Passenger Trains > Amtrak ridership

With all the dialogue (and ranting) about what the future holds for Amtrak, I am wondering what the patronage is on TO. There is a lot of passion on these threads, some logical some just emotional, so I am curious who rides Amtrak and how often, and why. This isn't a dig at anyone, or to say this person has a better opinion because s/he uses the train more than that person. But as a rail-oriented website, what does our ridership look like, and I wonder how it compares to the general population? Some of us have access to plenty of Amtrak service, some have almost none so the answers can be skewed.

I will begin, I use a LDT a couple times a year. The reason is that it is convenient as it drops me off (or picks me up) a couple blocks from my destination. Anyone who has read my comments will know that train is the Silver Star (as I have b*tched about the lack of diner enough), but I have used other eastern LDT's in the past. Several times I would take the train one way and fly the other, all depended on how much time I had, but I enjoyed both modes of travel.

I am fortunate living close to the NEC that I have many options for train travel, and have used the NEC quite a few times in the past, but not for a few years because I have not had the need to. So for me, having the option of the train is important. I'll be honest though, convenience is the key for me. I have taken the train to Florida before, but the last few trips I have flown because time was the key ingredient and 17 hours on the train cannot compete with 2.5 hrs on a plane.

So, I am one who does use Amtrak, but do so when it suits me best and look at it as a travel option. I will add that the biggest concern I have with Amtrak is on-time performance, which I have found to be horrid. I feel that is the biggest detriment to LDT travel. From what I have seen on my trips, most people are not on a land cruise, but are actually going somewhere and the biggest complaint I overhear is running hours late.

12 days ago...

Last year I only did one long distance trip. Sleeper on the Capitol round trip to Cumberland for the 611 weekend. I was booked to take the Crescent and then Cap back home after Pete's Chattanooga charter but a family emergency put me on the Mr. Anderson's former employer at no cost with miles. Hope to use the Amtrak voucher on the Builder in October but leary of booking if there is a risk food service will be downgraded. I do try to take the Canadian once a year. A far superior experience (other than the horrible timekeeping) than anything Amtrak has to offer. And it's usually for a reason. To visit friends on Vancouver and Seattle or as was the case last winter, to see the Wings play at the new arena (not nearly as nice as ours) in Edmonton. I won't use the train to Chicago unless connecting. It's still faster to drive even with the shorter schedule. And I can stop and have a nice lunch in route. I might feel differently if they ever get new equipment with windows you can actually see out of and don't smell like a toilet. I would probably use Amtrak more if I didn't do so many overseas trips. But one has to go where the steam is and time away becomes an issue with an elder mom (95) and dog (11) to take care of. But overall since 1977 I've racked up 396,000 rail miles in the U.S. I would estimate at least 3/4 of that was on Amtrak the rest being AOE, RGZ, Southern Crescent, AAPRCO Convention trips, and commuter runs.

I have residences in Florida and Reno, Nv. Last year I took Amtrak east to Florida once. Last September I decided to fly to Chicago from Reno and to take my first trip on the Texas Eagle on through to LA. I connected to the CS and spent the night in Sacramento before boarding the CZ back to Reno. I would do that trip again in a heartbeat. I then returned to Florida in October and took 98/51/5 back to Reno in January. Planning on flying back to Reno next month and have scheduled a short trip on 6 & 5 to Glenwood Springs, my first coach venture in a while. Also rode from Reno to Emeryville and back last August.

Tom
Sarasota, Fl & Reno, Nv

When I lived in Grass Valley it was so much more convenient to depart from Colfax than to drive over Donner to Reno airport or Sacramento airport. My company had offices in Salt Lake CIty and Chicago so I made _26_ trips on the California Zephyr! As a firmware developer I could get a lot of quality work done though the late night and early morning departures in SLC were tough.

At least twice a month on the Surfliners, in the SAN-LAX-SBA corridor to different destinations.

