Capitol Corridor Draft Business Plan FY 2013-15

[roadman3313]

The CCJPA has just released its Draft Business Plan for FY 2013-15. The Plan is open to public comments at this time.

http://www.capitolcorridor.org/about_ccjpa/business_plan.php

Even if you don't ride the Capitol Corridor it may be an interesting read as it shows how the CCJPA has really taken the reins and placed a lot of the route into more local control. Some highlights include potential additional service to Roseville, Auburn, and San Jose in coordination with the UPRR track improvement projects, potential station additions in Vacaville, Benicia, Hercules, and Union City, as well as a potential service expansion southward to Salinas. Wi-fi updated from 3G to 4G are in the works as well as cab car retrofits to include more seating and bicycle capacity.

Thoughts?

 

[Amtrak Cajun]

If they can do all of that, it would be great. I mean for tourists as well as locals.

 

[roadman3313]

Hopefully. The Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority assumed control of the route with its local partners in a step to distance itself from the Amtrak brand name and create its own identity. Amtrak Capitols became Capitol Corridor (to also eliminate confusion with the Capitol Limited) and a partnership including incentive payments with Union Pacific helped to spur on time performance. Investment has lead to great service increases across the board and a solid ridership base.

Making 10-ride Tickets and Monthly passes available as E-Tickets is a realistic goal for this year for them. Funding has always been the big unknown but the Capitol Corridor has formed a good relationship with Caltrans and Union Pacific to forge ahead and provide a viable service. Expansion south towards Salinas/San Luis Obispo and Eastward towards Reno have always been long-term goals but with the new investment in those corridors it may become closer to a reality in the coming years.

 

[BCL]

Making 10-ride Tickets and Monthly passes available as E-Tickets is a realistic goal for this year for them. Funding has always been the big unknown but the Capitol Corridor has formed a good relationship with Caltrans and Union Pacific to forge ahead and provide a viable service. Expansion south towards Salinas/San Luis Obispo and Eastward towards Reno have always been long-term goals but with the new investment in those corridors it may become closer to a reality in the coming years.

I worry that I'm going to lose my tickets. With regular eTickets I can always reprint them. I don't know of any technical reason why they couldn't be in the form of an eTicket with a count of remaining uses on smartphones and/or online. The big issue would be people buying with cash, but even then it might be possible to get a reprint. The problem of course would be someone finding a printed sheet and attempting to use it, but they supposedly require ID. I have never been asked for ID while on a train or boarding one, even though a message about ID being required is clearly stated on every ticket.

What I'd really like would be more service to San Jose. As it stands now, my only viable option if I miss the 546 is to take Caltrain and BART, even though it takes longer. Silicon Valley has a lot of people who work late. When I do need to work late, my only practical option is to drive home. There's also a big gap in the morning during the prime commute times, where the 525 reverses in Oakland.

 

[roadman3313]

Interesting point... I was thinking more of using it in Passbook in terms of scanning it and the conductor seeing on their screen how many rides were left. But I forgot people use paper E-Tickets too! I guess that would put more "value" per-say on those E-Tickets that have no value. If you were to use it could you just replace it as you would a single-ride E-Ticket? Though I suppose it is similar to the paper 10-ride tickets now. If I were to drop it on the floor on accident, whoever picked it up would, in theory, be able to use my remaining rides as ID is very rarely requested.

I've been asked once but that was more so as a joke by the conductor as he knew me. The scanner popped up to request to see my ID so he did and say... "See... I told ya we check ID's sometime!" I just used my work ID which he said was fine.

The report does make it seem like expanding the capabilities of the passes on the E-tickets will be this year. Expanded service to San Jose seems realistic as well, particularly since they mentioned trips down to Salinas in the future.

 

[Amtrak Cajun]

Would running the CC to Reno be feasible? I know San Jose is a given because of commuting and all. Would there be a mutual agreement between California and Nevada as far as timeslots and scheduling is concerned?

Would more seating be at the expense of leg room? I havent ridden a Corridor train at all, Im askng from the Long Distance view of leg room.

Im not sure how they would work the "remaining rides left" on Multi Ride E-tickets, that would be an interesting answer.

 

[roadman3313]

Haha... Reno was a long term plan. As for now it looks like adding an additional R/T to Auburn Daily is more realistic in terms of implementation. The Reno scenario keeps going into and out of their Business plan, however they are contributing to the Donner Pass Phase II Project for capital improvements along the corridor.

