eTicketing coming to CONO

[transit54]

Amtrak just announced that the City of New Orleans will be next in line to get eTicketing:

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=AM_Route_C&pagename=am%2FLayout&cid=1241245653236

Nice to see the rollout is still making progress...

 

[Acela150]

Saw the tweet. No mention of a date though.

 

[manchacrr]

Saw the tweet. No mention of a date though.

I was in Hammond, LA today and asked the conductor of the northbound CONO #58 when e-ticketing was going to begin. He said that they were supposed to start on March 19.

 

[Gratt]

It is going to interesting to see from now if eticketing will increase traffic to/from flag stops with no staff and no Quick Track machines.

 

[MikefromCrete]

It is going to interesting to see from now if eticketing will increase traffic to/from flag stops with no staff and no Quick Track machines.

I doubt if it will have much of an effect.

 

[hessjm]

Today the tickets lifted for the Pere Marquette are being scanned. The device randomly popped up with a message to check IDs. Not quite eTicketing, but a step in that direction.

 

[transit54]

It is going to interesting to see from now if eticketing will increase traffic to/from flag stops with no staff and no Quick Track machines.

I doubt if it will have much of an effect.

I'm a little skeptical it will have an effect on the CONO. I can definitely say it will have an effect here in Vermont when it is deployed, particularly because there is not a single station with ticketing in VT. The lack of station based ticketing causes a tremendous amount of passenger confusion, especially among students who have account for a significant part of the Vermonter's gains in the last few years. We're also in a unique position because the State runs a few very popular ticketing promotions (like $12 anywhere in VT), but it's near impossible to take advantage of unless you are booking 9 days + out, which few people I know are.

 

[Railroad Bill]

Saw the tweet. No mention of a date though.

I was in Hammond, LA today and asked the conductor of the northbound CONO #58 when e-ticketing was going to begin. He said that they were supposed to start on March 19.

Since we have ticket reservations for the CONO on April 20 will we get a notice to have E tickets printed or would we continue to use our regular reservation paper to be turned into present style tickets?

This assumes that the system would go into effect on March 19 :unsure:

 

[afigg]

It is going to interesting to see from now if eticketing will increase traffic to/from flag stops with no staff and no Quick Track machines.

I doubt if it will have much of an effect.

I'm a little skeptical it will have an effect on the CONO. I can definitely say it will have an effect here in Vermont when it is deployed, particularly because there is not a single station with ticketing in VT. The lack of station based ticketing causes a tremendous amount of passenger confusion, especially among students who have account for a significant part of the Vermonter's gains in the last few years. We're also in a unique position because the State runs a few very popular ticketing promotions (like $12 anywhere in VT), but it's near impossible to take advantage of unless you are booking 9 days + out, which few people I know are.

I think eTicketing will have an effect on the CONO in boosting ridership from the unstaffed stations with no Quik-Trak machines. Perhaps not a huge boost, but eTicket will help increase ridership for all of the LD trains as people learn about the eTicket option. Stations without Quik-Trak machines that serve towns with colleges may well see a bigger increase because I can see college students finding the concept of getting tickets snail mailed to them so-1970s or just plain bizarre, that they find alternative travel options.

Some trains will benefit more from eTickets than others. The Vermonter is indeed likely to be one of the biggest gainers with a high percentage of student travelers and long stretch of stations without QT machines. The Adirondack has no stations north of Schenectady with QT machines, so it should benefit. Even the Empire service trains have a number of stations with no QT machines: Rome, Syracuse, Buffalo, Niagara Falls. Same goes for the Keystones and Pennsylvanian on the eastern and western Keystone corridor.

Topic for conversation and monitoring the ridership numbers over this year as eTicketing is added: which trains will see the greatest gain in ridership because of it? Will the addition be detectable in the numbers?

 

[rrdude]

I hope I'm wrong, and these trains you speak of DO see a boost, but I just don't see it.

I think if ANY, it will be hard to see, and even harder to attribute to the introduction of e-ticketing.

Like I said, hope I'm wrong.

 

[transit54]

Some trains will benefit more from eTickets than others. The Vermonter is indeed likely to be one of the biggest gainers with a high percentage of student travelers and long stretch of stations without QT machines. The Adirondack has no stations north of Schenectady with QT machines, so it should benefit. Even the Empire service trains have a number of stations with no QT machines: Rome, Syracuse, Buffalo, Niagara Falls. Same goes for the Keystones and Pennsylvanian on the eastern and western Keystone corridor.

