Ground Travel Comparison Site Wanderu Teams with Amtrak

by Donald Wood
Last updated: 12:30 PM ET, Thu April 30, 2015

For those who prefer to travel via bus or train, comparing prices from different companies and different routes can be difficult. Fortunately, price comparison and booking site Wanderu has teamed up with Amtrak to offer customers a one-stop-shop for ground travel in North America.

According to Wanderu, the company will now allow users to search and purchase tickets for Amtrak trains through the website's search engine. Similar to Kayak in that Wanderu aims to aggregate a wealth of options and boil down to the top results, the partnership with Amtrak allows users to book trains for more than 60 cities in 14 states.

While not all of Amtrak's lines are accessible through Wanderu just yet, deal hunters will be able to book trips on the Lake Shore Limited (New York/Boston-Chicago), Silver Star (New York-Tampa-Miami), Silver Meteor (New York-Miami) and Palmetto (New York-Savannah) lines.

Wanderu CEO and founder Polina Raygorodskaya released a statement about the partnership between Amtrak and her company, saying, "Now, more than ever, we can help our users reach destinations that they were not able to get to before. More importantly, we are able to provide them with a broader range of options in terms of travel time and type of transportation."

In addition to the new partnership with Amtrak, ground travel giants like Greyhound, Megabus and Boltbus have already joined forces with Wanderu to help customers find the ideal train or bus at the most affordable price.

As if the website allowing users to compare prices that now include Amtrak options wasn't enough, Wanderu unveiled its iPhone app in February, allowing customers to book their trips on the go.

Many travelers prefer to use busses or trains instead of flying, but it was difficult in the past to track down prices from several different companies in order to compare prices. With this move, Wanderu is hoping to stake the same sort of claim in ground travel that the big price comparison sites did in the hotel industry.