The Amtrak agent in East Lansing, Michigan, will be removed effective Oct. 29.
Amtrak said passengers boarding or people meeting detraining passengers from the Chicago-Port Huron, Michigan Blue Water will continue to have access to the station’s waiting area and restrooms each day.
The access for westbound Train 365 will begin at 7 a.m. while access for eastbound Train 364 will state at 8 p.m.
Amtrak will remove its ticket agent from the East Lansing, Michigan, station on Oct. 29.
A caretaker will continue to open the waiting room at the station.
Passengers will be able to buy tickets from a self-serve kiosk at the station or make reservations at Amtrak.com, on the Amtrak mobile app, or by phone at 800-872-7245.
East Lansing is served by the Chicago-Port Huron, Michigan, Blue Water. It also has connecting bus service to Amtrak’s Wolverine Service trains that operate between Chicago and Detroit.
Amtrak plans to close its ticket office in East Lansing, Michigan, as soon as it can work out arrangements with station owner Capital Area Transportation Authority.
The fourth-busiest Amtrak station in Michigan will join a list that includes Niles, Jackson and Flint where Amtrak has removed ticket agents.Mic
The Amtrak ticket office in East Lansing is currently closed on Tuesday and Wednesday with only a caretaker paid for by the Michigan Department of Transportation overseeing the station.
MDOT Communications Manager Michael Frezell said the agency is working to hire a full-time caretaker for East Lansing.
The caretaker would open the stations before trains arrive. “With a vast majority of tickets being purchased online, having tickets purchased at the station has significantly reduced over the past year,” Frezell said.
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari declined to comment on the closing of the ticket office in East Lansing, saying that the carrier posts notices of that intent on its website but it has yet to do so in the case of East Lansing.
Magliari also wouldn’t comment on what threshold of patronage that Amtrak uses when deciding to close a ticket office.
This year Amtrak has closed several ticket offices at stations that it said averaged fewer than 40 passenger boardings per day.
Trains magazine quoted an unnamed Amtrak source as saying the minimum threshold of 40,000 boardings per fiscal year is being used to review which ticket offices to keep open and which to close.
More than 68,000 passengers boarded trains at East Lansing in fiscal year 2017, almost was 10,000 more than the number who boarded at Detroit, which is retaining its ticket office.
Amtrak also continues to maintain ticket offices in Michigan in Dearborn, Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo, all of which had higher patronage than East Lansing in 2017, and at Battle Creek and Port Huron, both of which handled fewer passengers in 2017 than East Lansing.
East Lansing is served by Amtrak’s Chicago-Port Huron Blue Water.
Amtrak will have one less competitor in East Lansing, Michigan, after Megabus stops its service between there and Chicago on Jan. 9.
Megabus, which is known for its low fares, currently stops at the Capital Area Multimodal Gateway, which is also used by Amtrak’s Chicago-Port Huron, Michigan Blue Water.
Lack of customer demand and a corporate restructuring were behind the decision to pull out of the East Lansing-Chicago market, said Megabus spokesman Sean Hughes.
He also cited low fuel prices and competition from other bus companies.
Hughes indicated the Megabus will be cutting other routes serving Chicago next month.
Other bus companies that operate between East Lansing and Chicago include Greyhound and Indian Trails.
Megabus currently also serves Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids in Michigan.
News reports have indicated that Megabus will also cease service in Iowa in January where it stops in Davenport, Coralville (near Iowa City) and Des Moines on a Chicago-Omaha, Nebraska, route.
Amtrak will begin using a new intermodal terminal on Jan. 25 in East Lansing, Michigan.
The Chicago-bound Blue Water will still use the current Amtrak station, but when the train returns that evening it will stop at the $6.3 million Capital Area Multimodal Gateway facility.
Local and intercity bus routes have been using the facility since late last year.
Once Amtrak vacates its existing East Lansing station the building will be razed to make way for a parking lot for the intermodal terminal.
The intermodal terminal, built in large part with federal funds, is located at Harrison and Trowbridge roads and is three times larger than the nearby Amtrak station.
“We are so pleased to finally have Amtrak move into our new state-of-the-art facility,” CATA CEO Sandy Draggoo said in a statement. “The Gateway has been ready and waiting for Amtrak’s occupancy, which will complement intercity bus operations, provided by MegaBus, Greyhound and Indian Trails, along with taxi service.”
Amtrak ticket agents will be on duty daily in the intermodal terminal between 7 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.
East Lansing is the fifth busiest station among the 28 that Amtrak serves in Michigan and handled more than 66,000 passengers in 2013.
A new intermodal station in East Lansing, Michigan, is open for business, but Amtrak continues to stop at its previous station site.
The Capital Area Multimodal Gateway, which is operated by the Capital Area Transportation Authority, opened last November and local and intercity buses are using it.
Even though Amtrak about two weeks ago signed a lease to use the facility, CATA said it can’t raze the current Amtrak station until the passenger carrier moves into the new intermodal terminal.
And that is not going to be for a few more weeks, an Amtrak spokesman said because it will take that long to move ts telephones, computers and other data capabilities to the new building.
“We can’t move the ticket agent without moving the telephone,” said Marc Magliari, adding that that work involves several companies.
The new intermodal station, located at Harrison and Trowbridge roads, is three times larger than the current Amtrak station.
The new facility has bus bays with canopies and storage space for luggage and bicycles. There also is an overflow area for taxis and buses and parking for 150 vehicles.
The parking lot, though, has yet to be paved. CATA officials are waiting for the Amtrak station to be razed and then plan to do paving in one project.
The East Lansing intermodal station was funded with a $6.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
It is built on the site of the former Michigan State University Surplus Store and Printing Services buildings. Those were demolished in August 2014.
“We are eager to have the relocation take place in order to better accommodate Amtrak customers — as we have our intercity bus customers — and complete all phases of this project,” said CATA spokeswoman Laurie Robison. “The timing decision rests solely with Amtrak.”
Amtrak’s Chicago-Port Huron, Michigan, Blue Water serves East Lansing, which is the fifth busiest Amtrak station in Michigan serving more than 66,000 passengers annually.
Only Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Dearborn and Detroit board more Amtrak passengers and all of those stations are served by six daily Wolverine Service trains between Chicago and Detroit (Pontiac)
Also using the Capital Area Multimodal Gateway are MegaBus, Greyhound and Indian Trails bus companies.
Work on building a new intermodal station in East Lansing, Mich., that will serve Amtrak recently got underway with the demolition of former Michigan State University Surplus Store and Printing Services buildings.
The $6.8 million facility will also be served by Greyhound, Megabus, Indian Trails bus lines and local Capital Area Transportation Authority buses. The latter will own the station, which is expected to open by next summer.
Funding for the project came from Federal Transportation Administration’s Bus and Bus Facilities Program Livability Initiative ($6.3 million) and the Michigan Department of Transportation ($500,000).
East Lansing is served daily by Amtrak’s Blue Water between Chicago and Port Huron, Mich.
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