Amish transportation

Pinecraft Pioneer Trails Bus

Pinecraft Pioneer Trails Bus

Pinecraft in Sarasota, Florida is a place where Amish and Mennonites like to congregate in the colder months. If you’re Amish and traveling to Pinecraft, there’s a good chance you’ll hop on a bus such as that operated by Pioneer Trails.  The company makes regular runs from Ohio and Indiana from September to July.  For Pennsylvanians,  Elite Coach provides service from January to March. Heading…

Do you ever use mass transport?

Spending much of my year in Europe, I am on buses, trams and trains a lot. Polish people are surprised when I tell them that outside of a few big cities and the Northeast corridor, we North Americans don’t really do public transportation. For instance, I recently told a couple colleagues about the first time I had ever been to my home city’s train station….

How do Amish youth get driver’s licenses?

Rita asks: I’ve seen the comments about teens, during Rumspringa, driving cars. How do they get a permit, practice time, license and money to buy a car without the parent’s assistance? We’ve discussed Amish youth getting their first buggies, but what about cars?  First off, some Amish youth do in fact drive, and some Amish parents have no choice but to concede car driving to…

Amishtrak

I’m a big fan of trains. There is something about riding the rails that is impossible to replicate in any other form of transportation.  Perhaps it’s the feeling of open-country freedom, or the sheer might of the multi-ton machine, or the leaving-the-station romance that train travel conjures. Trains seem to fit Europe.  Roads are generally poorer, fuel more expensive, and population clustered dense in cities….

5 Ways Amish Get Around (Without a Buggy or Car)

5 Ways Amish Get Around (Without a Buggy or Car)

We all know Amish travel by horse-and-buggy. Most ride as passengers in cars, and pretty much all Amish will take the bus or train when need be. But how about shorter trips? Here are five more ways Amish get from point A to point B: 1. Bicycle The bicycle is a standard, especially in larger Midwestern Amish communities.  Amish bicycles can be pretty fancy.  In…

Saturday brain dump: St. Michael’s Day, taglines, and what the “Am” in Amtrak really stands for

A few thoughts that have been on tap lately: This blog needs a tagline.  Previously, the description which appeared below the big Amish America title in the upper left was: “Plain Insights and Observations from Pennsylvania to Oregon“.  For a couple of reasons, one of which is length, I’ve abandoned that one and am searching for something new.  It should capture what the site is…

Amish on rollerblades

It’s nearly 15 years old, but this New York Times article (http://www.cora.org/amish-skate-art.html) remains an interesting look at a “modern” form of transportation used by Amish (and which some may find surprising). In-line skates, aka “rollerblades”, are popular in the Lancaster County settlement.  Amish historian Sam Stoltzfus estimates that (at the time of writing) they may be “tacitly” accepted in one third of settlements.  In the article,…