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Amtrak Travel

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Jims242, Jan 12, 2008.

  1. hockeybeat

    hockeybeat Guest

    There are signs in Penn Station saying that you will be searched, but I haven't been and I've used Amtrak pretty regularly.
     
  2. zebracoy

    zebracoy Guest

    I ran screaming through the train station last month at some stooge who was being less than pleasant.

    A security officer grabbed me, turned me toward him, and only wanted to see that I had a ticket.

    Doesn't make me comfortable, necessarily, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
     
  3. wickedwritah

    wickedwritah Guest

    So I'm trying to book Northeast Corridor tickets for a trip of moderate length this weekend, and it turns out that there are flights that are cheaper on both ends -- to take Amtrak would cost me $40 more. Not the way to promote train travel.
     
  4. hockeybeat

    hockeybeat Guest

    Amtrak does a terrible job of promoting itself as a cheaper, viable alternative. Before making the recent DC outing, I checked Amtrak for prices and it was remarkably expensive to take the train from Penn Station to Union Station.

    I also looked at Amtrak for a a proposed trip to Canada with a couple buddies, and the prices weren't worth considering.
     
  5. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Wrong. Amtrak does a terrible job of being the cheaper alternative. I've wanted to take a good train trip for a long time, and it's almost ALWAYS more expensive than a plane trip to the same location. Fuck that.
     
  6. hockeybeat

    hockeybeat Guest

    You're right. Amtrak could be the cheaper alternative and then market itself that way. Instead, it just fucks itself over.
     
  7. wickedwritah

    wickedwritah Guest

    Part of it is that Amtrak caters to the business traveler in the Northeast Corridor, and I get that. They can sell more expensive tickets because they take people downtown-to-downtown, avoiding airport BS.

    If I book a flight tomorrow, it takes me too close to the time of my interview. If I take a train, I'm probably going to get there on time, but I'm also gonna spend more and spend five times as long on the train, and wake up ass-early to boot. Or I drive, and I'm worn out by the time I get there. I'm not thrilled with any of my options.
     
  8. Stone Cane

    Stone Cane Member

    actually, that's not really the case. ridership is at an all-time high, and they keep raising the prices because they can. they've reduced service and raised prices to the point where most trains are sold out. long-range trains are always sold out.

    the problem is amtrak gets virtually no government money. because the government obviously wants us all to fly or drive to use up gas. so infrastructure is falling apart, the cars are old and tired, support services are pathetic and customer service is lousy.

    it's a shame because for just a tiny fraction of the billions upon billions of dollars we're wasting to fight an illegal and immoral war in iraq to shore up train travel, you could create a modern, european-style train system in the US, where we could travel on clean, fast, comfortable, quiet and relatively inexpensive modern trains virtually anywhere.

    but it'll never happen

    a shame
     
  9. Mystery_Meat

    Mystery_Meat Guest

    Training it is a lot cheaper if you book well ahead. I'm thinking about doing the Seattle trip from the east coast, and I can get a ticket for $220. Of course, if I want a room on one of the legs, it gets more expensive, but if I find people to go with me, the cost of the room gets split.
     
  10. JR

    JR Well-Known Member

    Just for fun I checked the Via/Amtrak Schedule for the train from Toronto to NYC.

    You can get a one way fare (booked for June 2) for $88.00. And that's not even the cheapest fare which is sold out. Th\at's probably half the airfare.

    You leave downtown Toronto and arrive in Manhattan.

    The train from Toronto to Montreal is downtown to downtown as well and takes about four hours. The flight takes about an hour but once you factor in all the travel time to and from the airport, the bullshit AT the airport, there's not a lot of time saved.
     
  11. The population density and size of the country makes European-style train travel impractical here, with a few exceptions (Northeast Corridor, LA-San Diego among them).
     
  12. Dyno

    Dyno Well-Known Member

    The long haul trains are much cheaper than the Northeast Corridor. Recently I looked into taking the train for a last minute trip from NY-DC and it was $160+ one way for a regular, non-business class, non-Acela train at a non-peak time.
     
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