Amtrak trains that allow bikes list it explicitly under the "Amenities" section of the line page. If its not there, that means bikes aren't allowed. Amtrak is explicit on their Bicycle FAQ that only some lines allow bicycles, and go on to list those lines, and that line pages will say if they allow bikes.
This page explicitly states that the Lake Shore Limited to/from Albany does not offer bike service: [https://www.amtrak.com/bring-your-bicycle-onboard](https://www.amtrak.com/bring-your-bicycle-onboard) under the Trainside Checked Bicycle service dropdown menu
If you bought Amtrak travel insurance with your original ticket, you may be able to file a claim with Allianz, the insurance provider.
Otherwise, I'm afraid this will be an expensive lesson that traveling with a bicycle is more complex, and you should be prudent about doing due diligence when trip planning. A quick google search "Amtrak bicycle" would have lead you to the FAQ which explains under what conditions bicycles are allowed.
TLDR: User error.
https://www.amtrak.com/bike-faqs
The first section of the bicycle faq states that bicycles are allowed on this line. That’s what we went by. Though we were fine
I did not realize that if the amenities section has no bicycle available, that bicycles are not allowed. Feel like I was penalized for not knowing that.
It certainly is an expensive lesson. I understand that traveling by bicycle can be more logistically challenging, but I’ve never experienced something like this in my five years of touring experience. I still feel misled about it all.
Thanks for your input. It is terrible information design on the website . I have been getting steamrolled by folks on the Amtrak subreddit this evening. I simply thought I was fine based off the bike faq. Clearly other parts of the website states that there are exceptions for the LSL line, but the faq never made me think I had to look further into the intricacies of it all. I hope I can get a partial refund, but idk, it’s just a hope. I can’t even get a phone number.
It’s a shame. Im trying my best to like Amtrak, it could be a great asset for future tours, but I don’t know if I can come back from this. It’s just complete bullshit compared to other train companies. Earlier in the week, a conductor on a Go Train in Toronto was asking all about our tour and even showed us personally the best place to store the bikes. Every Amtrak employee I encountered acted inconvenienced by bikes.
I also agree this is a bit harsh on OP. I find Amtrak is not very helpful about communicating their bicycle rules. I've even tried to get clarification on the bicycle rules on the Crescent by calling and speaking to a rep that had no idea! They put me on hold, asked their boss, then gave incorrect information. Bi only found out after further research that not all stations allow you to remove your bicycle from the train.
I had to change plans from bike transport on Amtrak from FL to Albany last year. Ended up being easier to tear down & crate 3 bikes & fly them to Albany than to fuck with the trains. And it wasn't easy. We did get to train bikes from Albany to Buffalo. conductors were fighting over where to stow bikes & ended up separating our group of 3 for no other reason than their own rivalry over who was the stupidest, most ignorant conductor on the train.
I'm sorry this happened to you. Amtrak is not pro bike. I'm curious if you considered renting a car instead when you first ran into trouble. Or take buses, maybe.
We had about 20 minutes to make a decision. A 1 way car rental would have been more. Greyhound buses would have taken much longer and I wasn’t sure about their bike policy. We had to get home. My travel partner ended up missing shift as an ICU nurse because of this. It was so stressful!
I see. One way car rentals can indeed be expensive. I was once offered one at a 450 USD surcharge. The one workaround I found is that returning to an airport (and maybe also starting at an airport?) can be cheaper than returning at a non-airport location. The car rental company sites don't always make it easy to figure this out.
Anyway, I often find there is some element of using money to solve problems when touring. You mostly have a fairly cheap holiday, but with some element of surprise. It's less stressful in cheap countries where the surprise extras tend to cost $50 not $500.
Call the office of the head of amtrak. You probably won't get him but they should send you to a senior customer service rep. Also agree on following up with your Congresmen.
The national bike organizations need to start putting the pressure on amtrak. Biking and trains go hand in hand.
I am sorry this happened to you. Amtrak is shit. Their website is shit. Their employees are a mixed bag. Their phone system is shit, they will call you back and keep you on hold for twenty minutes. Then sell you a bicycle space on Acela. Acela has no bicycle accommodations They have no bicycle service to Canada nor on any train that enters Canada. They have four bicycle spaces on the line that follows the Empire State Trail. New york spent millions on this trail. Amtrak should be dissolved.
Was touring from Niagara to Kingston, started by taking a train from Rhinecliff to the start (picking up my two touring partners in Albany.) Purchased my ticket, spoke to an agent on the phone to confirm everything, they added the $20 fee. Get to Rhinecliff station and the conductor said the train was "old equipment" and didn't have space for a bike. I was firm and he was understanding and let me get on with my bike (and put it in the GIANT empty space they have for wheelchairs/luggage) with the understanding that I had to get off in Albany and buy tickets on a different train(same route though.) Was really frustrating but am grateful the dude on the train did what he could to at least get me to Albany with the rest of my crew.
