Bus will run to Providence Amtrak station from Worcester, New Bedford

A new bus service will link the train stations in Providence, Worcester, New Bedford and Fall River, aimed at bringing Massachusetts riders to Providence in time to catch their trains.

Touted as a "connecting bus service," it's being paid for by Amtrak and run by DATTCO, a bus company in New Britain, Connecticut.

The bus service will "bring a brand-new link from New Bedford and close an existing gap in Worcester with convenient, timed connections between trains and buses to Providence and our national network," Amtrak executive Dennis Newman wrote in a news release.

The buses will make three trips per day and are aimed at people coming from Worcester and New Bedford/Fall River who are catching trains leaving from Providence, Amtrak spokeswoman Jen Flanagan said. The buses will also take riders from Providence back to Worcester and the SouthCoast.

The bus service is part of Amtrak's "thruway" service, offering "guaranteed connections to Amtrak trains."

"Dedicated buses carry Amtrak passengers only; coordinated buses operate on individual carrier schedules but create easy access to the Amtrak network," according to the Amtrak Thruway website.

Providence is on the Northeast Corridor train line, which runs from Boston to Washington, D.C. Amtrak runs 17 Northeast Regional trains each day, in either direction, stopping in Providence 34 times a day.

Acela, the express train on the same route, runs eight times per day in either direction, stopping in Providence 16 times a day.

When the buses will start running and their daily schedule was not available at press time Thursday.

Amtrak and the Rhode Island Department of Transportation also offer a shuttle from Providence Station to the Providence ferry terminal at 25 Portugal Parkway. The ferry to Newport is run by Seastreak.

While the bus service is aimed at people coming from Worcester and the SouthCoast coming into Providence, the buses will also go from Providence back to Massachusetts.

The Amtrak Lake Shore Limited line runs from Boston through Worcester to Chicago, with stops in New York state (Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo), Pennsylvania (Erie), Ohio (Cleveland, Toledo) and Indiana (Elkhart, South Bend, Gary).

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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.