How Amtrak could become Solvent...

[haolerider]

Saying that this proposal shouldn't be put in place unless it can make Amtrak solvent is pretty dumb. It could be that even the original author didn't really mean the statement, instead using it as a rhetorical advise to get some attention... and he succeeded.
The deciding factor as to whether this proposal can be done should be whether or not it can pay for itself, including the costs of pissed off existing passengers. Figure out how much it would cost per pet to implement whatever solution you can come up with and research to see if pet owners would pay that often enough.

Judging from the lack of movement on the Auto Train proposal it sounds like the answer is no.

Pets on the Train are not going to happen. Too little upside and a huge downside! Auto Train is the only viable opportunity - with the Pet Car!

 

[Neil_M]

"Why not let little lap dogs on the train?""[Picture of a cute-looking dog]

Why can't Chloe ride on Amtrak -- legally?"

This demonstrates EXACTLY why Amtrak shouldn't allow dogs on their trains. Because of dog owners that talk like this - that, understandably, love their dogs, and decide it could do no wrong. And any transgression, any public misconduct, is put down to the adorable personal eccentricities of the creature. It isn't a misbehaving animal that needs to be taken out of the room right away, and punished so that it knows not to do it again, it is Chloe, the little lap dog.

When the dog starts to vandalise the sleeper, it's just being a dog. When it takes a **** somewhere, it's being a bit naughty. When it comes into the dining car or the lounge - we can't leave our dog on its own in the sleeper, now - and it barks at other customers, it's just being friendly. When it follows a timid kid around, it just likes them. When it begs for other peoples' food, it is, again, just being a dog.

If the people writing that could only get over the "my dog is an angel" complex, they might realise why myself, and many other loyal Amtrak customers, would fly or take a bus rather than risk spending a journey of a day or more nearby one of these creatures.

Well said that man!!

 

[Greg]

one word.... FLEAS !!

 

[AAARGH!]

I had the misfortune of staying at a hotel when a dog show was being held there. When the owners were around, the dogs were fine. But you know what they do when theie owners leave? BARK! And boy did they bark, incesantly! In the end I complained loudly to the hotel that they should have warned other guests about this event and allowed us to re-book. Anyway, they gave me a partial refund.

 

SO, my point is that on a train, when the owners go to the SSL or diner, the buggers are going to bark. I love dogs and have owned them in the past.

 

This is a bad idea.

 

[afigg]

News article "Hefty Airline Fee for a Tiny Kitten" on someone very upset at having to pay $100 each way to take their kitten on US Airways!

http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news...r-a-tiny-kitten. awww, how dare they charge $100 for the cute tiny kitten! What's next? The airlines charging $25 or more for each checked bag? oh, that's right, they do.

Seriously though, what do the airlines do if someone on the plane is allergic to cats and the plane is full? Delay the flight and have them change seats with someone else some rows away?

 

[transit54]

News article "Hefty Airline Fee for a Tiny Kitten" on someone very upset at having to pay $100 each way to take their kitten on US Airways! http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news...r-a-tiny-kitten. awww, how dare they charge $100 for the cute tiny kitten! What's next? The airlines charging $25 or more for each checked bag? oh, that's right, they do.

Seriously though, what do the airlines do if someone on the plane is allergic to cats and the plane is full? Delay the flight and have them change seats with someone else some rows away?

Yes. Exactly. Though thankfully I never ran into this during the two years I worked in the industry. But that was the procedure - to try and swap passengers around. The bulkhead (row 1) cannot be assigned until the day of departure so as to give priority seating for disabled passengers (I believe that's a federal requirement, though it may have just been my carrier's policy). Typically one party can be moved to the bulkhead, or whomever was assigned the bulkhead that day can be moved elsewhere.

 

[Guest_timetableflagman_*]

All of the problems cited carrying pets would be reasons for deboarding a passenger. That has to be stipulated in info about carrying pets.

The extra charge for carrying a pet is not what would help AMTRAK's bottom line. That charge would only cover the added costs of allowing the service.

The increase in revenue from potentially a flood of new passengers are what would help AMTRAK's revenue ridership (not that allowing pets might result in such a "flood"). However, the line of reasoning is good.

Changing AMTRAK's strategy from that of apparently only catering to tourist traffic to being a national overnight sleeping car business and rush hour commuter service along each of its current lines by merely rescheduling to do so could create that "flood" of increased revenue ridership. Many, however, love the involuntarily paid, tax-funded model of finance in which no improvement is needed for receipt of revenue.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Amtrak's ridership is fast approaching sane capacity limits- attempting to improve it without a massive equipment investment is a silly concept.

 

[amamba]

News article "Hefty Airline Fee for a Tiny Kitten" on someone very upset at having to pay $100 each way to take their kitten on US Airways! http://www.myfoxny.com/dpp/news/local_news...r-a-tiny-kitten. awww, how dare they charge $100 for the cute tiny kitten! What's next? The airlines charging $25 or more for each checked bag? oh, that's right, they do.

Seriously though, what do the airlines do if someone on the plane is allergic to cats and the plane is full? Delay the flight and have them change seats with someone else some rows away?

Yes, coming back from Aruba once the H and I were seated in a row with a woman with a small cat in a carrier. For some reason she had the middle seat and i had the window and my H the aisle. H is very allergic to cats, so we asked the flight attendent if we could switch. She luckily found us an entirely empty row in the back and we went there, but there was NO WAY he was riding for four hours with a cat at his feet. But the flight attendent was very helpful and friendly, she said that sort of stuff happened all the time.

 

[4krysia]

The author of the post discredited themselves the first second that he used the phrase "how Amtrak can become solvent." That implies a complete lack of knowledge of Amtrak and US transportation policy in general. It's one thing to argue that pets should be carried aboard trains (which I don't necessarily agree with unless I saw a well-researched plan on how it would work), but to suggest that Amtrak can eliminate their operating subsidy by carrying pets is ludicrous.

I completely agree that the author discredited herself with the title of the article (and I posted it to this board without edit for shock value). Looking past that though for a moment, I think the article does raise an interesting question....how many people don't take the train simply because they can't bring along their beloved Fido?

GML provided some excellent revenue analysis on income that Amtrak could see by charging pet tickets....but I think one must also look at the opportunity cost of travelers who would love to take the train but don't due to the pet policy. Tufts University estimates that there are 50M dog owners in the US - that's a HUGE slice of the population.

The Pet Car on the Auto Train is a fascinating idea....IMO it would be a no-brainer for a Pet company to fully subsidize the operation and thus gain extraordinary brand-loyalty from the pet-loving pax (as of 2007, pet owners spent $40B a year spoling their pups and kitties...that's a lof of Puppy Chow ). AutoTrain already has such great patronage though - would love to see a Pet Car on one of the Silvers too (maybe pet potty breaks at RVR, SAV, TPA etc).

For the record, I agree with most posters so far that bringing animals on board in coach is a terrible idea for reasons of allergies, hygiene and passenger comfort. Sleeper cars "may" be open to debate but cleaning and disinfecting the rooms (more intensively than now) after each use would have to be incorporated and ENFORCED.

In summary, I think we are, of course, all educated enough to know that allowing pets on any train would never bring Amtrak to solvency alone. However, I might argue that 50 Million passionate animal lovers burning $47B a year is a population chunk that maybe should not be ignored.

50 million times the percentage of Americans who ride trains ?!?

edit: posted the following to http://willmydoghateme.com/dog-travel/how-...ts-are-involved,

of course the Thought-Police moderators refused to post it:

Amtrak allows dogs, and loses one customer (me). And lots of others

http://discuss.amtraktrains.com/index.php?showtopic=30272