NJ already responding Bush Amtrak Proposal

[Viewliner]

Corzine, Lautenberg, Codey ask Bush not to cut funds to Amtrak
February 4, 2005, 3:54 PM EST

from Codey, Corzine, PICKS up 8th graf pvs 'Nearly four...'.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) _ New Jersey's two U.S. senators and acting Gov. Richard J. Codey on Friday asked President Bush not to cut federal funds for Amtrak, saying any reduction would have disastrous effects for their state's commuters.

The story is located here. I'm glad to see reaction already denouncing the planned cuts...especially from the governor and senators (though its very probable Corzine will become the next governor next year) from my state. Lets hope this is only the beginning of people voicing opposition to this budget cut proposal. Personally, I'd be surprised if congress passed a zero budget for Amtrak. Certainly good to know my elected representatives are voicing their opinions and have Amtrak in mind.

 

[saxman]

I sure hate when they say Amtrak loses X amount of money per rider. Thats a totally inaccurate statement making it sound like, the more passengers that, Amtrak will automatically lose another $100. The marginal cost of taking that extra passenger doesn't hardly anything at all.

Chris

 

[WICT106]

Let's remember here that the travel industry unit of measurement is the Revenue Passenger Mile. Any number expressed in terms of " . . .per passenger" can be dismissed, because it generates meaningless statistics. I only regret that I can't think of a real smart-sounding comeback for those who say that train X lost XYZ per passenger,when the more accurate measurement is something like U.S. 0.06 per Passenger-Mile. There's a difference that some individuals don't distinguish. For every person who says that Train X loses XYZ per passenger, I want to ask them what a passenger mile is, jst to see if they can tell the difference between the two.