Ridership up = good, I think. A comment.

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frank

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I have to admit to experiencing an initial "yeah! Right On!" feeling when I read the stats that show the Zephyr up 40% this year over last, the EB up 27% for the same period. It's great to see ridership up, no doubt.

So this is really good news. America is starting to realize what you and I have known for decades, Amtrak is a way too cool way to get from point A to point B, whether for business, pleasure, or airline/car avoidance.

But, after the champagne bubbles have all sizzled and the confetti is all swept up, what's the outcome? Will Amtrak grab this opportunity and move forward and capitalize on this new zeal?

I wonder. Struggling with Congress' clenched fist on a quarterly basis for much needed greenbacks hampers her abilities to maintain, not to mention initiating the types of changes discussed on other areas of this forum......different types of sleepers, coach configurations, dining car improvements, etc. These much needed changes would, without a doubt, help to move this old lady into a new, 21st. century model that would find more and more people riding not out of anxiety, but for a new found love of which we all speak of on this forum.

And yet, the reality is all about how there aren't even enough cars and crews to keep up with the present, much less this bright future.

My concern is that......without foresightful funding, this newfound ridership will only mean a further out booking time for reservations, and larger delays to an already taxed system. More work for Amtrak employees, for the same pay. This seems to be the corporate world's answer to the hard economic times we've found ourselves in. Employees should deliver more for less. Corporation/government should find a way to deliver less for more. Pass it on.

Eventually, in a perfect world, I would love to see Amtrak unveiling new long distance consists that would blow people's minds. I'm not talking high speed stuff here. I don't like going fast. I like getting there with a good night's sleep, with memories of pastel countryside tapestries seen from the 4x6 window. Call me old fashioned, I don't mind. But at the same time, I could see converting a lounge car into a big screen high definition screen with screeming surround sound..... buy - a ticket type of theater that would make travel more exciting. New things for new times.

To recap, while I'm sure this increased ridership will improve Amtrak's bottom line, if for nothing else to solidify an argument to those politicians who don't realize her worth, I would hope that some forward thinking folks could start now to envision a way to grab a hold of this new paridigm and not only maintain it, but to push it way ahead of expectations.

That would be nice.

Frank
 
Even though the US's travel is down, Amtrak passenger travel went from 23.5 million to 23.4, not bad considering that the airlines are dropping like flies.
 
amtrakadirondack said:
Even though the US's travel is down, Amtrak passenger travel went from 23.5 million to 23.4, not bad considering that the airlines air dropping like flies.
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Where are these stats showing Amtrak ridership increasing reported?

The Amtrak web site has virtually no ridership info, and published travel industry benchmarks indicate that Amtrak ridership, as measured by Revenue Passenger Miles, is down significantly as compared to last year.
 
:) You can find these files at www.amtrak.com/about/amtrakfacts.html

that's were all facts about Amtrak are, and thats the newest Amtrak Facts page. :)
 
PRR60,

I wish that I could tell you where my stats came from. EB up 27%. Ca. Zephyr up 40%. Fact is those stats came from a travel site linked from drudgereport.com., and are in my memory only.

Truth is, it would seem that Amtrak ridership numbers are a more closely held secret than where Osama and Saddam are hiding. Any Google or otherwise search seems to shut down at 2000 levels.

Why is this? Can anyone here tell why these numbers aren't public record?

I was able to locate a travel research group that would release Amtrak ridership figures for a fee. Shouldn't this be public info?

Curious,

Frank
 
I agree with you, Frank, the Amtrak national ridership and revenue numbers should be public record.

If you visit: http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/rail/ , you can always find the current ridership and revenue statistics broken down for all three Amtrak California routes. They seem to update the page periodically - the latest statistics aren't always posted immediately but usually can be found on the site's main page within a couple months. The Amtrak California site even shows the increase or decrease of ridership and revenue for each individual route. Amtrak national should follow California's example and provide their data too!

Thanks for the link to the facts page, amtrakadrionack. It is nice that Amtrak provides a few basic statistics on this page, but it would be nice if they could break it down by route.

Also, I recently saw a sheet (at an Amtrak mtg.) with all 500 Amtrak stations listed on it in order of busiest first to least busy last. I have been trying to locate it ever since, but without luck. It showed passengers through each station each year with percentage increases or decreases since the previous year.

One interesting tidbit to note: the Amtrak facts page says that Amtrak carries about 65,000 people per day. If you add up the March ridership stats on the Amtrak California website, you will discover that Amtrak carried about 12,500 people per day on its in-state intercity trains alone (The second, third, and fourth busiest intercity lines in the country, only after the Acela). This means that California's state-supported intercity routes carry almost 1/5 of Amtrak's total ridership each day! THAT'S impressive!

B)
 
The pay site that I mentioned previously, the one that shows monthly stats, is at

http://www.tia.org/travel/ipi_feb02.asp

You can cheat the html by typing in your own month and year in the address bar i.e. replacefeb02 with oct03.asp, but it doesn't work with every month.

