emeryville.
I enjoyed the scenery, for what it was. My favorite thing was something I didn't manage to capture on video: a small round fenced-in area, with a woman riding a horse around the perimeter. In the middle, a young couple standing, embracing. Don't know the story, but it was such a striking image! Quickly passed by before I could react though
Mini snack bar? 😂 Known as the Cliff Bar. Would be like calling soda a carbonated beverage. A local thing
And a tasty edible rectangle it was too
I’ve used the San Joaquins between Sacramento and Los Angeles. It’s a bit tedious and the busses between Bakersfield and LA Union Station can be chock full, a huge space and comfort difference between train and bus and a bit risky with the increasing respiratory virus incidences in winter.
the train part is good, i wish they would extend it to redding. but yeah the bus between la and bakersfield is s nightmare. looks like you got a nice quiet bus, usually its full of coughing children. yeah the coast starlight route is better and definitely worth doing, but takes several more hours
I love the fact that Amtrak don’t take any crap from anybody. It someone acts up, they will kick you off. A lot of elderly people take the train and I appreciate the no nonsense from stupid people. Interesting fact, Corcoran State Prison was where Charles Mason was in prison before he passed. Bakersfield is where a lot of west coast country music is from. In 1985, there was a mini series staring Carol Burnett called Fresno, it was a comedy making fun of tv show like Dallas and Dynasty.
Bakersfield is where many of the "Dust Bowl" refugees, aka "Okies", ended up in the 30s. That government run labor camp in the movie "Grapes of Wrath" was located a few miles south of Bakersfield. The camp is still there but the residents are now from Mexico and other southern places. People in Bakersfield had a book burning when the Grapes of Wrath book came out. The burning took place on the banks of the dry Kern River bed in Bakersfield. Steinbeck was NOT welcome in Bakersfield.
@@dfirth224 oh wow! I didn’t know that! Thank you for the information!
The country singer Jon Wayne moved out to Bakersfield 'cause he thought Merle Haggard lived there - even wrote a song about it.
I remember Fresno the TV show! I watched it; I was a kid and don't remember the details much, but it's still what I think of when I hear the name
@@T1DWanderer me too! I have the original tv guide with the cast from Fresno on it from 1985! I watched on UA-cam recently and… it kind of sucked! Wasn’t funny now that I’m an adult!
The throughway bus took away the fun.
At 32:00 - what are all those sticks in the water? They seem to placed at regular intervals and, were it not that they are in the middle of nowhere, I would think they used to be piers/wharves.
I wondered that too
They use to be docks and piers.
I once did the Coast Starlight from Seattle to LA years ago. My roommate booked the tickets. However, he took the shorter train time on the site and we ended up with Seattle-Sacramento on Coast Starlight... San Joaquins to Bakersfield and bus to LA... all to save a couple of hours, when we could have been on the train along the Californian coast... arguably the BEST part of the journey.
So irritating!!!
We are all so different - I did the same route as you and really enjoyed the different modes-train, bus, train & bus, train and it also got me home 2 hours earlier into San Diego.
@@sbeckas It's horrible. You miss the best part of the journey and have to switch modes at midnight in a Sacramento train terminal.
@@TheNewGreenIsBlue It appears we used Different times to depart -this month I left Seattle at 950am arrived in Sac at 630am - Amtrak bus left at 715am from Sacramento & arr Stockton 815am, Amtrak San Joaquins left at 923am arr Bakersfield 157pm, Amtrak bus left Bakersfield 205pm arr 435 in LA Amtrak station , took 510 pm Surfliner back to San Diego arriving b4 8pm. I knew sleeping in coach was awful for me (took it going to Seattle from LA direct) but using this method kept me more alert & active also giving me different views, & a variety of modes to experience. I was a little less tired using this trip-due to activity I think. PS got to ride the new San Joaquin and it gave me access to WIFI too.
Did that exact same trip in 2003. Glad I did it once...but it was very boring (flat, and endless almond farms). I also got super sick the day after (not their fault, but will always associate the two occurrences)
The plural is to acknowledge all the fiefdoms in the Central Valley. Moving graffiti allows those “artists” to have their work seen by a greater audience
I think the snack box items are all CA products!
Run down look of the towns in the Central Valley. That's how it looks in these more rural towns and cities in the Central Valley. The areas next to railroad tracks don't look the best.
Chuckling at your attempt to describe the scenic agricultural fields your train transected - mostly consisting of orchards, vineyards and row crops. Our valley is famous for pistachios, almonds, grapes, carrots, tomatoes and cotton. Thanks for the post.
The grapes have been ripped out and replaced by nut trees because of labor shortages. 99% of people picking grapes were undocumented from Mexico. Nut trees are all harvested by machines that shake the trees. The farmers have a small crew that works year around.
@@dfirth224 You're right about grape acerage being down but 60% is still grown near Fresno (Selma is the nation's raisin capital).
8:16 The route might be split at Stockton to go to Sacramento, but there is only one train each way between Stockton and Sacramento that comes from/goes south of Stockton. Every other trip up to Sacramento will be *another* connecting bus for the rest of the journey.
Before the pandemic there were 3 trains each way daily to Sacramento.
@@dfirth224 Do you mean from points south of Stockton? Because there are currently five trains running daily between just Stockton and Sacramento.
Amtrak currently (3/2024) still lists only one through train between Bakersfield and Sacramento; leaves BFD just after 6 PM, arrives SAC 11:35 PM. It's usually pretty close to on time, but sometimes creeps up on midnight arrival. All other trips involve either a Thruway (dedicated) bus from Stockton to Sac, or transfer to another train at Martinez; the bus transfers take an extra 20-40 minutes compared to the through train, and the train transfers 40 minutes to more than an hour extra. If you're transferring to the Starlight northbound, it's carded into Sac at 11:59 PM and is usually late. Murphy's Law applies, though: if you're planning on a same-night transfer, the San Joaquin will probably be late and the Starlight on time. Southbound, forget it: SJ leaves Sac at about 6:30 AM, which is just about when the Starlight gets there if on time (it's almost always late, often by hours); for Valley points, you're riding a bus to Stockton for a later SJ train.
