eTicketing

[transit54]

There's a document from September of 2009 on Amtrak's website that outlines some of their IT initiatives, among them eTicketing. One of the charts indicates that eTicketing was planned for roll out later this year, once conductor handheld devices were deployed.

Obviously some progress has been made on the project since the Auto Train recently received eTicketing. While that indicates that the necessary back end modifications have been made to ARROW, the much more difficult aspect of eTicketing is deploying the handheld devices for conductors (at least from my perspective).

Has anyone heard any further updates on the eTicketing program? Any possible dates for testing and/or deployment? Is this something that Amtrak isn't going to roll out until AmtrakConnect (their WiFi) is fully rolled out (as it would make some sense to have the devices communicate through the train-based wireless network)? Any other details? Obviously, there are a lot of challenges here.

As someone who works in IT and transportation and lives in a state completely devoid of any ticketing facilities, this is an area of great interest for me.

 

[transit54]

I think I may have just answered my own question. In the FY12 comprehensive business plan, I found the following on page 60:

In FY11, Print-at-Home eTicketing will be rolled out in parallel with the introduction of a Conductor Mobile Device to automate onboard ticket validation and revenue collection processes. The new device and Print-at-Home business model will be piloted on the Downeaster from April 2011 through June 2011, with national rollout beginning in July 2011. Detailed planning continues for the resources and time needed to deliver a full day training course to 2,000 conductors/assistant conductors in 50 separate locations throughout Amtrak’s system. Delivery of this training must be scheduled so as not to impact daily train operations and the existing Block training commitments and will take 6-9 months to complete, extending into Q2FY12. Implementation of software changes to support revised refund and exchange policies will also take place in FY12 once the rollout of devices has been completed and eTicketing is thus fully operational.

So it looks like we could see eTicketing by the end of the year, if everything proceeds on schedule. That's great news as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Long Train Runnin']

I hope the "changes to support revised refund and exchange policies" doesn't mean a more rigid airline type policy.

 

[transit54]

I hope the "changes to support revised refund and exchange policies" doesn't mean a more rigid airline type policy.

I doubt it would, at least to a substantial degree. That would eliminate a major reason to take Amtrak in the eyes of many, especially on the NEC where competition between rail and air is most intense.

I could see a few changes though: a policy requiring one to cancel tickets prior to train departure (only makes sense), or potentially a certain number of hours prior to train departure.

On the more extreme end, I could see them being less liberal about refunds and instead offer vouchers for most cancelations. That would save them money in terms of credit card processing fees (and a certain amount of revenue from unused vouchers), but since the vouchers would be electronic, I'd imagine it wouldn't be that much of a hassle, the way vouchers are now. If we're going to see substantial changes, I doubt we'd see them before the next generation reservation system is rolled out, which also is mentioned in the above report.

 

[amamba]

I agree that one of the reasons I often take amtrak on the NEC is because of the liberal cancellation/refund policies. For example, on a trip I am taking in May to Philadelphia from Providence, my tickets on the acela were substantially more expensive than flying. They were actually about twice as much as plane tickets. But I went with acela because a) I can hopefully upgrade with my select coupons to first class and b) because if for some reason I cancel my trip, I know I can get a full refund. If that refund was going to be replaced with a credit for future travel, I would have probably bought the plane tickets.

 

[Gratt]

This is very good news.

I can see this being a big benefit to two types of travelers.

1. Business travel on the corridors and the NEC who can now print at home or the office and walk on.

2. LD travelers that do not live near a staffed ticket office.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

So it looks like we could see eTicketing by the end of the year, if everything proceeds on schedule. That's great news as far as I'm concerned.

I'm no expert on Amtrak roll-outs, but by my eye it looks more like March of 2012 when they expect to be done with all the updates and training and I don't expect them to roll it out to customers until the vast majority of stations and conductors can handle these tickets. Otherwise how would you know if your new e-ticket would even work on your specific trains? It would be a PR disaster if people were routinely hassled over legitimate tickets during a rushed roll-out. As for the refund policies you can be sure they will be tightened substantially over time. Not only does Amtrak's increased ridership point to decreasing refund allowances, but several respected members here have been warning us of more restrictive rules for quite some time now. If Amtrak is smart they'll tie refund rules to status and allow routine riders to retain most of their current flexibility while slowly clamping down on the refund options of irregular riders.

