Allow Amtrak ticketholders extend ride to commuter trains

[AmtrakMaineiac]

Amtrak has (or had) a deal with MARC where they let MARC monthly passholders ride a few select northeast Regionals between Washington and Aberdeen. When I started riding, they had some deal where you could buy "step-up" tickets between Baltimore, BWI, and Washington. I would have liked it if they had a deal to allow MARC passholders to ride the Northeast Regionals between Washington, BWI, and Baltimore. It would have allowed MARC to open up more seats on the local trains to people going to local stations, and Amtrak, even if all they got was the much cheaper MARC fare, would have filled empty seats between Washington and Baltimore. And, believe me, the local trains would have benefited from getting the Baltimore passengers on to Amtrak -- there was a while when the MARC locals were standing room only.

I believe there is something similar between Springfield MA and New haven CT where CT Rail passengers can ride the Amtrak Springfield shuttle trains.

 

[daybeers]

I believe there is something similar between Springfield MA and New haven CT where CT Rail passengers can ride the Amtrak Springfield shuttle trains.

It's a combined service because the state was too cheap to have Amtrak run the whole service. Transit America and Alternate Concepts run a joint venture for the CTrail service. Both are branded the Hartford Line and tickets on one are valid on the other. The Valley Flyers which continue to Greenfield, MA and the Northeast Regionals which use the corridor are also included, but not the Vermonter, which makes sense. Even buying an Amtrak ticket for a specific train is okay to use on another. Really frustrating they don't just make it unreserved, but they do get full around holiday times. It's also confusing when purchasing an Amtrak ticket because it doesn't matter if it's value or flexible, but they still sell both. I have a U-Pass as a CT state student so I get to ride them for free since it's unlimited bus and rail statewide for essentially the whole year as it's 1/1-7/31 for spring semesters and 8/1-12/31 for fall semesters