Someone recently noticed in a Facebook transit group that over the summer, Greyhound discontinued service from San Francisco to Eureka. Greyhound had operated buses on this corridor for decades, and before the COVID pandemic, it ran two daily round trips: a daytime trip and an overnight trip.
COVID significantly impacted the intercity bus network throughout the US, further compounded by the sale of Greyhound to Flix Mobility without the bus terminals. Since the merger, the Greyhound network has shrunk in favor of contractor-operated Flixbus, including nearly all routes north of Sacramento.
Besides Greyhound, the state has long provided Amtrak Thruway bus service along the corridor, for many years restricted to riders connecting with Amtrak trains in Martinez, to avoid directly competing with Greyhound for passengers. Since the passage of SB742 in 2019, the San Joaquin Joint Powers Authority, which oversees the route to Eureka, wanted to allow bus-only ticketing to improve productivity and cost-effectiveness. Eventually, SJJPA convinced Greyhound to discontinue the North Coast route, which had already been reduced to a single round trip five days a week post-COVID, and not oppose SJJPA in allowing bus-only ticket sales on its Thruway buses.
Currently, the direct link from the Bay Area to the North Coast is the Amtrak bus route from Martinez, offering two daily round trips. Both trips leave Eureka for Martinez in the morning and arrive in Eureka from Martinez in the evening. Riders to or from San Francisco must take other buses or ferries to connect with the Amtrak bus.
- Golden Gate Transit bus 101 from SF to Petaluma
- San Francisco Bay Ferry from SF to Vallejo
Besides the Amtrak bus, the Humboldt Transit Authority operates the “North State Express” between Eureka and Ukiah on weekdays. It provides midday service, operating around the same time as one of the Amtrak bus trips, but offers a $2 fare. To reach the Bay Area, a transfer to Mendocino Transit Authority’s 65 bus to Santa Rosa is required. The regular fare on MTA is $18, making the total fare from Santa Rosa to Eureka $20.
The vehicles used on the Amtrak bus route are motorcoaches. The vehicles on the North State Express and Route 65 are cutaway buses.
Unfortunately, tickets for the Amtrak bus are only available through Amtrak, and the North Coast route does not appear on Greyhound/Flixbus sites. This is despite Greyhound/Flixbus being able to sell through tickets on publicly funded intercity bus routes like the Highway 17 Express between San Jose and Santa Cruz. There is an opportunity to connect between Greyhound and the Amtrak bus route in Vallejo, but Greyhound runs too few buses to make a meaningful connection.
Unlike states like Colorado, California’s publicly supported intercity routes have fragmented brands and operations. Due to its vast size, the state government often takes a passive role, leaving responsibilities to regional entities, which can be insufficient. The North Coast Amtrak bus route is managed by SJJPA as an additional responsibility and lacks political representation in the North Coast region. Better coordination (scheduling, fares, transfers, stop locations) and branding will make a huge difference in making intercity buses a serious option on corridors that can no longer support competitive, privately operated intercity buses.