There is not as much leg room in a Corridor Train but that distance would be realistic for a Corridor Train to do. For Example, the Pacific Surfliner which uses similar cars has two daily round-trips from SLO-SAN. This spans around 350 miles and takes just under 9 hours utilizing two crews, one from SLO-LAX and one from LAX-SAN. The seating does recline slightly and there are tray tables and foot rests on the seats. There are some Superliner cars mixed in for capacity but leaving those out of the mix the Surfliner sets get the job done for a day trip. There is a Cafe Car that is open generally for the entire trip. That also includes a business class if one would like a little more leg room or a breakfast/snack box along the way. There are a few tables for parties of 3-4 to sit at as well. Half the seats face forwards and half face backwards. The route operates in Push-Pull operation so there is no need to "turn-around" the train per say.

Looking at the California Zephyr, the trip from EMY-RNO is listed at 236 miles and takes around 7 Hours. RNO is the crew change point so the Oakland based crew is used for that entire length. This would be shorter both time and distance wise than the current Pacific Surfliner. Would coach be as comfortable as a Superliner, no. Sightseer Lounge, no. Would there be a dining car, no. But the train would provide wi-fi (where service is available) and have reasonably priced snack items in the Cafe car. Granted you could probably find a way to tack some ammenities onto a corridor train or use some of the Superliner cars they use now. There is less leg room and recline but I have never personally had a problem with leg room, even with my laptop on the table or tray table doing work in front of me and my backpack below. But I won't argue that it can not compare to the room provided in a Superliner coach!

Again that would take logistics and funding and the whole 9-yards... but it was something they proposed before in terms of expansion.

Now they are looking into Salinas as a possible expansion point. I'd love to see them extend a trip down to SLO to connect with a Surfliner train down South. It is already the end of a route, has a crew base, and has a storage facility for a train. It would add another option and add more flexability to the scheduling as it wouldn't be directly tied with the Starlight. That's way long term, but Salinas would be a nice start. They already have multiple busses that connect with the CC trains in San Jose and run down to connect to the PS trains in SLO and SBA. It's listed in the Pacific Surfliner schedule as "California Coastal Services" and listed as a through trip from SAC all the way to SAN. Adding another train option into that market would be great!

As for now... service to San Jose has already expanded with additional double trackage and another trip to Placer County (Auburn) would help in that developing market as well as there is competition with the Placer County Express Bus service which many passengers switched too when the CC OTP dipped down a few years ago. The CC Riders (rail group of train passengers) was very vocal on that segment but closely bonded to each other. They often hosted on board events on the train and it felt more like a community than anything else. Since that crew overnights in Auburn sometimes they would have gatherings and invite the conductors out to dinner with them and what not. I will say Capitol Corridor regulars have quite a pull and a following!

With the ridership starting to decline slightly and the first ever service reduction since the service was created occuring last year, it is time to look at the expansion they propose as a way to boost ridership not only for the commuting public, but also for the casual riders. Right now to boost ridership they have 50% off on weekend fares. Can't beat that. They are also running at about 95% OTP and are the fourth busiest Amtrak Route in the Nation.

A part of me just looks at this as a sucess story in terms of a rail route that was started in 1991 with 6 trips to upwards of 30 trips today. The way it is administered (Capitol Corridor employees actually are employees of BART, the Bay Area Rapid Transit District and work out of their headquarters in Downtown Oakland) allows for more local say in how the route is run and local control over budgeting and investment. And having the rail service operated by Amtrak brings years of rail experience and operational connections to the table. Building bonds with Union Pacific to work on OTP and Capital Projects through joint investment has only worked to improve OTP. And then using equipment owned by Caltrans (California Department of Transportation - Division of Rail) and utilizing a new(ish) State owned rail maintenance facility... there really are a lot of partnerships involved but the line works and keeps looking forward.

That was rather long but I ask if any other Amtrak routes (state-supported or corridor I'd imagine) could benefit from this. I know the San Joaquin route is changing over to more local control as well to prepare for High Speed Rail in that corridor as well. Or would this make matters too complicated with too many local interests trying to have a say in the larger Amtrak operation?

 

[Amtrak Cajun]

Thanks for the explanation about the leg room, and the time between Oakland and Reno.

Well, Im sure they will start with the small steps that may be easier to achieve, the Reno issue can be dealt with later.

As far as for the local interest, if they are all agreeable and can work in harmony, I dont see why not. But then again, you can run into a situation where there are too many chefs in the kitchen.

 

[BCL]

Would running the CC to Reno be feasible? I know San Jose is a given because of commuting and all. Would there be a mutual agreement between California and Nevada as far as timeslots and scheduling is concerned?
Would more seating be at the expense of leg room? I havent ridden a Corridor train at all, Im askng from the Long Distance view of leg room.

