Passenger Trains > Many more stations losing agents

Rail Passengers Associates has learned that Amtrak will be resuming its efforts to de-staff stations with 40 or fewer daily passengers. The full list includes Charleston, WV; Cincinnati, OH; Fort Madison, IA; Garden City, KS; Hammond, LA; Havre, MT; La Junta, CO; Lamy, NM; Marshall, TX; Meridian, MS; Ottumwa, IA; Shelby, MT; Texarkana, AR; Topeka, KS; and Tuscaloosa, AL.

If you make it harder for the average passenger to use Amtrak, ridership declines and Anderson has another reason to end that pesky long distance service.

Havre and Shelby average 30 per day, though likely skewed toward summer. They should keep one or the other.
Wolf Point has less than half the users each of the above and evidently gets to keep their agent, along with East Glacier and Whitefish.

Huntington, WV agent removal resulted in significant ridership lost, probably canceling out most of the cost savings.

mundo Wrote:
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> Rail Passengers Associates has learned that Amtrak
> will be resuming its efforts to de-staff stations
> with 40 or fewer daily passengers. The full list
> includes Charleston, WV; Cincinnati, OH; Fort
> Madison, IA; Garden City, KS; Hammond, LA; Havre,
> MT; La Junta, CO; Lamy, NM; Marshall, TX;
> Meridian, MS; Ottumwa, IA; Shelby, MT; Texarkana,
> AR; Topeka, KS; and Tuscaloosa, AL.


Some of these are crew change points.

Uncle Joe
Seffner,Fl.

Friends -- the world is changing. When I first started to travel by rail one had to deal with a ticket agent, wait hours or days to receive confirmation of reservations, obtain a long strip of tickets/stubs for the various legs of the trip (sometimes a different strip for each railroad), pay in cash, and make sure the tickets were not lost or stolen (no replacement!).

Now I can easily get tickets online, have immediate confirmation of my reservations, have a single QR code for my whole trip sent to me as an email or text message, pay with a card which may give me (if timed right) almost 50 days to pay, and if I lose the code I can easily obtain a replacement.

The need for agents, especially at stations with very low boardings, is minimal. If someone does not want to deal with the internet, there are available travel agents one can phone and then receive the necessary documentation by mail.

As I see it, we can keep our station agents, and our cooked meals, and other amenities, or we can keep our trains. In the world into which we are moving, we probably can't have it all. Just observe the transition of other modes of travel in the same period and you will see that if you want it all (dining, use of cash, etc) you can't have flights. More and more airports are now cash-free zones.

I know some will say that they are being discriminated against because they choose not to use debit/credit cards, smartphones, internet, email, etc. But the last holdouts of demanding home-delivered telegrams are very lonely, and the use of a chunk of gold or silver for payment has long ago been displaced. Instead of worrying about holding on to that which is familiar, how about we envision what might serve the world of the future ... ask the millennials and younger what they want and how they want to handle it. You will quickly see that our attachment to certain amenities are not the ones used, desired, or supported by the majority of people in our country.

RevRandy. Well said.

While there is certainly no need for agents to sell tickets, what about help with boarding? Even the airlines provide that at all locations. What about checked baggage. Airlines also provide that at most locations. But on the other hand, I don't recall ever seeing checked baggage in Europe much less an actual baggage car. Nor is there anyone to help with boarding other than the individual car attendants and all they do is help guide you to the correct car. No help with bags, etc. But with few exceptions, most trips are short and don't require room assignments or copious amounts of baggage.

Or...you can eliminate food service, station agents, baggage service...and drive away passengers so you won't need to keep the trains. Anderson has made it clear that he is out to eliminate LDT's and make the States pay for "Corridor" service. I'll never understand how people continue to support this plan.

Just as a curiosity (I really have no idea). What does a station agent in a rural station cost?

Thanks in advance.

RevRandy --
Dearie me......So you think it is OK that everyone has to be limited to using and having only what some people claim most millennials seem to want? Really? so all of us had better get usd to being exactly like those millennials? And those of us who are different should be thrown under the bus? Why?

High technology does have its uses, but it also has great limitations, and it is really sad and very bad for everyone that so many people think it is a cure-all,and refuse to value analog technology when it works better. For sure, analog technology is far more robust than is computer technology, and is far easier to use.

And too many people seem to be addicted to using their smart phones. Many of those seem to be millennials,though not all millennials are so aflicted.

Look, as soon as Amtrak had the option of buying seats/rooms online, I took advantage of it. I like doing the work myself, and much prefer it to talking to some agent on the phone. I only deal with an agent if I want to book a very specific room in a specific car. One of the few positives that Anderson is supposedly implementing is the ability to choose your seat/room online. The reality is most people make reservations online now for just about everything. Like it or not, that is the way it is. It has nothing to do with being fixated with ones phone. I do agree that at least some of these stations should retain an agent, as people boarding at the larger stops shouldn't have to fend for themselves..

First time travelers can use all the help it can get.

Not everyone has the money-knowledge-ability to understand a smart phone or computer for that matter.

They cost money and some folks really have no need for them for to support the large costs.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/18 17:18 by mundo.

I wonder how they will handle this at Cincinnati. The station/waiting room is in the old Cincinnati Union Station. It's one floor above the level of the platform. From where it's located in the station you can not see the platform or even the train unless you are looking towards the north. You could see #50 approaching the station or you could see #51 leaving you at the station. Due to station renovations, the station is in a temporary location now. I guess they could use that as the permanent location.

I'm sure that Cincinnati is not the only one on the list with a similar situation, a station that would be hard to manage without the agent to make sure passengers got to their train on time.

John

RevRandy Wrote:
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> The need for agents, especially at stations with
> very low boardings, is minimal. If someone does
> not want to deal with the internet, there are
> available travel agents one can phone and then
> receive the necessary documentation by mail.
>
> As I see it, we can keep our station agents, and
> our cooked meals, and other amenities, or we can
> keep our trains. In the world into which we are

Amen Rev!

What we really need is an onboard person assigned the duty of loading and unloading self-checked baggage. You can't financially justify an agent at a station except with the very highest levels of patronage.

RFandPFan Wrote:
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> If you make it harder for the average passenger to
> use Amtrak, ridership declines and Anderson has
> another reason to end that pesky long distance
> service.

The "average passenger" is boarding and alighting at one of the top 50 Amtrak stations by ridership.

RevRandy nailed it. Excellent commentary. Change is inevitable.

Maybe they can start a station host volunteer program. I’m sure there are no shortage of railfans that wouldn’t mind spending a few hours at a station to provide information to passengers and assist the boarding process. I think North Carolina does it as does La Plata, MO (could be mistaken)?

Posted from iPhone

carsoncity Wrote:
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> RevRandy nailed it. Excellent commentary. Change
> is inevitable.


Yes, change is inevitable - it's basically the only thing you can count on with any certainty.

Unfortunately in the case of Amtrak, most of the change is for the worse, not the better.

abyler Wrote:
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> RFandPFan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > If you make it harder for the average passenger
> to
> > use Amtrak, ridership declines and Anderson has
> > another reason to end that pesky long distance
> > service.
>
> The "average passenger" is boarding and alighting
> at one of the top 50 Amtrak stations by ridership.

But that doesn't mean that the "average passenger" is boarding and alighting at both ends of a trip at one of Amtrak's top 50 stations.

Is it possible to Flag Down a train at an unmanned station point?
OR - Do you have to have your ticket and confirmation beforehand to get the train to stop?

James R.(Jim) Baker
Whittier, CA