Reply to Shuttle Services

Looking for a list of shuttle services between St Charles / St Louis and Clinton. I will be arriving in St Charles / St Louis later this summer and would like to hire a shuttle service over to Clinton so I can start my KATY trail ride back to St Charles. Another option would be to simply rent a car and drive it one way. Thank you.

Use the Trip Planner above and select Shuttle to generate a list between the towns of your choice.

Thank you!!

Contact Bike Stop Cafe in St. Charles (or check out their website). They offer shuttle service anywhere along the trail. My wife and I used them last year to drop us off in Clinton, MO and we rode the entire trail back. It was $240 for the both of us, hope this helps and enjoy the Katy Trail!

Amtrak is another possibility, but you may need to modify your itinerary such as where you start, etc. Sedalia is probably the closest to Clinton where you would ride to Clinton and then back to Sedalia. Or take Amtrak to Lees Summit, but LS would require about ten miles of road to reach Pleasant Hill to then get on the Rock Island and then ride to Windsor. There is a ten mile gap in the Rock Island trail between Lees Summit and Pleasant Hill.
Note that only regular size or type bikes or e-bikes allowed on train, not recumbent or trikes or tandems. The Amtrak River Runner doesn’t have an official baggage car, only passenger cars which is where the bikes are stored, either in a space created by where they removed a few seats in the coach section, OR if you upgrade to business class they might have you store it in a corridor against a railing in the business class car which is what I did. I made a video about this last September in the Fans of Katy Trail or the Katy Trail Riders Facebook page. Also, Amtrak only allows four bikes per the entire train due to the storage limitations. I suggest booking in advance and/or booking on a weekday for better chances of getting a spot. The only way to see if space is available is to reserve a spot for you, add that spot to your “cart” and then as a part of the reservation process is to add your bike as cargo. You don’t actually have to “check out” (and pay) you can simply exit the reservation process.

Is there a less expensive way to shuttle than what the bike shop cafe shows?

We're thinking of camping at the Katy Trail Campground on the trail and going out east from there. We don't have ebikes but we are wondering if there is a service that would take us back to the campground. We have our old regular bikes.

I'm not aware of anyplace named "KATY Brail Campground." What city/trailhead is it near?

I meant KATY Trail. Sorry.

Thank you everybody for your informative replies. I might take the Amtrak to Sedalia and then shuttle from there to lower the cost. Thanks again.

You might check into taking the train further west to Lees Summit and take a shuttle to Pleasant Hill and take the Rock Island Trail to Windsor. From there you can go west to Clinton and back track east to go to St Charles or you could just go east from Windsor to St Charles depending on how important it is to start at Clinton.

Some people have biked on roads from Lees Summit to Pleasant Hill if you want to do that in place of a shuttle.

A one way car rental can be much cheaper than a shuttle service. Parking is free and easy in Clinton.

Re Amtrak: All of the bike slots were full when I tried to go west from St Louis. The guy in the ticket office told me it was the conductor's discretion whether to find space for my bike. The conductor couldn't have been nicer, and wedged my bike into a recess in the vestibule. Go to the platform and ask, they will probably accommodate you.

Pro tip: Amtrak conductors are hard working people in a demanding occupation. They also have a great deal of discretion in whether that bike goes on the train, or not. Bring cash and tip them first. Also, don’t be the problem passenger. Be ready to load immediately including having your panniers/bags/etc removed. It’s ok to make two trips, coming back to get the bags. Know how to move your gear and bike swiftly. The train operates on a strict timetable, don’t be the cause of a delay, because the conductor has many people to safely and efficiently move on/off the train.