Passenger Trains > Amtrak ticket revenue in major shortfall

Amtrak ticket revenues are in decline and failing to meet company targets (though one rail
pundit reported that under a headline, "Amtrak Success Stories").

The main shortfall: Acela ticket revenue is off substantially and Northeast Regional is flat.

Orders from the top are that the company will have to cut spending in response, by $100 million.  Of that, 
$70 million is to come from Off-Corridor.

Amtrak has, by pushing its legislative agenda, isolated the long-distance trains from "subsidy" by the so-called 
"profitable" Northeast Corridor, but it has not isolated them from bailing out that Corridor as it falters.

So to ask again...How many dining cars have to die to bail out the so-called "profitable" Northeast Corridor?

So Boardman wants to firewall the NEC from the rest ONLY WHEN IT SUITS HIM.

That is a truly bizarre way of looking at things, but is expected around here. :)

If the NEC is short $100M, then it is that product line's problem. It is Boardman who wants NEC "profits" to not cross-subsidize the national network, but to send to capital.

Boardman cannot get out the door fast enough to suit me.

Let's hope we get a real LEADER and someone who has a touch of vision.  Boardman is just a political hack.  

And today I am feeling nice.  Hit me in a bad mood and I can go on for days about Boardman's "management" approach.

So you suppose that maybe, just maybe, the revenue decline is due to the service decline?  Let me list a few items:

1. Sleeper blankets in plastic bags
2. Cuts to dining, and in some cases the elimination of dining
3. Cuts to service quality in Acela First Class
4. Continuous price increases for Acela First Class--it is now more than $80 extra to get it vs a just a couple of years ago when it was about $60.
5. One water bottle per sleeper passenger per day
6. No more all day coffee in the sleepers, just morning
7. Reduction in juice offerings in the sleepers in the morning

There are many more, but the key is that customers buy VALUE.  When the value declines but the price does not, consumers tend to buy less.  And that is exactly what Amtrak is finding, but does not realize.  Boardman's round of new cuts will just exacerbate the problem.  But what does he care?  It will be the next CEO's problem, not his.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/16 09:11 by Chessie1963.

well, how about the INCREASED amounts of people on food-stamps and the DECREASING amounts of people actually in the labor force?  yea, NOT a good recipe to spend money on traveling AND to receive tax revenues to fund amtrak.........

66



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/16 09:16 by goneon66.

Shut the entire thing down and complain about something else.

Posted from Android

If the Acela ridership is down, that must mean the expense-account folks aren't getting out so much.
Maybe a reduction in frequency is in order ??

There are also going to whack the commuter railroads, especially NJT, for higher fees for use of the NEC. Evidently that new revenue stream does not count for much.
Yes, cut Acela frequencies commensurate with its decrease in ridership and revenue.

So why are fewer people riding the train? Could it be that more and more folks are using video, phone, etc to communicte rather than traveling, with all the wasted time that entails?

Bill Deaver
Tehachapi, CA

$40M or $50M of that shortfall was due to the week long shut down from 188's wreck.
Last July's Hudson River service meltdown didn't help either.

joemvcnj Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> $40M or $50M of that shortfall was due to the week
> long shut down from 188's wreck.
> Last July's Hudson River service meltdown didn't
> help either.

Perhaps, but if it were a one-time hit, things should be re-bounding by now. If Amtrak were more diversified, it could weather a downturn in one segment, or a localized problem. That's what smart companies do.

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA

Maybe they are flying to Brazil to bring back some Zika.
More than 100 flights a day between the US and Brazil, according to TV news reports yesterday.
Had no idea!
Boardman and Mica should eliminate the flowers and blankets on that route, balance the federal budget from the cuts, and spare us all from the misery of Zika.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/16 10:18 by NewRiverGeorge.

GenePoon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Amtrak ticket revenues are in decline and failing
> to meet company targets (though one rail
> pundit reported that under a headline, "Amtrak
> Success Stories").
>
> The main shortfall: Acela ticket revenue is off
> substantially and Northeast Regional is flat.

The 12/15 report shows Acela off $4.5 million from budget (2.9%) and Regional off $2.9 million from budget (1.7%)

Meanwhile, on Long Distance routes the Meteor is off $2.0 million (18.1%) and the Auto Train is off $2.4 million (11.8), while the Eagle is off $1.1 million (16.5%).