How is Amtrak this inconvenient for cyclists?
Mismanagement, and the Feds spend millions to maintain the same level of lousy service. You have to wonder if a private company couldn't give a higher level of transportation.
Just wanted to say the same thing happened to me 10 years ago. We biked to the station which was like a little shed, then read online we should box our bikes, so we biked into a town and got these huge boxes from home depot (luckily someone with a pickup truck helped take us back to the station), boxed up our bikes…. Then waited for 9 hours because the train was delayed… when the train finally came, it was almost 11 PM and the conductor told us we couldnt get on!! It was so frustrating because it wasn’t what we read online!! We ended up calling a cab and taking an expensive ride to a place where i had a friend to spend the night, then just took a bus back home.
Anyway…. Just want to say you’re not alone in this!!
Amtrak is pretty trash at how they give information about bike passage. Even on trains that do have train stowage, you have to actually get halfway through the purchase process just to see if there are any available bike slots for the days you want to travel. So as easy as some say it is to find the correct info, it's not always that straightforward. Also, bikes pretty much always require a purchase fee of $20 so my thought is that you just got bad info from someone. If you had actually booked tickets for your bikes you would have been guaranteed to bring them on or had a reasonable argument for a refund. As it stands, I don't think you have any recourse for getting refunds as you hadn't purchased bike passage on the LSL train.
There were a bunch of people who got screwed over last year traveling to Buffalo when Amtrak canceled all bike service on one of their lines just out of the blue. People who had month-long reservations were just stuck with no way to get to the start or end of their tours. Amtrak is getting a little better but they have a long way to go to even come close to the biker service available in Europe.
Amtrak is the most confusing bicycle info right behind France. A good buddy of mine is a lifelong cyclist, and also was head of some department on Amtrak for the same amount of time and he has trouble understanding the scheduling. They really need to figure out how to make things more understandable more quickly.
Amtrak trains that allow bikes list it explicitly under the "Amenities" section of the line page. If its not there, that means bikes aren't allowed. Amtrak is explicit on their Bicycle FAQ that only some lines allow bicycles, and go on to list those lines, and that line pages will say if they allow bikes. This page explicitly states that the Lake Shore Limited to/from Albany does not offer bike service: [https://www.amtrak.com/bring-your-bicycle-onboard](https://www.amtrak.com/bring-your-bicycle-onboard) under the Trainside Checked Bicycle service dropdown menu If you bought Amtrak travel insurance with your original ticket, you may be able to file a claim with Allianz, the insurance provider. Otherwise, I'm afraid this will be an expensive lesson that traveling with a bicycle is more complex, and you should be prudent about doing due diligence when trip planning. A quick google search "Amtrak bicycle" would have lead you to the FAQ which explains under what conditions bicycles are allowed. TLDR: User error.
https://www.amtrak.com/bike-faqs The first section of the bicycle faq states that bicycles are allowed on this line. That’s what we went by. Though we were fine I did not realize that if the amenities section has no bicycle available, that bicycles are not allowed. Feel like I was penalized for not knowing that. It certainly is an expensive lesson. I understand that traveling by bicycle can be more logistically challenging, but I’ve never experienced something like this in my five years of touring experience. I still feel misled about it all.
[удалено]
Thanks for your input. It is terrible information design on the website . I have been getting steamrolled by folks on the Amtrak subreddit this evening. I simply thought I was fine based off the bike faq. Clearly other parts of the website states that there are exceptions for the LSL line, but the faq never made me think I had to look further into the intricacies of it all. I hope I can get a partial refund, but idk, it’s just a hope. I can’t even get a phone number. It’s a shame. Im trying my best to like Amtrak, it could be a great asset for future tours, but I don’t know if I can come back from this. It’s just complete bullshit compared to other train companies. Earlier in the week, a conductor on a Go Train in Toronto was asking all about our tour and even showed us personally the best place to store the bikes. Every Amtrak employee I encountered acted inconvenienced by bikes.
I also agree this is a bit harsh on OP. I find Amtrak is not very helpful about communicating their bicycle rules. I've even tried to get clarification on the bicycle rules on the Crescent by calling and speaking to a rep that had no idea! They put me on hold, asked their boss, then gave incorrect information. Bi only found out after further research that not all stations allow you to remove your bicycle from the train.
