Passenger Trains > Silver-Airways-to-Discontinue-Service-in-Meridian

http://www.wtok.com/news/mississippi/headlines/Silver-Airways-to-Discontinue-Service-in-Meridian--254646941.html

disappearance of airline service to small cities, opportunity for Amtrak

If only Amtrak was interested in opportunities......

KansasCityChief Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> disappearance of airline service to small cities,
> opportunity for Amtrak

Hardly ....

ts1457 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> KansasCityChief Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > disappearance of airline service to small
> cities,
> > opportunity for Amtrak
>
> Hardly ....


I was going to make a crack about the likelihood of Amtrak suddenly deciding to start running three or four daily round-trips between Meridian and the other end of this air-service route, but I can't. That story is so poorly reported, it DOESN'T SAY where Silver Airways flies to/from Meridian!

(A little Googling reveals the answer to be Atlanta.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/14 10:58 by toledopatch.

toledopatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ts1457 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > KansasCityChief Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > disappearance of airline service to small
> > cities,
> > > opportunity for Amtrak
> >
> > Hardly ....
>
>
> I was going to make a crack about the likelihood
> of Amtrak suddenly deciding to start running three
> or four daily round-trips between Meridian and the
> other end of this air-service route, but I can't.
> That story is so poorly reported, it DOESN'T SAY
> where Silver Airways flies to/from Meridian!
>
> (A little Googling reveals the answer to be
> Atlanta.)

Yes

Several really long air trips to get to nearby cities. Eight+ hours to St Louis, including the long layover in Atlanta. Or American Eagle (recently rated the worst airline in the US) to Chicago and back to STL.

Many small cities are finding their airlines choices pared as the major airlines cut back on their service. United cuts service to a few places, leaving Delta as the remaining player. Delta cuts a few places, leaving United as a survivor, rates go up. Repeat as necessary.

I think we'd all love to see more train service. No one on this board is against passenger trains.

That said, let's look at Amtrak schedules serving Meridian. The NS line between New Orleans, Meridian and Birmingham is in excellent shape, and is fairly fast. Because of topography of NS's line crossing the southern end of the Appalachian Mountains, its line between Birmingham and Atlanta is quite slow.

For instance, here are schedule comparisons:

Meridian-New Orleans, approximately 200 miles, 4 hours by train, 3 hours by car
Meridian-Birmingham, approximately 150 miles, 2 hours 50 minutes by train, 2 hours 20 minutes by car
Meridian-Atlanta, approximately 290 miles, 7 hours 20 minutes by train, 4 hours 30 minutes by car
Birmingham-Atlanta, approximately 145 miles, 4 hours 10 minutes by train, 2 hours 15 minutes by car.

With schedules on fairly fast track that don't quite average 50 mph, and with the slow trackage between Atlanta and Birmingham that don't even average 40 mph, Amtrak isn't going to build much ridership out of Meridian.

Well I never knew Mississippi had any airline service, other than some casino charters to Gulfport. Like most places in "flyover states," you have to drive 250 miles to Memphis or Mobile to catch an airplane to Chicago or Atlanta. Even Memphis is in the process of getting downgraded by airlines...it used to be a hub for Northwest, but since the Delta takeover of Northwest, it is no more except for Fed Ex.

Easiest way to travel to and from Mississippi points is probably to box yourself up in a crate and get shipped by UPS ground.

Those who have Amtrak service in their small towns should appreciate it.

> Well I never knew Mississippi had any airline
> service, other than some casino charters to
> Gulfport.

Jackson has flights to DFW, ATL, MDW, HOU, MCO, ORD, IAH, CLT, and DCA. Nearly 600,000 people live in the Jackson metro area.

ctillnc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Well I never knew Mississippi had any airline
> > service, other than some casino charters to
> > Gulfport.
>
> Jackson has flights to DFW, ATL, MDW, HOU, MCO,
> ORD, IAH, CLT, and DCA. Nearly 600,000 people live
> in the Jackson metro area.

So you drive two hours from Meridian to Jackson if you want to fly. I live in a similarly sized town. My options for air travel are to drive an hour and a half (better allow two) to Atlanta.

Only a few years ago, the mayor of Meridian (Smith??) was on the Amtrak BOD, and was a strong supporter; Senator Trent Lott -- also an Amtrak supporter, AND a Republican -- had nominated him.
I even seem to remember the mayor actually got married either at the Meridan station or on an Amrak train.

Airlines and Greyhound drop Youngstown.What does Amtrak do ? They do it too.
The only opportunity they see or do anything proactive is when they get a good, hard, swift, political kick in the posterior.

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Airlines and Greyhound drop Youngstown.What does
> Amtrak do ? They do it too.

Greyhound contiunues to serve and Allegiant Airlines currently serves Youngstown.

