Passenger Trains > Not So Separate Fare Buckets Train 2/22

For giggles I bought a ticket LAX-POS (Pomona Commercial St.) instead of taking my normal bus. I noticed that for the first time (that I have seen) the fare bucket for the Texas Eagle section (Train 22) was lower than for train 2. When I walked up to the 2215 car (only train 22 coach) I was directed to the 0212 car with the rest of the "shorts". Since Pomona is a double stop station, I can understand why they don't want to make it a triple for one person. However, what is the point of selling tickets for two separate trains if the passengers get mixed in wherever is convenient anyway?

BTW it is normally such a short trip (41 min) I never leave my seat. However UP stuck us at Marne for 30 min, and I got to enjoy an "adult beverage", something that Foothill Transit can't offer...:-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/26/12 23:36 by ats90mph.

ats90mph Wrote:
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> For giggles I bought a ticket LAX-POS (Pomona
> Commercial St.) instead of taking my normal bus.
> I noticed that for the first time (that I have
> seen) the fare bucket for the Texas Eagle section
> (Train 22) was lower than for train 2. When I
> walked up to the 2215 car (only train 22 coach) I
> was directed to the 0212 car with the rest of the
> "shorts". Since Pomona is a double stop station,
> I can understand why they don't want to make it a
> triple for one person. However, what is the point
> of selling tickets for two separate trains if the
> passengers get mixed in wherever is convenient
> anyway?
>
> BTW it is normally such a short trip (41 min) I
> never leave my seat. However UP stuck us at Marne
> for 30 min, and I got to enjoy an "adult
> beverage", something that Foothill Transit can't
> offer...:-)

Heck. Metrolink doesn't offer that either. To bad Amtrak doesn't run more service out that way.
Think they might make a decent dent in that region.

Jerry Martin
Los Angeles, CA
Central Coast Railroad Festival

Fare buckets are based on number of passengers and number of seats left. The Sunset and Eagle are considered long distance trains, so that is how the fares are calculated. Those riding short of San Antonio can take advantage of the lower fare. It's for the crew's convenience that they put you in the "shorts" car, the ticketing computer doesn't understand that.

But what I don't understand is why a Metrolink ticket Van Nuys to LA is cheaper than Amtrak. Nicer seats and friendlier conductors? Availability of food on train?

Barry Draper

Most likely part of the reason for Amtrak having disproportionately high prices for short-distance tickets (anywhere along the route--not just at the endpoints or where commuter trains may happen to exist in parallel) is that selling that seat for a short-distance passenger potentially blocks the opportunity to sell that same seat to another longer-distance customer for an even higher fare. If you buy a ticket between points C and D, they now can't sell that seat to someone traveling A-D, B-D, C-E, C-F, A-E, A-F, etc. True, there is a non-zero chance they could sell that same seat to two or three different passengers along the route, if they can find A-C and/or D-F passengers in addition to selling you the C-D ticket. But in general the probability of finding that combination of passengers for a given trip is probably lower than the likelihood of finding a single passenger traveling a longer distance. Thus the tickets for short-distance trips probably are priced to somewhat capture the potential revenue that is lost when that seat remains empty for some or all of the distance surrounding the short-distance passenger's trip.

In short, the fares are probably engineered to discourage shorter trips (or to make passengers pay a premium for those short-distance trips) in order to increase the likelihood of selling the higher-priced, longer-distance trips instead.

barrydraper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But what I don't understand is why a Metrolink
> ticket Van Nuys to LA is cheaper than Amtrak.
> Nicer seats and friendlier conductors?
> Availability of food on train?