Passenger Trains > Amtrak destaffs Kalamazoo MI station

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The Amtrak ticket window at the Kalamazoo station is scheduled to close at the start of 2020, Chicago-based spokesperson for Amtrak said.

Marc Magliari said the volume of people buying tickets at the window has declined, which prompted the closure of ticket windows throughout Michigan over the last several years.

Amtrak trains will still run through Kalamazoo, he said, but riders must buy tickets online.

Magliari said he could not comment on how many people will be losing jobs, but in the past, Amtrak gave workers the option to transfer to other stations. 

https://wwmt.com/news/local/kalamazoos-amtrak-ticket-window-to-close-in-2020



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/19 00:50 by GenePoon.

So they use seniorty and get another location,  But guess what, those at the bottom, still get laid off...folks without jobs.

Very sad news... I travel there maybe once a year to visit family and that’s a real shame for sure.

The station is in a sketchy area and also serves buses as well. Over the last few years, the pan handlers there have become a lot more brazen and I believe that the Amtrak agent’s presence has discouraged crimes like theft, assault, and vandalism of this beautiful depot. Once they’re gone, I don’t think it will be too safe for passengers there and will definitely be someplace no one would feel comfortable at while waiting for a train.

Anderson is too dense and arrogant to see ticket agents as anything more than human subway turnstiles.

That is a transfer point to Indian Trail buses to northern Michigan. I was there a couple of times in the last decade. It is a very bad area, with some vagrants wandering all over the track area. With this destaffing crap, I will not go there again. Expect to see an increase in trespasser fatalities with resultant delays, for which Amtrak will simply blame external forces "not out fault". 

Retirements drive staffing decisions far more than being "data driven". 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/19 04:22 by joemvcnj.

Hopefully someone of significance n Michigan is paying attention. Otherwise Amtrak will just keep doing pretty much whatever it feels like and get away with.

Yes, the state of Michigan should DEMAND an agent at Kalamazoo.  The state is puting big money into the railroad east of Kalamazoo, as well as new equipment purchases.  The state does have significant leverage with Amtrak.  More high quality service is needed, not less.  

DDMP at work. 

   Merry Christmas, Ross Rowland

When the agents are taken away from this station, is it possible for Kalamazoo Police to place a satellite office at the station? With the coming and going of police activities-that would possibly deter any kind of vandalism or trespassing at this facility. Where I live, the police opened one of these satellites in one of the worst areas of the city. As a result, crimes and shootings dropped dramatically.

Posted from Android

Why is it necessary for PR people to lie when telling the truth is just as easy?
Do they do it just to see if they can get away with it?
They are poor liars so they never do get away with it.
Don't they care that they have ZERO credibility.

Of course Amtrak knows exactly how many jobs they will cut.  It they don't know exactly
it is only because they are still trying to figure out how to somehow cut one more job.

The agent is much more than a ticket seller.  The agent is a representative of the company.
Not only there for people waiting to board but also there to help arriving passengers.

Quite a high speed railroad operation.  Hundreds of millions spent on track and signal
( where there can always be a lot of money "leakage" ) but not a dime for a low paid
agent.

Michigan -  Pull the plug on Amtrak now !!!!!!!
After almost 50 years of their nonsense do you thing it will ever get better?

 

The Rail Passenger Association and the Michigan Association of Railroad Passengers has been working with Amtrak and MDOT to develop a station host program for Kalamazoo.  The station host program has been working well at East Lansing.  I think all of us aught to realize that the days of a full time Amtrak agent are over although I think each state served by Amtrak should have one full time agent..  No express to deal with or checked baggage.  

Does Virgin Trains/Brightline use station agents?
 

Is Amtrak breaking the law closing stations

Posted from Android

KansasCityChief Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is Amtrak breaking the law closing stations
>
> Posted from Android

What laws are you thinking of?

trainnut Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Rail Passenger Association and the Michigan
> Association of Railroad Passengers has been
> working with Amtrak and MDOT to develop a station
> host program for Kalamazoo.  The station host
> program has been working well at East Lansing.  I
> think all of us aught to realize that the days of
> a full time Amtrak agent are over although I think
> each state served by Amtrak should have one full
> time agent..  No express to deal with or checked
> baggage.  

