Did anyone else catch the CSPAN braodcast of the Transportation Policy involving Amtrak? I caught the last 30 mins. and thought I would put out some highlights.
The hearing involved some of Amtraks harshest critics, Wendel Cox, and Joe Vranich. Also there was Peter Armstrong, who leads a tourist agency in Canada promoting railway tours.
The issues were Amtrak funding, Amtrak and freight relationships, the possibility of privatization of routes, and a few other things.
Questions from the audience included, the Istook "pulling the pork" from liberal Republicans who support Amtrak. Cox stated he agreed with Istook's action, and wished he had "pulled more pork." "There is not much money to work with, and why should their district get Amtrak or transit funding from the Feds, when no one else cares about your little district?" was pretty much Cox's reasoning.
Also came a question from a NARP representitive (don't think it was Capon)
He corrected some of Cox's and Vranich's remarks about whether Amtrak was for liesure travelers or not. Cox wanted to debate about that, but time was low. Also NARP mentioned, about how most travelers don't go all the way from one coast to another, but use the dozens of stops in between. I wish there were more time for debate, but there wasn't. The hearing was concluded by Armstrong, stating that, VIA's transcon service was meant strictly for tourists, and that was his business. He said to ask any Amtrak passenger about weather they were going just to see the scenery or actualy going somewhere. He stated that most are going for leisure. He also didn't mention that VIA only runs that route 3x per week.
When I travel, I may be going for leisure, but I just happen to be taking the train to get there. So I guess its the fine line between what leisure travel on the train means. I may take the train to the see the sights, but I still need to get to where I'm going. Thats my opinion.
I'm sure if you can watch the C-SPAN broadcast at all, but I'll keep checking.
Any comments?
Chris
The hearing involved some of Amtraks harshest critics, Wendel Cox, and Joe Vranich. Also there was Peter Armstrong, who leads a tourist agency in Canada promoting railway tours.
The issues were Amtrak funding, Amtrak and freight relationships, the possibility of privatization of routes, and a few other things.
Questions from the audience included, the Istook "pulling the pork" from liberal Republicans who support Amtrak. Cox stated he agreed with Istook's action, and wished he had "pulled more pork." "There is not much money to work with, and why should their district get Amtrak or transit funding from the Feds, when no one else cares about your little district?" was pretty much Cox's reasoning.
Also came a question from a NARP representitive (don't think it was Capon)
He corrected some of Cox's and Vranich's remarks about whether Amtrak was for liesure travelers or not. Cox wanted to debate about that, but time was low. Also NARP mentioned, about how most travelers don't go all the way from one coast to another, but use the dozens of stops in between. I wish there were more time for debate, but there wasn't. The hearing was concluded by Armstrong, stating that, VIA's transcon service was meant strictly for tourists, and that was his business. He said to ask any Amtrak passenger about weather they were going just to see the scenery or actualy going somewhere. He stated that most are going for leisure. He also didn't mention that VIA only runs that route 3x per week.
When I travel, I may be going for leisure, but I just happen to be taking the train to get there. So I guess its the fine line between what leisure travel on the train means. I may take the train to the see the sights, but I still need to get to where I'm going. Thats my opinion.
I'm sure if you can watch the C-SPAN broadcast at all, but I'll keep checking.
Any comments?
Chris