I don't know KansasCityChief's rationale for starting this thread, but there are three reasons for discussing loss of airline service to smaller cities.

1) It undercuts two of the main arguments made by anti-Amtrak critics: 1) Travelers prefer the speed of planes. As more communities lose airlines, this argument becomes increasingly hollow. 2) It is cheaper to use the tax money spent on Amtrak to buy travelers airline tickets than support Amtrak. As more communities lose airline service this argument becomes increasingly irrelevant. Additionally as airlines fares continue to rise, the argument becomes incorrect.

2) There is a national issue on what expectations residents of smaller cities (and even median sized cities) should have in regards to road/highway, intercity bus, rail and airline service. There really needs to be a national conversation on this matter.

3) Several people on TO and many others argue that private sector can do a better job of transporting people than the public sector. But when a private transportation provider drops service to a community, the argument is no longer valid. Additionally, based on the comments following the article, it appears that some travelers found the airline to be unsatisfactory. Thus in terms of service to travelers, private is not always better than public.

The Silver planes were mostly smaller and uncomfortable for anyone to fly on. Even if I lived there, I would have rather driven a few hours to get a flight.

This is hardly an opportunity for Amtrak. The city itself is only about 40,000 people. They would be lucky to get one coach a day of passengers.

Posted from iPhone

Meridian itself may not be an opportunity for Amtrak, but I would think that the Washington - Atlanta route with an extension to New Orleans and/or another Sunbelt City would be a great opportunity for additional service if resources were available for route expansion and if NS would allow additional train(s).

RuleG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> joemvcnj Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Airlines and Greyhound drop Youngstown.What
> does
> > Amtrak do ? They do it too.
>
> Greyhound continues to serve and Allegiant
> Airlines currently serves Youngstown.


Allegiant is a leisure-oriented carrier that flies several times per week on a seasonal basis to beach cities (and, from certain places, Las Vegas). Business travelers have to go to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, or Akron, and the former hubs at the first two cities on that list both have been gutted by airline mergers.

Of course, Amtrak's Ohio service has been of marginal use to business travelers for a long time except for those with lots of time to burn or pathological fears of flying, and one probably doesn't see too many ties and briefcases among Greyhound riders, either.

toledopatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Allegiant is a leisure-oriented carrier that flies
> several times per week on a seasonal basis to
> beach cities (and, from certain places, Las
> Vegas). Business travelers have to go to
> Pittsburgh, Cleveland, or Akron, and the former
> hubs at the first two cities on that list both
> have been gutted by airline mergers.

The post to which I was responding made no distinction between business- and leisure-oriented travelers, only a flat claim that airlines don't serve Younstown.
>
> Of course, Amtrak's Ohio service has been of
> marginal use to business travelers for a long time
> except for those with lots of time to burn or
> pathological fears of flying, and one probably
> doesn't see too many ties and briefcases among
> Greyhound riders, either.

Did Amtrak carry many Youngstown passenger who traveled for business purposes?

RuleG Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> toledopatch Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> > Allegiant is a leisure-oriented carrier that
> flies
> > several times per week on a seasonal basis to
> > beach cities (and, from certain places, Las
> > Vegas). Business travelers have to go to
> > Pittsburgh, Cleveland, or Akron, and the former
> > hubs at the first two cities on that list both
> > have been gutted by airline mergers.
>
> The post to which I was responding made no
> distinction between business- and leisure-oriented
> travelers, only a flat claim that airlines don't
> serve Youngstown.

True. My main point was that Allegiant does not feed travelers into a network in which one can get to lots of places. It has been a very long time since Youngstown has had a network carrier -- I think USAirways Express was the last one out in the mid-1990s, back when Pittsburgh was a major hub for them.

> > Of course, Amtrak's Ohio service has been of
> > marginal use to business travelers for a long
> time
> > except for those with lots of time to burn or
> > pathological fears of flying, and one probably
> > doesn't see too many ties and briefcases among
> > Greyhound riders, either.
>
> Did Amtrak carry many Youngstown passenger who
> traveled for business purposes?

Probably more than Allegiant does, but no, not likely to be many. But at least if you boarded an Amtrak train when they stopped in Youngstown, you could go somewhere other than the beach, Disney World, or a casino.

My purpose in citing various transportation forms' usefulness to business travelers is that's what matters for economic development and jobs growth, and thus for communities' overall health. For that purpose, one nightly Amtrak stop in each direction offered little to Youngstown (or Akron or Fostoria, for that matter), and I doubt the train service is missed very much there.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/14 19:56 by toledopatch.

Unfortunately, Amtrak doesn't even have enough resources to properly run its current service, let alone look for new opportunities.

Nothing is happening here.

Most people just drive, or drive to the nearest airport.

Many others never have to go anywhere.