Im not sure how they would work the "remaining rides left" on Multi Ride E-tickets, that would be an interesting answer.

Of course that should be a software programming exercise if you've got it on your smartphone and/or purchased with an existing account. It might be more interesting if purchased at a ticket window and unattached to any account. To look up a ticket's status online, the current system requires a reservation number plus either an email address or phone number. You're not required to provide either when buying in person. When I reserved my 10-rides online, they were acknowledged on my iPhone app. When I purchased them at a QT kiosk or at a ticket window, they weren't even though I used my AGR account number.

What I'd propose would be to program the QT kiosks to read the bar codes like they currently read reservation bar codes. As it stands, I believe the only reservations that can be picked up at a QT kiosk are the multi-rides. I don't know what it was like before eTickets, but I was under the impression that one would print up a reservation notice complete with bar code and then pick up a live ticket at the kiosk. Right now the only way to pick up a reserved eTicket at a QT kiosk is to insert the credit card used to make the purchase.

 

[BCL]

With the ridership starting to decline slightly and the first ever service reduction since the service was created occuring last year, it is time to look at the expansion they propose as a way to boost ridership not only for the commuting public, but also for the casual riders. Right now to boost ridership they have 50% off on weekend fares. Can't beat that.

Took a look at that. I was thinking of maybe using my AGR points to take the kid up the Sac for the Railroad Museum, but this seems tempting. The terms seem to be more restrictive though.

http://www.capitolcorridor.org/special_offers/weekend_getaway_fare.phphttp://www.capitolcorridor.org/special_offers/weekend_getaway_fare.php

I think this is the big one:

Once travel has begun, no changes to the itinerary are permitted.

It sounds that they've already thought of people maybe booking it and trying to use the return trip on a weekday. Still - I'd hate to be in a situation where I missed a designated train and there are later trains but I'd have to buy another ticket to ride it. Capitol Corridor normally has a certain amount of flexibility. I would guess that the conductors probably have discretion to let it slide if you miss a train (heck - I've missed getting off at OAC to take BART and the conductor said it was OK to continue on to RIC) as long as it's still the same weekend.

 

[roadman3313]

That line is a standard one that Amtrak generally uses in all promotions. The general rules still apply for Unreserved trains. The only thing to remember is the ticket is valid on weekends only through the expiration date in April.

And it is far less restricting than seen at face value. You can actually book a ticket from SAC to LAX for $29.50 if you use train 723 to bus 4740 to Surfliner 1790. For the other trips you can only get as far south as SBA. As for coming back north, the computer won't allow that but you can get back north from SBA for $32.

Not a bad deal overall if you ask me! There are certain combinations that will work and there are ones that won't but if you play around with it you can find which associated Thruways work! I'm assuming train 1790 shouldn't as the others are restricted, however it allows one to book it for 50% off.

Since you would be riding on just the train using the discount as it was actually meant to be used I don't think you would encounter much of a problem

 

[AlanB]

What I'd propose would be to program the QT kiosks to read the bar codes like they currently read reservation bar codes. As it stands, I believe the only reservations that can be picked up at a QT kiosk are the multi-rides. I don't know what it was like before eTickets, but I was under the impression that one would print up a reservation notice complete with bar code and then pick up a live ticket at the kiosk. Right now the only way to pick up a reserved eTicket at a QT kiosk is to insert the credit card used to make the purchase.

No, you can insert your AGR card and it will pull up any reservations made using your AGR number, including awards or paid. You can insert any credit card to activate the machine, and then type in your reservation number to get tickets out of it. Or you can insert the credit card used to purchase that specific reservation to get an eTicket/ticket out of the QuikTrak.

As for eTickets for 10 rides, the big reason that doesn't exist is that there is no easy way to stop you from emailing the barcode to 10 friends and then splitting the cost of the ticket. It's even worse with Monthlies.

 

[roadman3313]

What I'd propose would be to program the QT kiosks to read the bar codes like they currently read reservation bar codes. As it stands, I believe the only reservations that can be picked up at a QT kiosk are the multi-rides. I don't know what it was like before eTickets, but I was under the impression that one would print up a reservation notice complete with bar code and then pick up a live ticket at the kiosk. Right now the only way to pick up a reserved eTicket at a QT kiosk is to insert the credit card used to make the purchase.