 

[PerRock]

kinda sad to see how far behind we are in our railroads... The UK is on their 3 version of their conductor-carried ticket machines (albeit they still use paper tickets). For those curious this is their current one: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avantix_Mobile

peter

 

[transit54]

I'm no expert on Amtrak roll-outs, but by my eye it looks more like March of 2012 when they expect to be done with all the updates and training and I don't expect them to roll it out to customers until the vast majority of stations and conductors can handle these tickets. Otherwise how would you know if your new e-ticket would even work on your specific trains? It would be a PR disaster if people were routinely hassled over legitimate tickets during a rushed roll-out.

I'm sure they will be rolling it out in phases, route by route. Obviously the first route will be Downeaster and it's probably likely that the LD trains will be the last to get it. If you're traveling on an itinerary that involves a train without the capability, then you'd likely have to use paper tickets for the entire journey. I'm sure it will take a while to integrate AGR tickets, etc, so paper tickets aren't going anywhere soon.

As for the refund policies you can be sure they will be tightened substantially over time. Not only does Amtrak's increased ridership point to decreasing refund allowances, but several respected members here have been warning us of more restrictive rules for quite some time now. If Amtrak is smart they'll tie refund rules to status and allow routine riders to retain most of their current flexibility while slowly clamping down on the refund options of irregular riders.

All I've seen on here is that Amtrak is considering removing the ability to get a refund if a ticket is not canceled prior to a train's departure, which I think is perfectly reasonable. I don't think there's a good business case for compromising refunds (or at least voucher). I can understand providing a voucher and/or having a slight refund fee, as Amtrak incurs credit card processing costs making charges and issuing refunds. When you cancel a ticket, they don't get their credit card charge fees back, so there's a business case for charging a small amount for refunds. But if they changed their refund policy substantially, there would be a significant loss of business. It just wouldn't be a smart move by any means, and I can't see them changing it, except in areas where they are incurring direct costs.

 

[printman2000]

Concerning refunds, it is already Amtrak's POLICY to charge a 10% (max $100) on refunds.

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=am%2FLayout&cid=1241267362242

However, they do not practice that policy as of now. It would be a simple change if they decided to start practicing what their policy is. I certainly do not want them to, but it would not be surprising.

 

[transit54]

Concerning refunds, it is already Amtrak's POLICY to charge a 10% (max $100) on refunds.

http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?c=Page&pagename=am%2FLayout&cid=1241267362242

However, they do not practice that policy as of now. It would be a simple change if they decided to start practicing what their policy is. I certainly do not want them to, but it would not be surprising.

I agree. I wouldn't be surprised if they did start enforcing this once eTicketing was fully rolled out. Vouchers are such as hassle currently, but if they created electronic vouchers, then they could implement this without causing customers (and themselves) a tremendous amount of inconvenience. And while I'd prefer things to stay the way they are now, I can certainly understand this move, as they need to cover the costs of processing the transaction that was canceled.

 

[WICT106]

I'm curious regarding the logistics of this. How would one check for counterfeit tickets if printing-at-home were allowed ? Would it become necessary to mandate a minimum one day advance reservation ?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I'm sure they will be rolling it out in phases, route by route.

I can see them starting phase one with the NEC and then phase two along the West Coast and finally phase three wraps up the rest of the network. Actually implementing route-by-route seems needlessly tedious and confusing though. Amtrak seems to have a lot of folks who have never used e-tickets and if do this all piecemeal then it might make things worse in the short term.

Edited to add...

I'm curious regarding the logistics of this. How would one check for counterfeit tickets if printing-at-home were allowed ? Would it become necessary to mandate a minimum one day advance reservation ?

No. Counterfeiting is a risk that applies to the current tickets only. The original e-tickets pioneered by Southwest Airlines had no paper component at all. You simply showed up with your drivers license and were handed a reusable plastic boarding pass at the gate. The main reason we still have to print our tickets today is because the TSA demands that every passenger have a printed boarding pass. Otherwise your government-issued ID would be all that you needed for domestic flights.

 

[transit54]

I'm curious regarding the logistics of this. How would one check for counterfeit tickets if printing-at-home were allowed ? Would it become necessary to mandate a minimum one day advance reservation ?

The conductors device would scan the ticket and it would be electronically compared it to a database of valid tickets, then marked as collected in the electronic system. As daxomni pointed out, there really does not need to be a printed component of eticketing - but it's done because its much easier for a conductor (or gate agent) to quickly scan an object then type in a reservation number you've written down somewhere or search the entire database by your name.

This is where the complications of eticketing come into play. Once the conductor scans the ticket, both his scanner and the assistant conductor's scanner (and ultimately the Amtrak database) must be immediately updated to indicate the ticket was collected and prevent someone from using the same ticket again and again. Performing these updates can be logistically difficult in an area without out data (i.e. cellular) service. If someone were to create a fake ticket, the conductor's device would recognize that it is not a valid reservation.

