Ho Hum! It’s More Ridership Records for Amtrak.
It’s almost become routine: another press release comes out of Amtrak’s Washington office announcing yet another ridership record. Actually, the latest release reports no less that five new ridership records, and they manage to get it all into the very first sentence:
WASHINGTON – Amtrak ridership increased in the first half of FY 2013 (Oct. 2012 – March 2013) and March set a record as the single best month ever in the history of America’s Railroad. In addition, October, December, and January each set individual monthly records.
Strikes me that that must be some kind of a record!
It’s quite astonishing, really. After all, Amtrak is just scuffling along with what is in fact almost a bare-bones operation. Plastic plates are used in most of the dining cars just to save the cost of an additional employee to wash dishes. And there’s such a shortage of equipment that Amtrak can’t add cars to sold-out trains in order to accommodate the people who can’t get seats or sleeping car space.
(Two months ago, I tried to get a roomette on the Crescent out of New Orleans for my trip back to the upcoming NARP meeting in Washington, but even that far in advance, that particular train was sold out.)
Still, Americans keep on buying train tickets. And not just for the short-haul trips, either. For the month of March, compared to March of 2012, ridership on the Coast Starlight was up by 6.4 percent. The Sunset Limited was up 7.2 percent. Overall, ridership was up almost 2 percent on Amtrak’s long-distance trains and 3.5 percent on the short-haul routes.
Yo! Members of Congress! How about opening the purse strings just a bit more so Amtrak can add some needed service and expand its fleet to better accommodate demand.
Can’t you hear the voters? They’re sending you a message: They want more trains … better trains … faster trains!