No, you can insert your AGR card and it will pull up any reservations made using your AGR number, including awards or paid. You can insert any credit card to activate the machine, and then type in your reservation number to get tickets out of it. Or you can insert the credit card used to purchase that specific reservation to get an eTicket/ticket out of the QuikTrak.

As for eTickets for 10 rides, the big reason that doesn't exist is that there is no easy way to stop you from emailing the barcode to 10 friends and then splitting the cost of the ticket. It's even worse with Monthlies.

Well then with that said... I look forward to how they work with Amtrak to implement a viable solution within the year as stated in their plan! Capitol Corridor also wants to bring back the printers for seat checks that use a bluetooth connection like they had just before the E-tickets came along. Printed Seat Checks so you can't just reuse the ones posted either (which is quite easy to do if anyone tried after you learn how each conductor positions them for the stop). I honestly have more conductors who position them in certain ways or use certain colors than those who actually write a letter or station code on them. Is this Universal throughout or just something CC Conductors have been passing along to each other?

 

[AlanB]

Well then with that said... I look forward to how they work with Amtrak to implement a viable solution within the year as stated in their plan! Capitol Corridor also wants to bring back the printers for seat checks that use a bluetooth connection like they had just before the E-tickets came along. Printed Seat Checks so you can't just reuse the ones posted either (which is quite easy to do if anyone tried after you learn how each conductor positions them for the stop). I honestly have more conductors who position them in certain ways or use certain colors than those who actually write a letter or station code on them. Is this Universal throughout or just something CC Conductors have been passing along to each other?

Conductors use all sorts of tricks with seat checks. Some rip patterns into them, some angle them or fold them, some just write codes, some play with colors, and in some cases where stations are preprinted on the check, they'll punch or check off the station.

This seems to be pretty universal on the short haul routes.

What Amtrak really needs to start reconsidering, is the system that they were supposed to implement for Acela. After checking you in on their eTicket reader, the cars WiFi updates an LED above the seat indicating where you get off. Sadly of course those displays need to be built into the cars, like they were with Acela. And of course Amtrak has to finish the software, or more likely start again, which they haven't yet done for Acela even.

Part of that same program was also supposed to update ARROW with each checkin. Then ARROW would know who no showed and would be able to release those seats for sale to agents further up the line.

 

[roadman3313]

Hm... interesting to know that. Given that they sound like they are going back to Bluetooth Printers to print out seat checks, at least on this end, I don't think the LED's will be coming to this Coast anytime soon... Even though they are ordering the new rail cars I guess they are sticking with an updated version of the good 'ol way of doing things.

 

[BCL]

What I'd propose would be to program the QT kiosks to read the bar codes like they currently read reservation bar codes. As it stands, I believe the only reservations that can be picked up at a QT kiosk are the multi-rides. I don't know what it was like before eTickets, but I was under the impression that one would print up a reservation notice complete with bar code and then pick up a live ticket at the kiosk. Right now the only way to pick up a reserved eTicket at a QT kiosk is to insert the credit card used to make the purchase.

No, you can insert your AGR card and it will pull up any reservations made using your AGR number, including awards or paid. You can insert any credit card to activate the machine, and then type in your reservation number to get tickets out of it. Or you can insert the credit card used to purchase that specific reservation to get an eTicket/ticket out of the QuikTrak.

As for eTickets for 10 rides, the big reason that doesn't exist is that there is no easy way to stop you from emailing the barcode to 10 friends and then splitting the cost of the ticket. It's even worse with Monthlies.

The ticket still says ID required. If they can just consistently ask for ID there should be no problem as the tickets are supposed to be non-transferrable or on some routes the named passenger must be traveling with the rest of the group. Heck - they're asking for ID at Disneyland now to handle a certain ticket fraud issue.

Actually I don't think I've ever actually had a bar code scanned at a QT kiosk. I've bought directly when Amtrak.com wouldn't let me purchase online because it was too close to my intended first use. Now that I think of it, the one time I purchased online, I had the reservation with bar code printed up, but I actually ended up getting my 10-ride by inserting my credit card and pulling up the reservation. I still don't get why online it says it's too late for any delivery options if I try to buy a 10-ride online on the day of travel. It's pretty obvious to me that I can still pick it up at the QT kiosk or at a ticket window if I arrive in time.

I also have no idea where my AGR card is. I think my wife probably thought it was junk mail and tossed it. I should probably request a new one. I haven't tried any tricks yet, so I thought the only way you could do it was printing up tickets purchased with a specific credit card or scanning a bar code. I've gotten bored waiting for a train and placed some random bar code under the QT scanner. An "reservation not recognized" message pops up and it goes back to the normal screen in seconds.