by gt7348b
For personal reasons, I needed to get from Greenville from Atlanta so I took the Crescent this evening. I looked at taking Megabus or Greyhound and neither was as convenient as Megabus doesn't stop in Clemson or Greenville and Greyhound's stops in Anderson and Greenville are not on bus routes or near hotels. It is a little hike, but at least you can walk to downtown Greenville from the Amtrak station (as I did) or take Uber/Lyft. While on the trip, had a couple thoughts:
* I was surprised at the number of people taking short haul trips to Toccoa, Greenville, Gastonia (who knows why), etc. given that the arrival times on the 20 are dismal especially if the Crescent is late (it was - by about an hour)
* Does anyone know why the Clemson station has been closed for three years? The official line is some bridgework by SCDOT, but having been under the bridge and now seeing the station as we passed through it, that does not seem like a reasonable explanation. I would have preferred to go to Clemson, as my family lives nearby, but I wasn't going to Greenville and then taking a bus back to Clemson.
* The Atlanta Brookwood Station is way to small for the number of customers and they've closed the Kroger across Peachtree so there's nothing to nearby to get something to eat except the Pepsi (? Its Atlanta!) vending machine in the station
Overall, I don't think Amtrak and advocates does a good enough job selling the usefulness of the Long Distance Trains for short trips (except for the Empire Builder). My better half's mother uses the Sunset to go from Houston to Lafayette several times a year and I'd use the Crescent more often if it stopped in Clemson again. Just some random thoughts after a pleasant ride on the Crescent to destinations most on this board don't experience.
* I was surprised at the number of people taking short haul trips to Toccoa, Greenville, Gastonia (who knows why), etc. given that the arrival times on the 20 are dismal especially if the Crescent is late (it was - by about an hour)
* Does anyone know why the Clemson station has been closed for three years? The official line is some bridgework by SCDOT, but having been under the bridge and now seeing the station as we passed through it, that does not seem like a reasonable explanation. I would have preferred to go to Clemson, as my family lives nearby, but I wasn't going to Greenville and then taking a bus back to Clemson.
* The Atlanta Brookwood Station is way to small for the number of customers and they've closed the Kroger across Peachtree so there's nothing to nearby to get something to eat except the Pepsi (? Its Atlanta!) vending machine in the station
Overall, I don't think Amtrak and advocates does a good enough job selling the usefulness of the Long Distance Trains for short trips (except for the Empire Builder). My better half's mother uses the Sunset to go from Houston to Lafayette several times a year and I'd use the Crescent more often if it stopped in Clemson again. Just some random thoughts after a pleasant ride on the Crescent to destinations most on this board don't experience.
Atlanta - within two and a half hours of . . . the edge of its suburbs