Yesterday rode #565 to LAX (which had the Great Dome) and #580 to return to SAN. Both on time,
perfect air conditioning and friendly OBS and operating crews.

LD trains about twice a year, in the sleepers as available. I get a price break, due to being a
retired Amtraker, but not always. A few years back I paid full freight on a Starlight Roomette
from CTL to LAX- $600. Pass was no good on that train, due to the heavy loads and the Pass Rules.

No problem- we still have generally great trips on every Amtrak train we ride. Being retired, it's
a bit easier to be late, since we're not going to a meeting or a convention, but I understand how
late trains can be huge problems for workers and others.

I live 200+ miles from the nearest Amtrak stop, 125 miles
from the nearest major airport, and 3 miles from 2 major
interstate highways.

How often do I use Amtrak? Guess.

I log about 25,000 Amtrak miles per year mostly east coast to LA or Lincoln,Nebraska with at least one round trip to Florida. Most trips quite pleasant with biggest issue being quality of crew. 95% of Amtrak OBS folks try hard to give at least decent service but the other 5% make it really scary that you'll get one of them. You never know. I've written up a couple of them more than once and it seems to have no effect.

My best guess is that with Mr. Anderson's clearly stated mission to eliminate the LDT's asap that our days of traveling by train outside the NEC are VERY numbered??

Time will soon tell.

Ross Rowland

I use the NE Corridor between home Washington, NYC or Boston. Long distance trains in Europe and Asia. Long distance air or auto in North America.

Bob Wilcox
Charlottesville, VA
My Flickr Shots

I Ride LD a couple times a year out of Los Angeles, and have ridden and chartered PV out of LA also.....all for pleasure. Even on pleasure trips, I’ve been burned by Amtrak due to equipment failures etc.

Loosing access to private varnish has not even sunk in yet.

Will I continue to ride trains even with the various changes coming? YES, Those of you that claim that you are never going to ride this train or that train again, thinking that's going to make a dent in ridership, what effect has it had on the Silver Star?

Of course I am concerned about loosing long distance trains, just as everyone else is.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/18 15:35 by darkcloud.

I have been making 1-2 trips on LD trains each of the past several years. Last year was Tucson to New Orleans and Emeryville to Denver. So far this year I’ve gotten in a Worcester - Chicago -Portland - San Jose trip, and may try to get another trip in after Labor Day (although not on the almost no food trains). I do it for the overall experience, not just to be transported.

Dave

Amazingly enough, I just realized that I've made 2 roundtrips on Amtrak in less than a year, the first time in my life that's ever happened. The first was a daylong Seattle-Portland roundtrip on the Cascades last December. Purely a joyride as the train was the only reason for flying from Denver to Seattle for the weekend. The other was on the Winter Park Express in February.

I moved to Colorado almost exactly 23 years ago today. In that time I've ridden No. 5 twice, once to Grand Junction in coach and the other time to Salt Lake City in the Silver Lariat as a guest of Al Bishop and Burt Hermey. The latter was an memorable, once-in-a-lifetime experience. But as seems all too typical, that train was 4-1/2 hours late into SLC. The overnight hotel stay turned into a 2-hour catnap before my friend and I hightailed it to the airport for our return flight to Denver the next morning.

My last overnight trip on Amtrak was a joyride on the SW Chief between Kansas City and Albuquerque with another friend around 2013. Our thinking then was, "One time through the blades before they pull the train off this route." My last overnight trip on any train was Vancouver-Toronto on the Canadian in 2016. The latter was another bucket-list item. I generally won't consider overnight trains for any travel as I do not get restful sleep with the "shake, rattle, 'n roll" all night. But with the Canadian, I had to do it once.

niagara484



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/24/18 13:49 by niagara484.