 

[transit54]

I can see them starting phase one with the NEC and then phase two along the West Coast and finally phase three wraps up the rest of the network. Actually implementing route-by-route seems needlessly tedious and confusing though. Amtrak seems to have a lot of folks who have never used e-tickets and if do this all piecemeal then it might make things worse in the short term.

Yes, the NEC would obviously be done in a single phase (though they may do Acelas, then Regionals, or vice-versa). Because of cost, training, and debugging, it typically makes sense to break the deployment into a few phases. But I didn't mean to suggest that it would be done on some Regionals and not others, etc. First will likely be the Downeaster, since that is the test bed for this, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the CA trains were next, as I think they were doing testing out there at one point. I wouldn't be surprised if they did it on a few state supported corridor trains in the Midwest before they finally rolled it out to the NEC, then to the LD network. At the moment the NEC is very well served with QT machines, so I think there's a slightly less pressing need (at the same time, though, the NEC would probably have the highest rate of adoption). The NEC is the highest stakes deployment, so they're obviously not going to roll it out there until they are 110% sure all the bugs have been resolved.

 

[Gratt]

I can see them starting phase one with the NEC and then phase two along the West Coast and finally phase three wraps up the rest of the network. Actually implementing route-by-route seems needlessly tedious and confusing though. Amtrak seems to have a lot of folks who have never used e-tickets and if do this all piecemeal then it might make things worse in the short term.

Yes, the NEC would obviously be done in a single phase (though they may do Acelas, then Regionals, or vice-versa). Because of cost, training, and debugging, it typically makes sense to break the deployment into a few phases. But I didn't mean to suggest that it would be done on some Regionals and not others, etc. First will likely be the Downeaster, since that is the test bed for this, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the CA trains were next, as I think they were doing testing out there at one point. I wouldn't be surprised if they did it on a few state supported corridor trains in the Midwest before they finally rolled it out to the NEC, then to the LD network. At the moment the NEC is very well served with QT machines, so I think there's a slightly less pressing need (at the same time, though, the NEC would probably have the highest rate of adoption). The NEC is the highest stakes deployment, so they're obviously not going to roll it out there until they are 110% sure all the bugs have been resolved.

Some very good points about the NEC it matters a lot if their are any flaws in the system because Acela customers in particular are very important and they have other travel options. So I would not be surprised if they test several other markets first. Also Acela riders are different from most using Amtrak these are the same people that are used to not flying with checked luggage, expect speed and convenience, so they know and value the ability to print tickets wherever they are and go straight to the train, to them OT machines are more a hassle than a convince.

Next step (with Amtrak's speed will be done by 2030) is having a bar code straight on your smart phone so the conductor can scan it right on your screen.

 

[afigg]

I'm sure they will be rolling it out in phases, route by route.

I can see them starting phase one with the NEC and then phase two along the West Coast and finally phase three wraps up the rest of the network. Actually implementing route-by-route seems needlessly tedious and confusing though. Amtrak seems to have a lot of folks who have never used e-tickets and if do this all piecemeal then it might make things worse in the short term.

No, I think the NEC may come near to last in the roll-out. It is the busiest and most complicated corridor because it has so many overlapping corridor and LD trains. A not ready for primetime roll-out in the NEC would be a fiasco. Deployment on the Downeaster makes sense because that it the most isolated of the Amtrak services. The only Amtrak train that the stations serve on that route is the Downeaster. Get the initial kinks out there. Also, the Downeaster has had WiFi for several years, so the cell coverage for the corridor is well known to the crews. The initial roll-out for the Autotrain makes sense because it has only 2 stops with 2 stations. Do it carefully because there will be bugs and serious glitches in the roll-out.

I could see the Cascades as a next roll-out stage because except for the Coast Starlight and Empire Builder, does not overlap with any other trains. Then California. Once they get to the mid-West and the east, got to do it for all trains in the region pretty much at once or there will be confusion. An exception might be the Acela which has a separate enough identity that people could be told etickets yes for the Acela, but not yet for the Regionals and LD trains.

We should have a pool on how this transition to e-tickets will go: smooth, some glitches, major headaches, or total breakdown in taking tickets at some point.

 

[transit54]

The initial roll-out for the Autotrain makes sense because it has only 2 stops with 2 stations.

While having only two stations helps, the big advantage of testing the system on the auto train is that it is the only train where the tickets are not taking by conductors on board, instead they are lifted prior to boarding at a fixed facility. This allows the eTicketing issuance and collection portion of ARROW to be tested before the conductor devices are ready for prime time. Though perhaps that's what you were trying to say...