I don't see the Adirondack as having as big a benefit, or even the Empire Service trains. The reason is that all of these trains originate at a staffed station. So even if you are booking the day before departure, the website simply allows you to select an option to have the conductor give you a pre-printed ticket on board. So only people booking the day of (which I'd assume is a pretty small percentage) will see a benefit. Sure, there will be a benefit but it's a smaller one.

Effectively, ticketing on the above trains becomes difficult with less than +/- 12 hours before departure. On the Vermonter, ticketing becomes difficult nine days prior to departure, unless you want to pay the express delivery charge.

Getting a ticket on the Adirondack from Port Kent, NY is a breeze compared to trying to get a ticket on the Vermonter or the Ethan Allen.

 

[AlanB]

Since we have ticket reservations for the CONO on April 20 will we get a notice to have E tickets printed or would we continue to use our regular reservation paper to be turned into present style tickets?

This assumes that the system would go into effect on March 19 :unsure:

Bill,

Is your reservation only for the City? In other words, are you getting to/from Chicago via some other method than Amtrak or it the City on a separate reservation number? If yes, then you might be able to call up and have Amtrak issue you an eTicket. However, if you booked a continuing trip to/from Cleveland, then you will not be eTicketed and cannot be. Only people whose only ride is the City can get the eTickets right now. The system is not setup to deal with half the itinerary getting normal tickets, which you must have on all other trains, and an eTicket for the City.

 

[hessjm]

FYI - My regular tickets were scanned on both the Pere Marquette and CONO last Thursday (3/8) and today (3/10) my points for both segments have already posted.

 

[Railroad Bill]

Since we have ticket reservations for the CONO on April 20 will we get a notice to have E tickets printed or would we continue to use our regular reservation paper to be turned into present style tickets?

This assumes that the system would go into effect on March 19 :unsure:

Bill,

Is your reservation only for the City? In other words, are you getting to/from Chicago via some other method than Amtrak or it the City on a separate reservation number? If yes, then you might be able to call up and have Amtrak issue you an eTicket. However, if you booked a continuing trip to/from Cleveland, then you will not be eTicketed and cannot be. Only people whose only ride is the City can get the eTickets right now. The system is not setup to deal with half the itinerary getting normal tickets, which you must have on all other trains, and an eTicket for the City.

Thanks Alan. We are riding Capitol Ltds And Crescent on both ends of the trip so our CONO tickets must stay in regular mode.

 

[manchacrr]

It's official. The City of New Orleans started using eTickets today. The station in Hammond, LA is full of ads and flyers providing information about the eTicketing process. The conductors on both the north and southbound trains had the scanners with them.

I also had a eTicket printed for me at the station for my trip on the CONO from April 12-14.

 

[Mackensen]

Here's a story in the State Journal-Register: http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x1831801531/Amtrak-rolling-out-e-tickets-on-Illinois-routes. Sounds like the Illinois routes will get it this summer.

 

[jis]

Here's a story in the State Journal-Register: http://www.sj-r.com/top-stories/x1831801531/Amtrak-rolling-out-e-tickets-on-Illinois-routes. Sounds like the Illinois routes will get it this summer.

If things work out as planned, the entire system will get it this summer.

 

[afigg]

Amtrak put out a 4 page news release yesterday on the addition of eTicketing to the CONO. Has a FAQ type page with information on the eTickets.

The news release states that people will see the ticket takers nationwide using the "eTicketing Mobile Device" (what, can't call it an iPhone with a scanner attachment?) to scan tickets as has been reported here. Amtrak is obviously doing a soft roll-out of sorts for eTickets.

After eTicketing is rolled out to all trains and widely deployed, Amtrak should have a ceremony for the last paper ticket to be punched and collected. Though I guess there will still be special cases where there will be paper tickets to punch.

 

[grounded flyboy]

Just back from a trip and wanted to relate my first eTicket experience. I got on the southbound CONO at Memphis on the first morning the eTicket was is use. Rather than getting on the train and having our ticket scanned, everyone was lined up on the platform (in the dark and pretty chilly). There was a line of 50 or more passengers. The conductor showed up a few minutes later with his scanner. I was about 10th in line. I had my iPhone open to the ticket (all of the notices had stated that the conductor could scan a smartphone pdf). When I gave him my phone he wasn't sure what to do and wanted to see a paper copy of the ticket. I had a paper copy in my carry on bag, retrieved it and got on the train while the conductor yelled out an instruction to have a paper copy of your ticket ready to be scanned. The last passengers in the line took 12 to 15 minutes to get scanned. Hopefully this growing pain will get worked out quickly and the passenger line up drill will be eliminated. I have a northbound CONO eTicket for this Sat. I hope to use the iPhone pdf but will have a paper copy at the ready in my carry on bag.