I have been around a while and have done a LOT of driving, flying, and train riding. Driving improved vastly with the interstate highway system, but now can be very boring on a cross-country or enraging in big city traffic. Flying, back in the 60s and 70s and 80s, was convenient and efficient when you had to get somewhere far away as quickly as possible. Now, the vastly reduced service, vastly reduced seat pitch, security quagmires, baggage charges, etc. make it my last choice. Trains have always been my favorite mode of transportation. I rode the Santa Fe El Capitan, San Francisco Chief, Texas Chief, Chief, and most of the old heavyweights, both coach and sleepers, and loved them all. Much more recently I have ridden the Capitol, RT TOL-WAS in a sleeper 3 times. I took a trip from Michigan to Seattle and Sacramento via ATK Wolverine, ATK 7, ATK 11, and ATK 6 and another to Sacramento and LA via Wolverine, ATK 5, ATK San Joachin, ATK 4. For those long trips, I used a roomette. Now that travel is for pleasure and not for business and not in a hurry, I far prefer the train. I've been very lucky with trains staying on time and have always enjoyed the diner food, and especially the social aspect of having dinner with people I've never met before. But my infrequent travel is not exactly a big "plus" for Amtrak's balance sheet. And since "bean counters" run everything nowadays, there just aren't enough beans to be made hauling people 1000-3000 miles. I really hate to see LD passenger trains go, but my traveling is getting close to over anyway. But I do have some great memories of traveling on some great trains.

We use Amtrak probably 6 to 8 round trips per year, sleeper always except when going from NYP to Brunswick, Maine when we use Acela/Downeaster. Right now, we are in Ft. Collins. CO for a month traveling alternate months to/from Syracuse, NY & Denver. Virtaully every trip we take on the Lake Shore, she is sold out with very heavy couch load and 3 sleepers: in the 15 years we have used this train it has always been treated like a stepchild by Amtrak with old equipment and still no diner. Amtrak has no consistent oversight of its on board labor force and because they have been treated to the continual threat of Congress killing Amtrak on a year to year basis, who can blame the crews for being a bit unsure of their future no matter how well they perform their jobs. I had hopes that Mr. Anderson with his reputation for fair dealing with airline unions would work some magic with the labor side of service but, so far, do not know if this has been the case with Amtrak.

Twice last year, one to my Godmother's 60TH Birthday Party in Irvine and over Memorial Day Weekend seeing 611 at Roanoke, the later was a blast and I would love to head back that way and really check out DC!

Probably 1- 2 major Amtrak trips/year even living way north of the nearest Amtrak train on the UP of Michigan. Therefore it is necessary to take an overnight Amtrak Thruway bus from Hancock, MI to Milwaukee to connect west. Overnight bus ride hard especially in a snow storm but suppose fortunate to have it as Guest Rewards points usable on the bus making the whole trip doable on points. This year's trip so far was Hancock, MI Thruway bus to MKE, then SW Chief to Flagstaff, AZ. June will find me on CZ to Granby, CO.

However, last November and again this March found me doing WPG - Vancouver - Toronto - WPG trips on VIA Rail Canada's Canadian. Far superior to Amtrak especially if one ignores timekeeping! And yes, a bit more pricey.

One thing is for sure: Amtrak coach seats far superior than overnight bus seats!!

Now that Im retired I ride LD Amtrak trains Twice a year now . I go from Los Angeles to Chicago. And to And L.A. to Philly.. I don't always take the Different trains to and from And we done trip tp San Diego.

I'm presently sitting in CHI Metropolitan Lounge waiting to depart on #48/448 to SPG. This the last leg of an 8300 mile 'circle tour' using AGR points. Since retiring 3+ years ago and implementation of AGR 2.0, I've made it to Select Plus status in Sep, 2016 and have remained there since. Riding Business Class plus the 50% Select Plus bonus plus double days really adds points in a hurry!

Auto-Train, sometimes 3-4 times a year, but at least twice. Moving my own cars and relatives' cars between the northeast and FL.

Rode the Meteor 2 years ago for the heck of it. Nice ride, but very long. Wouldn't do that again.

Used to ride Newark NJ btw New Haven CT and Wilmington DE every few weeks when I was working.