Now, an interesting debate in Congress as to funding is always NEC/innercity vs. long distance. I'm a long distance train guy, so watch out for my slant. I personally can't think of many things nicer than viewing America from the 4x6 window of a liner, but that's just me. I know a lot of people view this stuff as ....get me from a to b.

And, I understand that graphs can be skewed to reflect different realities moment to moment, viewpoint to viewpoint. But here's an interesting site I found concerning long vs. short haul rail.

http://www.unitedrail.org/pubs/longdistance/

Meanwhile, I'm basking in the glow of my latest MBNA guest rewards update that shows I've gained a deluxe bedroom from Chicago to San Fran rt in just the last month. Way to go MBNA and Amtrak!

Frank
 
frank said:
The pay site that I mentioned previously, the one that shows monthly stats, is at
http://www.tia.org/travel/ipi_feb02.asp

You can cheat the html by typing in your own month and year in the address bar i.e. replacefeb02 with oct03.asp, but it doesn't work with every month.
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The Travel Industry Association (TIA) web site is the only readily available source of Amtrak data I am aware of, and that data is only monthly counts of system-wide revenue passenger miles (RPM). I started tracking the TIA data a couple of months ago, and when I have enough months to make a meaningful comparison, I will start posting the data similar to my monthly postings of Acela operational statistics.

As required by last year’s bailout, Amtrak files a voluminous monthly financial report with Congress, and I would assume that this report would include operational data (the two are, after all, interdependent). Wouldn’t you expect that at least an executive summary would be posted for public view? Considering that anyone can get virtually any data you can imagine on air travel from the DOT web site, I would think that Amtrak, a government-owned corporation, would provide at least some timely data for public consumption. Financial, ridership, on-time rates: something.
 
jccollins said:
One interesting tidbit to note: the Amtrak facts page says that Amtrak carries about 65,000 people per day. If you add up the March ridership stats on the Amtrak California website, you will discover that Amtrak carried about 12,500 people per day on its in-state intercity trains alone (The second, third, and fourth busiest intercity lines in the country, only after the Acela). This means that California's state-supported intercity routes carry almost 1/5 of Amtrak's total ridership each day! THAT'S impressive!
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Outside of the NEC, Amtrak California has the highest ridership statistics, and they keep growing exponentially each year, in spite of the state's budget crisis and the fact that many of these trains operate on UP tracks.

People in the mid-west and on the east coast can hoot all they want about Chicago Union Station and the Silver Service trains.

The fact remains that Los Angeles Union Station is the second busiest train station (behind NYP by a LONG shot) in the nation -- not just Amtrak passengers but also Metrolink, Metrorail (LACMTA), and the myriad of buses that serve the station. When the Gold Line to Pasadena opens this summer, the numbers will skyrocket.

30 years ago LAUS (LAUPT then) was a run-down ghost town; and now it is a beehive, without any amenities -- no Metropolitan Lounge, no McDonald's, no pizza parlours. The only saving grace is the Traxx bar, where I enjoy a few beers while changing trains.
 
Allen Dee said:
30 years ago LAUS (LAUPT then) was a run-down ghost town; and now it is a beehive, without any amenities -- no Metropolitan Lounge, no McDonald's, no pizza parlours. The only saving grace is the Traxx bar, where I enjoy a few beers while changing trains.
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It doesn't make sense why Amtrak doesn't attempt to attract restaurants or more snack bar type venues into the station to serve the growing population that the station serves. Surely it would be a welcome additional source of revenue and the passengers would appreciate the added convenience.

Hey, maybe if it's done right, the money could be used to remodel the station into a warm, welcoming environment -- complete with a metropolitian lounge and a people moving system for the long hallway tunnel - even an airport would have some sort of people moving system for this tunnel.
 
There are several Mexican resturants across the street from LAUS. It's a part of original Los Angeles.

Also, if you're willing to walk several blocks, there are Oriental resturants in Chinatown.

It would be nice to have a fast food resturant within LAUS, but you'll have to catch the hurried commuters! :lol:
 
jccollins said:
Allen Dee said:
30 years ago LAUS (LAUPT then) was a run-down ghost town; and now it is a beehive, without any amenities -- no Metropolitan Lounge, no McDonald's, no pizza parlours.  The only saving grace is the Traxx bar, where I enjoy a few beers while changing trains.
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It doesn't make sense why Amtrak doesn't attempt to attract restaurants or more snack bar type venues into the station to serve the growing population that the station serves. Surely it would be a welcome additional source of revenue and the passengers would appreciate the added convenience.

Hey, maybe if it's done right, the money could be used to remodel the station into a warm, welcoming environment -- complete with a metropolitian lounge and a people moving system for the long hallway tunnel - even an airport would have some sort of people moving system for this tunnel.
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Check out the latest link from the LA Times.

http://www.latimes.com/la-me-union22may22,...1,5889683.story
 
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