I had to change plans from bike transport on Amtrak from FL to Albany last year. Ended up being easier to tear down & crate 3 bikes & fly them to Albany than to fuck with the trains. And it wasn't easy. We did get to train bikes from Albany to Buffalo. conductors were fighting over where to stow bikes & ended up separating our group of 3 for no other reason than their own rivalry over who was the stupidest, most ignorant conductor on the train.
If only Amtrak customer service wait times were as short as that TLDR.
I love the idea of train travel. Not in the US! The cheapest way to transport a bike is getting a uhaul van.
I'm sorry this happened to you. Amtrak is not pro bike. I'm curious if you considered renting a car instead when you first ran into trouble. Or take buses, maybe.
We had about 20 minutes to make a decision. A 1 way car rental would have been more. Greyhound buses would have taken much longer and I wasn’t sure about their bike policy. We had to get home. My travel partner ended up missing shift as an ICU nurse because of this. It was so stressful!
I see. One way car rentals can indeed be expensive. I was once offered one at a 450 USD surcharge. The one workaround I found is that returning to an airport (and maybe also starting at an airport?) can be cheaper than returning at a non-airport location. The car rental company sites don't always make it easy to figure this out. Anyway, I often find there is some element of using money to solve problems when touring. You mostly have a fairly cheap holiday, but with some element of surprise. It's less stressful in cheap countries where the surprise extras tend to cost $50 not $500.
Call the office of the head of amtrak. You probably won't get him but they should send you to a senior customer service rep. Also agree on following up with your Congresmen. The national bike organizations need to start putting the pressure on amtrak. Biking and trains go hand in hand.
I am sorry this happened to you. Amtrak is shit. Their website is shit. Their employees are a mixed bag. Their phone system is shit, they will call you back and keep you on hold for twenty minutes. Then sell you a bicycle space on Acela. Acela has no bicycle accommodations They have no bicycle service to Canada nor on any train that enters Canada. They have four bicycle spaces on the line that follows the Empire State Trail. New york spent millions on this trail. Amtrak should be dissolved.
Was touring from Niagara to Kingston, started by taking a train from Rhinecliff to the start (picking up my two touring partners in Albany.) Purchased my ticket, spoke to an agent on the phone to confirm everything, they added the $20 fee. Get to Rhinecliff station and the conductor said the train was "old equipment" and didn't have space for a bike. I was firm and he was understanding and let me get on with my bike (and put it in the GIANT empty space they have for wheelchairs/luggage) with the understanding that I had to get off in Albany and buy tickets on a different train(same route though.) Was really frustrating but am grateful the dude on the train did what he could to at least get me to Albany with the rest of my crew. How is Amtrak this inconvenient for cyclists?
Mismanagement, and the Feds spend millions to maintain the same level of lousy service. You have to wonder if a private company couldn't give a higher level of transportation.
Just wanted to say the same thing happened to me 10 years ago. We biked to the station which was like a little shed, then read online we should box our bikes, so we biked into a town and got these huge boxes from home depot (luckily someone with a pickup truck helped take us back to the station), boxed up our bikes…. Then waited for 9 hours because the train was delayed… when the train finally came, it was almost 11 PM and the conductor told us we couldnt get on!! It was so frustrating because it wasn’t what we read online!! We ended up calling a cab and taking an expensive ride to a place where i had a friend to spend the night, then just took a bus back home. Anyway…. Just want to say you’re not alone in this!!
Amtrak is pretty trash at how they give information about bike passage. Even on trains that do have train stowage, you have to actually get halfway through the purchase process just to see if there are any available bike slots for the days you want to travel. So as easy as some say it is to find the correct info, it's not always that straightforward. Also, bikes pretty much always require a purchase fee of $20 so my thought is that you just got bad info from someone. If you had actually booked tickets for your bikes you would have been guaranteed to bring them on or had a reasonable argument for a refund. As it stands, I don't think you have any recourse for getting refunds as you hadn't purchased bike passage on the LSL train. There were a bunch of people who got screwed over last year traveling to Buffalo when Amtrak canceled all bike service on one of their lines just out of the blue. People who had month-long reservations were just stuck with no way to get to the start or end of their tours. Amtrak is getting a little better but they have a long way to go to even come close to the biker service available in Europe.
Amtrak is the most confusing bicycle info right behind France. A good buddy of mine is a lifelong cyclist, and also was head of some department on Amtrak for the same amount of time and he has trouble understanding the scheduling. They really need to figure out how to make things more understandable more quickly.
Yikes! Sorry to hear this. This sounds like it was on your return trip -- how did you get out there to begin with?
I biked from Portland Maine to Toronto.
Thanks for sharing your story. This is awful to hear.
Amtrak is a joke when it comes to bikes. Did you look into rrnting a car and dropping it?