Tag Archives: Eastern Upper Michigan Peninsula Transportation Authority

Announcements, News, Press Releases

Indian Trails Expands U.P. Motorcoach Service from St. Ignace to Sault Ste. Marie and Beyond

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 8, 2009
CONTACT: Brenda Cheney, 800-292-3831

Michigan's Intercity Bus System as of Dec. 2009
Michigan's Intercity Bus System as of Dec. 2009
(OWOSSO) – Indian Trails has expanded its scheduled motor coach service in the Upper Peninsula, extending its route from St. Ignace to Sault Ste. Marie and adding service to Kinross and Newberry.

“The extension of the service which began on December 1 is a natural outgrowth of the recently opened transportation center in St. Ignace,” said Indian Trails President Gordon Mackay. “This enables us to better serve all of our customers,” added Mackay.

“The route extension reintroduces daily schedule service to Sault Ste. Marie that ended back in 1993 and opens all of the Lower Peninsula and western Upper Peninsula to the U.P.’s second largest population area,” Mackay said.

The Sault Ste. Marie ticket agent is Eastern Upper Michigan Peninsula Transportation Authority (906-632-8643).

With this expansion of scheduled service by Indian Trails, travelers going to and from Canada can easily arrange transportation across the International Bridge to connect with Greyhound Canada Service and Algoma Central Rail.

Greyhound Canada offers service to Sudbury, Toronto and Ottawa eastbound and to Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver westbound.

Algoma Rail service connects Sault Ste. Marie, northern Ontario and the entire VIA Rail system.

Mackay pointed out that even though the Indian Trails expanded service is part of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) -sponsored U.P. service, “the extension is being operated without any increase in MDOT-subsidized taxpayer dollars.”

Indian Trails’ Central and Upper Peninsula motor coaches with deluxe amenities provide daily service to five Michigan universities – Michigan State, Central Michigan, Lake Superior State, Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech.

Indian Trails operates seven days a week, 365 days each year. For more information about these routes, contact Indian Trails at 800-292-3831 or www.indiantrails.com

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Announcements, News

Amtrak Thruway bus service has a new U.P. MDOT Station

St. Ignace and the Upper Peninsula have a new Bus Depot/Travel Center located on US-2, just east of the I-75 intersection on the North side of US-2 near the Mackinac Bridge.

An Indian Trails official said the company plans on using the new St. Ignace station starting Sept. 22 with dedication slated Sept. 28.

MARP Vice-chair Don Monteith said the Michigan Association of Rail Passengers will be represented at inaugural of service from the station and the dedication.

The new bus station is the northern terminus of Indian Trails‘ Amtrak/Thruway route that starts in Kalamazoo at the Transportation Center that is shared with Kalamazoo Transit buses, Amtrak train and Indian Trails’ Amtrak/Thruway route # 8364. The Amtrak Thruway service leaves Kalamazoo at 3 p.m. for Big Rapids, Cadillac, Traverse City, Boyne Falls, Petoskey, plus other intermediate stops, arriving at St. Ignace at 11:45 p.m. The southbound schedule # 8365 has a 8:30 a.m. departure from St. Ignace with an 5:20 p.m. arrival in Kalamazoo.

The new bus station is also the terminus of another Indian Trails bus route that runs from Lansing and Bay City along the shore of Lake Huron to St. Ignace.

Indian Trails also operates a connecting westbound motor coach to Escanaba, where it connects to another Indian Trails Amtrak/Thruway (# 8539) motor coach to to Marquette, L’Anse, Houghton and Hancock with intermediate stops. Indian Trails extends service to Calumet but it is not part of the Thruway service.

South from Escanaba, Indian Trails operates another Amtrak/Thruway service (# 8532) that stops at Marinette, Green Bay, Manitowoc, and intermediate points. ending at the Milwaukee Amtrak Intermodal Station at 7:45 a.m., connecting to Amtrak’s 8 a.m. Hiawatha train to Chicago. With a layover, passengers can connect to Amtrak’s Empire Builder to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Spokane, Seattle and Portland. In Chicago, U.P. residents can connect to the entire Amtrak network

There is also reported interest to connect at St. Ignace to Sault St. Marie, the third largest city in the U.P., but which has no scheduled transportation service.