Matt Hardision spoke to NARP today at lunch (as of this writing I'm on my way home on the Cap). To say that the speech was not the most informative we've heard is an exercise in tactful understatement. When contrasted with Ed Ellis' speech the day before, the tenor of the two was night and day...and I'm going to dare say that Mr. Hardison's speech is indicative of everything that is wrong with Amtrak.
Frankly, Mr. Hardison's speech was almost straight out of a can. In a few places he adjusted his remarks to the effect of "Ok, I know you all know all of the routes in this video..." rather than simply presuming none of us knew what we were looking at, but besides that there was very little in his speech besides explaining some of the logic of some of the marketing moves (and discussing a few possible innovations down the line that should result from the software restructuring that's going on...more on that in a moment). Granted, he's VP for Marketing (and I believe Anthony's boss's boss) but he was basically giving the same line we got online about AGR 2.0...and there were a lot of people who didn't seem to be buying it in person, though decorum probably saved him from getting too much of an earful. On that, two thoughts jump to mind:
(1) When you're saying "most of the online response to AGR 2.0 was positive" and the line you pull from a blog to back it up is, I am not making this up, "There are a few minor nuggets of good news..." you are doing something wrong. [1] I didn't get a full shot of the slide in question, but I recognized the quote. Resorting to cherry-picking a quote from Facebook and only being able to pull that one off of the blogs...not a great sign and decidedly at odds with the "party line" being offered.
(2) When you're the person presumably in charge of AGR and your response to "Why did sleepers not get a bonus when BC/First got one?" is "I don't know", something is very off. Really, he should have known that question would come up in such an audience and had some sort of answer...so the best guess I can offer for his response is that "I don't know" beats something that would explicitly come off as, in so many words, "we don't care about you". For the record, Mr. Hardison has spoken to NARP in the past so it isn't like he didn't know who he was talking to.
Where I think reasons can plausibly be offered for Anthony's hands being tied, when the head of the organization comes into a meeting full of what he knows to be a bunch of long-distance travelers and gives almost the same canned spiel that we're seeing on FlyerTalk is embarassing.
Ok, back to the rest of what he said:
-Wifi should be rolled out on the Eastern LD trains by January (2016, that is).
-There's talk of providing more on-board entertainment, though the way it was presented (seemingly in context with the newly-designed seats rumored to be in the wings) implied some sort of seat-back system. I suspect this was just the result of lousy stock Power Point work...and dear God I hope so. If I have to start seeing seatback ads like a bunch of taxis show now (or some airlines do as well)...let's just say that at that point I'll be calling some people in Richmond if it's on a VA train.
--Probably a good time to mention the seat situation I heard about through an informal channel down here: There were apparently some focus groups testing out new seats at Union Station...and the new seats had a LOT less padding (and were fixed in place rather than being reversible thanks to plugs). Apparently they weren't terribly comfortable.
-There's also talk of Amtrak being able to sell more "extras", so to speak. Right now there's a real limit there...everything has to list as "seat space" of some sort. With the new system, there's room to add a lot...and it could go well (guaranteeing a meal time/booking a diner meal in coach) or poorly ("booking" your checked bags in advance or getting hit with extra fees, being forced to prepay for a meal or not be able to get one). It's all going to be down to how they handle it (e.g. allowing enhancements over current services vs. "unbundling" existing services).
In general, the comments were rather depressing, un-energetic, and frankly felt like something that, in airline terms, you'd hear from Delta. I'd contrast that with Ed Ellis, whose remarks were candid, enthusiastic...his comments felt more like what I'd expect from Virgin America. For anyone who knows me, those comparisons are purposeful and meaningful.
[1] The Points With a Crew blog was where the quote was from.