I would much rather prefer a full train service to San Francisco Union Station.
What trip to the west coast is the funniest route southwest chief California zephyr or Texas eagle or empire builder
People say California Zephyr, but I haven't taken that one yet
@@T1DWanderer Texas Eagle ends in San Antonio, but drops a through sleeper car that's added to the Sunset Limited on to LA, 3 times a week. Eastbound, it's the reverse: Sunset drops a car that's attached to the Eagle. Slowest way to get to LA from Chicago. Sunset is almost always late, and 5-10 hours late isn't unusual (or more - days late have been reported).
Got some 'petro-vista' there. I think theoretically, it's possible to go Metrolink to Lancaster, and take a bus Lancaster to Bakersfield, but I don't know anyone who has tried this.
There are also a couple of Coast Buses between SLO/Santa Barbara and San Jose/Oakland depending on time. They're Amtrak buses, not Greyhound, so stops are limited. Connects with a Surfliner at the south end and a Capitol Corridor at the north. Look in the Capitol Corridor bus schedules for details. Total running time is about the same as the Starlight if the train is on time, but the buses are more likely to actually be on time. One of them is overnight. The San Joaquin is faster and cheaper, and there are more of them.
Why don’t they just run regular trains on the coast starlight route? Surely that would be popular no?
How much did the bus ride and Amtrak cost?
It was $50.50
I am sorry that you failed to show the greatest item along the San Joaquins Tracks. A SR-71 Blackbird, and the AirForce One just behind it. And a B-52; B-36,and a British Vulcan Bomber. They are at the Castle Air Museum just north of Merced. You passed it when you did the snack box review. Bad Show.
The San Joaquins are superior to the Coast Starlight if you're taking the train to get between the Bay Area and LA. They are faster, keep to schedule better, and the buses from Bakersfield fan out all over Southern California, not just straight to Union Station. Since I'm headed SF to Santa Monica, works great. And if you're comparing cafe car to cafe car (excluding Starlight's dining car), the on board food and beverage are better on the San Joaquins. Nice video.
If you're going for the scenic experience, Starlight obviously wins.
Definitely. I rode the Coast Starlight shortly after this trip here: ua-cam.com/video/9_wCfTAOlTc/v-deo.html
The San Joaquins are paid for, and use equipment bought (or, in some cases, leased from Amtrak) and maintained by, Caltrans. Amtrak is contracted to run them and integrate them with the national schedule & reservation system. As state-supported trains, their focus is public transportation, not scenery. The Capitol Corridor and the Surfliner trains are similar (though Surfliner does indeed have some pretty scenery). My experience on the SJ and Capitol Corridor trains has been that they do their job pretty well. The cafe car offerings, however, can get a bit boring. Also note: if you get a SJ train that has the new Siemens cars, it doesn't have regular food service yet (cars are still under construction) - just snack boxes.
Nice, but I think I'd rather do the coast line. Still worth watching. Thanks for another good episode.
Coast Starlight coming next :)
I'll be certain to watch it.@@T1DWanderer
California wonderful beauty is different from the Coast Starlight route vs this San Joaquin route. Even in this valley one realizes without the river and irrigation, this valley would more or less be semi arid ranch country, but with the irrigation, this valley turns into one of the richest farming valleys in the world. Nearly every produce item in a American grocery store is or can be reaped and sowed here... While the large metropolis in California maybe Hollywood and Silicon Valley, the San Joaquin agricultural heart of California is John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath country or the big valley... Mostly low paid farm and distribution blue collar workers...
Say NO to the microwaved DiGiorno pizza! Stick to the microwaved cheeseburger, or get one of their ham or turkey deli sandwiches.
Totally agree. Lesson learned
Gas Price is so expensive just better travel by train than with a car...
How was the ride quality?
A bit rickety but relaxing
Man, that train conductor likes to talk.
Wow !!! I wish i had known when your were coming up. You went right through my town of Stockton CA. One of the busier stops on the train. I like a handful of others commute to the bay area using the San Joaquin trains. Funny you ordered the famous Amtrak Snack Box. It has a story to it. Lol. On the train you were on they sell it in the cafe car. However 1 train in each direction operate with single level ex NJ Transit commuter cars similar to the one at the front of your train. These trains have no cafe car whatsoever. As a way to make up for that they give out those snack boxes complimentary plus a bottle of water. I've had plenty of them in my daily commute. They are pretty good and all of the items are from companies in the Central Valley. On another note unfortunately the food service on the San Joaquins is about to go down a grade. The train you rode is made up of California Cars. They will be shifted to other routes in the next year or two. We will be getting new single level Siemens Venture cars similar to Brightline and Amtrak Midwest service. Unfortunately with these cars only vending machines will be available in 2 coach cars.
Thanks for the info! Maybe I should have shown the snack box itself more in the video - every side of it proudly highlighted something about California
The ex NJ Transit cars are called "Comet Cars". I think that's what they were called in NJ. The state of California bought them used and refurbished them. Much cheaper than buying new ones.
@@T1DWanderer yes it is a nice little box it comes in.
Could the mystery 's' be down to a possessive apostrophe being dropped. If it was named San Joaquin's because it was "of or pertaining to San Joaquin" and then the convention of removing apostrophes when producing a nameplates or the like, it may always have ended up stuffed down the back of the sofa 😊
Pity you cannot get the train the whole way. As was.