GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A new daily bus service launched on Monday, which offers travelers a route between Green Bay and Milwaukee.
The new Amtrak service will be added to the existing round trips on I-41, making stops in Green Bay, Appleton, Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, and Milwaukee twice a day.
The Wisconsin Department of Transportation had been looking at ways to meet travelers’ needs since October of 2018, when Greyhound stopped servicing the area.
“There was some concern raised to us, so we reached out to Amtrak to see if it was something we could do. It worked out that we could provide additional services on the I-41 corridor and connect to the train station to Chicago,” says Lisa Stern, with WisDOT.
The Amtrak Thruway Bus service will be leaving from the Green Bay Metro Transit Center twice a day and tickets need to be purchased ahead of time by phone or online.
“We do not sell the tickets like we do for the other city services, so you can go on Amtrak and purchase your ticket or purchase it from a device or driver when they get on,” explains Green Bay Metro Transit Director Patty Kiewiz.
Travelers are being advised to get dropped off, since there will not be any overnight parking at the transit center.
“Of course there are parking ramps downtown, but they do get picked up right on University and they can, of course, use the lobby inside as they wait on the service,” says Kiewiz.
The state DOT, which will be funding the new service, says they plan to make changes to the bus to make things more appealing for travelers.
“So the first couple weeks we are using the Coach USA buses, they will eventually be replaced with the Amtrak buses,” says Stern. “Those will include more amenities for travelers like table tops and more leg room.”
The DOT is looking to have everything finalized by the end of the summer.
A full bus schedule and ticket prices can be found here.
