Amtrak Quality - Train Leaves With Zero Passengers

[Ms Tree]

So when you say that 80% (where did you get that number?) will look for an alternative you did not really mean that it applied to these people since there is no alternative other than cars, planes or buses and those are not really alternatives now are they?
 
Again, mistakes happen and most folks understand that.  I cannot count the number of people who told me they would never fly American again when I would not give them what they wanted only to track their history later to see that they were still flying American.  

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

Amtrak's pretty well charter ensures they have no meaningful competition.

In WAS-NYC, they own the tracks. In 99% of the other markets, they use tracks owned by freight rail companies or the states, but the freight operators are prohibited from offering rail service under their own name. It's less clear if they can bid to operate intercity services funded by states.

Both BNSF and UP still operate passenger service, but they're on routes which pre-date Amtrak, and it's not done under their own name. I don't believe NS, CSX, CP or CN have any remaining contract routes.

All six of those carriers (or their predecessor companies) had passenger service up until 1971, and when they handed off the liabilities and assets associated with it to Amtrak, they became barred by federal law from re-establishing service.

Railroads who have been formed since then are free to compete. Iowa Pacific has been doing that - bidding on some of the state services, and planning to operate them with their own equipment as opposed to leasing from a state agency or Amtrak.

Personally, I think the liability flush done in 1971 has long since been paid back. It's time to allow other railroads to compete if they want to.

 
 
Kind of like a RR....'Wright Ammendment".........E,..M'boy   ??    ( < :
 
 
PS,
 
Is the quotation under all you're posts a Reference to....Dirty DICK Cheney   ????
( I WORSHIP the GROUND he's got coming to him ) !

 

[eolesen]

Is the quotation under all you're posts a Reference to....Dirty DICK Cheney

 
No, it's an independent evaluation of one of the more prolific forum participants here.
 

So when you say that 80% (where did you get that number?) will look for an alternative you did not really mean that it applied to these people since there is no alternative other than cars, planes or buses and those are not really alternatives now are they?

It's a generalism and you're going on a tangent I didn't suggest... Bears made the claim that nobody who likes Acela is going to use bus/car/air ever again... That's a statement I'd expect in the DL forum.

In general, there's 10% of your customer base who won't leave you unless you go out of business, and another 10% who didn't want to do business with you, but had no other choice.

That leaves 80% in the middle who may like your product, but will go elsewhere the moment someone else's price is 5% lower.

You can argue whether that's really 20/60/20 or 20/70/10... The point is that you may think you'll never lose a customer, but the math tends to prove otherwise.

 

[Ms Tree]

It's not the numbers I'm arguing with. It the alternative. It's not like there are other trains that can provide and alternative. People who are taking the train are doings so for a specific reason. Cars, buses or planes are probably not and option for them so I doubt very many if any will bail short of Am track going belly up.

 

[La Li Lu Le Lo]

Truth be told sparrow, I had the excellent good fortune to reunite with the Only TRUE LOVE of my Life, after 35 YEARS of not ever seeing her. (She's 55 now, (on the rebound) and so help me GOD she looks 40-45, natural BLOND hair as ever (All Over), and she threw me one hell of a 69th Birthday party on July 2_ th .)  Thankfully the 'ol Bear doesn't look his age(late 50's ish, and boy o boy I'm like a God Dam teenager again !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I know you guys will agree with me on this.  NOTHING beats the pride a guy feels when he's got a younger Woman on his arm !!  I have NO RIGHT being this Lucky  !!!!!!!!!!

If she has a brain in her head she will get as far away from you as possible. 
 

Is the quotation under all you're posts a Reference to....Dirty DICK Cheney   ????
( I WORSHIP the GROUND he's got coming to him ) !

Hopefully you will beat him to it. 

 

[Dog Wonder]

If she has a brain in her head she will get as far away from you as possible. 
 

Sounds like a woman with brains taught you something.

 

[eolesen]

It's not the numbers I'm arguing with. It the alternative. It's not like there are other trains that can provide and alternative. People who are taking the train are doings so for a specific reason. Cars, buses or planes are probably not and option for them so I doubt very many if any will bail short of Am track going belly up.

Yeah, not sure I agree with you on the lack of alternatives. Airlines felt the pinch on DCA-LGA when Acela started up. Now you also have BoltBus and MegaBus in the market as an alternative for the lower end of the pricing scale, and it's only an hour longer in some cases.

 

[Ms Tree]

Not sure about the trains here in the states (only experience is with European trains when I travel) but I would sooner take a bullet than be on a bus in the US. I cannot imagine a train being that bad in the US. room to move around. Bigger seats to stretch out. I don't see any competition between a train or anything out there.

Sounds to me that the people on Bolt and Mega are not the folks who were on the train and vice versa.

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

Yeah, not sure I agree with you on the lack of alternatives. Airlines felt the pinch on DCA-LGA when Acela started up. Now you also have BoltBus and MegaBus in the market as an alternative for the lower end of the pricing scale, and it's only an hour longer in some cases.

 
And here I 'Thought' you were familiar with the dreaded  I-95 corridor, between BOS-NYC-PHL-DCA, which is EXACTLY where those fancy busses with get Stuck very badly on !

 

[eolesen]

Why would I care about I-95? I haven't lived out east for over 20 years, and I have no intention of doing so.

At least the fancy buses have reclining seats and wifi. For $25, it's not a bad deal at all. Apparently, there aren't a lot of screaming babies on them, either. It's a millenial thing to ride the bus.

 

[signals]

Bus accidents are on the increase. Just saying!

Let's look at what $1 gets you...
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/07/megabus_settles_lawsuit_over_2.html

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/08/09/a-look-at-recent-megabus-problems-coincidence-or-pattern/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megabus_(North_America)

scroll down to Incidents and Accidents.

And of course, now you start to think safety.

http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/local/hillsboroughcounty/2014/04/30/dangerous-and-deadly-crashes-in-megabus-history/8544919/

 

[delldude]

The House proposed cutting Amtrak’s budget by a couple hundred million dollars, but the Senate insisted and won its $1.390 billion funding level. Though this amount is the same as last year, meaning no increase was granted overall, as a first step Congress should have cut both operating and capital subsidies, to send a message that Amtrak needs to dramatically lower its operating costs and improve its financial performance. And, even though the bill requires Amtrak to report on reforms to stem losses on its food and beverage services, such a requirement is weak, and we’ve seen it before. Consistently, Amtrak fails to make necessary changes. A better solution would be to deny Amtrak a certain amount of funding if it continues to lose money on food and beverage sales.
http://dailysignal.com/2014/12/11/spending-bill-house-caves-senate-transportation-spending/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social