> Orders from the top are that the company will have
> to cut spending in response, by $100 million.  Of
> that, 
> $70 million is to come from Off-Corridor.
>
> Amtrak has, by pushing its legislative agenda,
> isolated the long-distance trains from "subsidy"
> by the so-called 
> "profitable" Northeast Corridor, but it has not
> isolated them from bailing out that Corridor as it
> falters.

The NEC had a bad December, but the Long Distance trains listed above had a bad 1st Quarter.

> So to ask again...How many dining cars have to die
> to bail out the so-called "profitable" Northeast
> Corridor?

According to the same report the cost issue is coming out of the Short Distance sector, not dining cars.  Short Distance costs are up $14 million 10-12/15 vs. 10-12/14, led by $4 million on Surfliners and $8 million on Empire trains and Maple Leaf.

Low gasoline prices probably account for a fair bit of falling ridership.

abyler Wrote:

> The 12/15 report shows Acela off $4.5 million from
> budget (2.9%) and Regional off $2.9 million from
> budget (1.7%)
>
> Meanwhile, on Long Distance routes the Meteor is
> off $2.0 million (18.1%) and the Auto Train is off
> $2.4 million (11.8), while the Eagle is off $1.1
> million (16.5%).

"Budget" means nothing.  It is a measure of how performance met with the COMPANY's arbitrary
figures of what they "wanted" and are...and have always been...subject to manipulation at the
whim of the "leadership."  If they want the Northeast to look like it is doing better than it is, they
set the bar lower.  So done, just as their specious proclamations of it being "profitable."


> According to the same report the cost issue is
> coming out of the Short Distance sector, not
> dining cars.  Short Distance costs are up $14
> million 10-12/15 vs. 10-12/14, led by $4 million
> on Surfliners and $8 million on Empire trains and
> Maple Leaf.

It HAS come out of the short distance sector, and Amtrak's Northeastern leadership has painted themselves
into a corner by their shirking the Off-Corridor short distance trains and foisting them off to the States.  Amtrak
now reaps no benefit from increased ridership and revenue on those routes; the States do, in the form of
higher revenues while they pay Amtrak essentially a flat rate under their contracts.  Amtrak must also maintain
the specified level of service...or face breach of contract.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/16 11:26 by GenePoon.

railfan400 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Low gasoline prices probably account for a fair
> bit of falling ridership.

I would agree with this.

And, I would agree that Acela no longer represents much value to the business traveler. Just a few minutes better, but a hundred bucks more on many city pairs.

Posted from Android

Empirical evidence - neighbors, Lions Club, etc. - tells me that some businesses are now requiring employees to ride the NEC on Regional trains and are no longer springing for Acela fares.  

If Acela ridership is flat and not growing, maybe some of the business ridership has diverted to Regional while some new business has taken its place.  But if some Acela business has diverted to Regional, and Regional ridership is still declining, that implies to me that the typical Regional ridership is dropping by more than is indicated just in the numbers.  Unless you buy on special or in advance, the Regional fares are high, and the NEC gas prices are down, so perhaps the leisure market really is returning to the highways.  It would be interesting if anyone on TO knows the usage numbers for the NJ Turnpike, the Susquehanna River toll bridge or the Baltimore tunnels, toll plazas that are difficult or time-consuming to circumvent.

Tolls sure haven't gone down.  The Susquehanna River toll is now up to $8 northbound (it used to be $4 for several years).  The Baltimore tunnels are each up to $4 in each direction. They were $2 each way until recently.  Maryland boosted tolls substantially to pay for other state transportation projects, figuring that the "tourists" or through drivers wouldn't take the detours necessary to circumvent the toll facilities.  The Susquehanna River bridge is an especially lengthy one to try to circumvent.

...According to the same report the cost issue is coming out of the Short Distance sector, not dining cars.  Short Distance costs are up $14 million 10-12/15 vs. 10-12/14, led by $4 million on Surfliners and $8 million on Empire trains and Maple Leaf...

How could the costs of Empire trains plus Maple Leaf be up $8 million? Fuel costs for these trains has to be down significantly. I can not see how employee costs could increase that much and equipment and frequency is the same as always. Weather was also better then last year. Are the costs associated with maintaining the tracks from Poughkeepsie to Hoffmans included in this number and that cost was higher?