There are station hosts and there are stations hosts.

The fellow at Essex Jct, VT (in what passes for a station waiting room) has been a railroader for 40 years, knows everything, knows everybody from Amtrak, CV, and the CN. He is good at recommending to passengers where they should stand on the platform and which doors will open, also at lecturing mothers trying to drop their UNaccompanied 14 or 15 year old onto the train, thus preventing delaying the train.

OTOH, from what I have read from other posters, the one at Cincy is something of a screwball, in a complex station, on two levels, under construction, in the middle of the night. 

They plowed $1 or $2 billion into Michigan cap improvements but can't afford $150K/year for an agent. That's B.S.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/19 09:33 by joemvcnj.

Probably answered in the article, but when removing a station agent, are they replacing with a "caretaker" who at least will open and close the station, or providing other means to open/close station so people can use it? What stations on the Michigan corridor to Pontiac/Detroit still have a station agent as opposed to a caretaker? Have any stations been "closed" so you can't get in at all due to de-staffing? What's the current arrangement at Niles, MI? That's often a station used by residents of South Bend.......Norte Dame student too!

If Amtrak can use its revenue and subsidies efficiently, we can have more rail service.

If we have to pay agents who don't sell tickets and don't check baggage to basically staff a do-nothing job, we can't. Its really that simple.

Maybe you guys haven't flown recently and noticed airlines have been automating check-in and "de-staffing" their ticket/check in booths at every airport. Because people can get tickets and boarding passes themselves online or at an automated kiosk.  Same reason wbesites are replacing call centers.

If staffed stations are critical in your view, lets build out a rail system that is big enough to economically justify them, not just employ people who don't havea day's worth of work.  For the Michigan line, lets get some long-distance train to New York and Tornoto and the like on the line again that need checked baggage and build a critical mass of ridership.

Interesting how people fall in line to drink the latest Amtrak Kool-Aide.
They have been doing so for the last 48 years and we can see how well it has all turned out.

If you are seriously into cutting costs shut the system down.
Almost everybody can see that is where it is leading.
Agents probably don't make as much in a year as some consultant "cost cutter" makes for 30"actual work.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/19 11:27 by Englewood.

trainnut Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Rail Passenger Association and the Michigan
> Association of Railroad Passengers has been
> working with Amtrak and MDOT to develop a station
> host program for Kalamazoo.  The station host
> program has been working well at East Lansing.  I
> think all of us aught to realize that the days of
> a full time Amtrak agent are over although I think
> each state served by Amtrak should have one full
> time agent..  No express to deal with or checked
> baggage.  

Amtrak is using volunteer labor to replace what is a good paying job, and of course the NARP is willing conspirer.

Posted from iPhone

nedzarp Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does Virgin Trains/Brightline use station agents?
>  

Yes, but passenger volumes are probably higher. Although, Brightline also has a few security agents and cafe attendants too.

Posted from iPhone

abyler Wrote:
-
> Maybe you guys haven't flown recently and noticed
> airlines have been automating check-in and
> "de-staffing" their ticket/check in booths at
> every airport. Because people can get tickets and
> boarding passes themselves online or at an
> automated kiosk.  Same reason websites are
> replacing call centers.

Railroad station vs. an airport terminal is not a valid analogy. There is plenty of staff around for security and other passenger assistance at airports who have duties other than selling tickets. There is nothing at an unstaffed rail station. Airports don't have as much urban vagrancy issues that rail stations do. A CC TV camera at the police precinct doesn't cut it. With 8 trains a day plus Thruway buses, even if they don't go to Toronto and New York, they can justify a real ticket agent, and they have plenty of duties other than selling tickets. I am not going to enumerate them again.  

There is zero indication that this will lead to more service or reduced subsidies. It seems that Mich-DOT is willing to swallow whatever crap Amtrak gives them. 

< Amtrak is using volunteer labor to replace what is a good paying job, and of course the NARP is willing conspirer.>

Is anyone surprised at Amtrak's de facto PR department ? 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/08/19 12:07 by joemvcnj.