How to travel to Tahoe without a car from the Bay Area — take the train

A word about the Zephyr, though: It’s often late, sometimes really late. (More about that in a minute.) The Zephyr stops in Truckee and Reno every day as part of its two-day, 2,400-mile journey between Emeryville and Chicago. Bay Area riders can board in Emeryville or Richmond: SF passengers can grab an Amtrak bus downtown that whisks them across the bridge to the Emeryville station.  

The Capitol Corridor trains offer additional departure times and boarding locations, including Oakland Jack London and Berkeley. Upon arriving in Sacramento, you board an Amtrak bus if you’re going to Truckee or Reno, or an El Dorado Transit bus if you’re headed to South Lake Tahoe. 
 
Two Capitol Corridor trains have bus connections to Truckee/Reno, and one connects to a bus to South Lake Tahoe and the Stateline Transit Center. The schedules for trains and buses on the agency’s website have details. 

Once you arrive in Truckee, Reno or South Lake Tahoe, use local transit or ride-hailing apps to complete your trip. There’s Tahoe Truckee for North Lake Tahoe, and there's Tahoe Transportation in South Lake; both Uber and Lyft operate in Reno and Tahoe. You can also make arrangements with a ski resort for a ride.

What to expect from Sierra train travel

Capitol Corridor trains offer coaches and a cafe car. The Zephyr has roomier coaches, a lounge and first-class cars with roomettes and bedrooms. Splurging on first class for a daytime trip probably isn’t worth the cost unless you prize privacy and can afford the much steeper fare.
 
The Zephyr also features a dining car, which Amtrak closed to coach passengers during the pandemic but might fully reopen soon. The counter in the lounge sells snacks and microwave fare. You can also bring your own food on board.

The trains and buses have room for passengers to bring bikes, skis, snowboards and other gear, said Priscilla Kalugdan, spokesperson for the Capitol Corridor.
 
Buses don’t run when the roads are closed, of course, but the train might still get through bad weather.
 
“Some of our customers take the Zephyr to Truckee and then choose the Capitol Corridor connecting bus and train service back to the Bay Area,” Kalugdan said. “This is a great way for families to give train service up to Tahoe a try.”

The train and bus trip from Capitol Corridor for traveling between Emeryville to Truckee is about $100 per person roundtrip, before discounts. A hundred dollars is just slightly more than the $4.45 that the Snowball Special charged in 1940, adjusted for inflation. 

The Zephyr’s pricing showed fares for late January trains of about $150 roundtrip coach, and a multiple of that for first class. Keep in mind that Zephyrs on Fridays this winter sometimes sell out in coach.

Sticking to the schedule

The length of the Zephyr’s route explains why the westbound train, in particular, can run hours behind schedule. It’s due in Truckee 45 hours after leaving Chicago, and the distance creates plenty of opportunities to lose time. 
 
Amtrak’s long-haul western trains are currently undermined by equipment problems, freight train congestion, crew shortages and weather — occasionally leading to spectacular schedule failures. For instance, a westbound Zephyr on Jan. 18 that was due in Truckee at 9:37 a.m. pulled in after midnight, more than 14 hours late. 

For the first half of 2022, across the entire route, the Zephyr was on schedule (within 15 minutes) less than 30% of the time, reports the Federal Railroad Administration.
 
The Capitol Corridor (which reported being on schedule 90% of the time for 2021) is much more reliable, and its Sierra-Bay Area schedule is up to an hour faster than the Zephyr’s.

A ‘strong interest’ in adding trains

Tahoe resort owners recognize the potential in reviving passenger trains to the Sierra.

Ron Parson, the owner of Granlibakken Tahoe resort, said trains would be a hit, but the current service falls far short.
 
“I’ve taken the Zephyr,” he said. “The problem is it’s slow, once a day, and the schedule is unreliable.” It brings almost no visitors to Granlibakken. “Out of the entire year, I might take one or two people to the train station,” he added. 
 
Parson dismissed the bus connections from Sacramento, arguing that the goal should be to get Tahoe visitors off the freeway. He said a good train service should be efficient, green and faster than the current option — and offer riders safe parking at Bay Area locations where they board.
 
“It’s got to serve the customer and be a fun experience,” he said. “You can’t just add trains.”

Barton Saunders and his son Hayden prepare to board the Capitol Corridor Amtrak train in Emeryville. Amber Sass of Sacramento uses her laptop while on board. (San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images)

Several transportation agencies and interested groups in Nevada and California have been talking about extending Capitol Corridor trains to Reno and Sparks. The Capitol Corridor’s Kalugdan verified the discussions. 

“Yes, this is being considered by the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority and our other partners, including the Placer County Transportation Planning Agency and Caltrans,” she said.
 
“But due to our track slot and equipment limitations, we have focused on maintaining frequency for our core demand areas. This is a complicated corridor with high levels of freight traffic, a steep grade for trains and complicated weather, but given the strong interest, we are exploring future possibilities. Any new service would likely require capital investments in the rail infrastructure,” she said, such as sidings for passenger trains to get around slower-moving freight trains.

The issue of reinvesting in rails was cited in a recent post by Jim Mathews, president of the Rail Passengers Association. After criticizing Amtrak for a big Midwestern service failure last fall, and defending its efforts to learn from that incident, he noted other travel problems, including Southwest Airlines’ failure to invest in its systems, which led to the airline’s service meltdown during the holidays. 

“Our country has prioritized stock buybacks and executive bonuses instead of reinvesting in capacity of all kinds,” he wrote.
 
“Travel in the U.S. of any kind — air, rail, auto or bus — has become inconvenient in nearly all ways in recent years,” Mathews wrote. “We need more investment in better systems and infrastructure so that things can get more reliable, and more convenient, and more safe.”
 
And fun. I think revelers on the Snowball Specials would certainly add that word to the mix.