So, he assumes that Amtrak knows what it is doing. He and his wife get into my car at 5.40am, and go down Mission Street, one block south of Market Street, and the Embarcadero, where the Ferry Building is.
All is dark: The sky, and all the buildings. Sunday morning, 6.00am.. No cops, no cabs, no pedestrians, and, worst of all..: No Amtrak bus.
We drive slowly up to and through Fishermen's Wharf, and all along the Embarcadero. Brother then calls Amtrak, and with a LOT of prodding, they say the bus leaves from Mission Street and the Embarcadero. Strange... I had entered the Embarcadero, from Mission Street, at 6.am, and saw nothing.
We drive back there, and notice a small sign in the window of 101 The Embarcadero. It says "AMTRAK". All lights in this office were off. Nobody inside or out... I say.. :this must be bad info we got on the phone...
I continue south, two more blocks, and there in the dark, all unlit, is the Amtrak bus. It says "Santa Barbara", my brother's destination. It is now 6.20. I figure this must be where to board.
I tell my brother and his wife... "Hop out, this is the boarding place, apparently. They get out.
Suddenly the dark bus starts up and drives away, onto the Embarcadero, and toward Mission Street.
Brother and wife hop back in, and we follow the bus to where it stops, at the curb, and the driver hops out and walks toward the back of the little Amtrak building... He comes back at 6.27am and opens the bus, and says, first thing, to me: "You shouldn't follow the bus. You could cause an accident. (As if my little Jetta, behind the huge bus, was creating a risk for him or me. ) I told him that I was trying to help my brother to catch the bus before we were on the road to Santa Barbara.
I asked him why he had parked three blocks away, in darkness, and only pulled up to the Loading Point at 6.24, and left the bus, and only began boarding three minutes before departure time.
(This feels like I am asking stupid questions, based on his tone, but I like to understand stuff..)
He, in bus #5412, (the route #, I think) and my brother and sister-in-law, and 4 other passengers, eventually leave.
AMTRAK acts like it has no competition, by the stupid way they print tickets, and let their drivers hide in the dark, three blocks from the Loading Point, until 5 minutes before departure time, and by the way they keep the front office of their tiny location in total darkness, and only maintain a hidden waiting room around back, 200 feet away.
Most unfortunate is the "F.U. attitude of the driver of today's "6.30am to Santa Barbara.
Here's a recommendation. : Avoid using AMTRAK... , if you like a "business-like transit company."
