10 replies to this topic

[Steve4031]

The conductor collected tickets from passengers as they sat waiting and gave seat checks with the correct car number as passengers walked out if the boarding area to the platform. Once on board a signs directed Families to front half of car and singles to back half. Seemed to work well for first come first served.

[Swadian Hardcore]

The conductor collected tickets from passengers as they sat waiting and gave seat checks with the correct car number as passengers walked out if the boarding area to the platform. Once on board a signs directed Families to front half of car and singles to back half. Seemed to work well for first come first served.

I respectfully disagree. I do not think families should all be squished together. Assigned seats is okay, though.

Related to this, I saw on Streamliner Schedules that coach seat were sometimes pre-assigned in the 1950s. Maybe I read it wrong, but can someone tell how it worked back then?

[TraneMan]

The conductor collected tickets from passengers as they sat waiting and gave seat checks with the correct car number as passengers walked out if the boarding area to the platform. Once on board a signs directed Families to front half of car and singles to back half. Seemed to work well for first come first served.

I respectfully disagree. I do not think families should all be squished together. Assigned seats is okay, though.

I think that works out great.. If they didn't do that, say single sat here and there, and if the family came on board, they may not be able to sit together.... (Mother sits next to a stranger, and young child is sitting in another with another stranger.

[zephyr17]

The conductor collected tickets from passengers as they sat waiting and gave seat checks with the correct car number as passengers walked out if the boarding area to the platform. Once on board a signs directed Families to front half of car and singles to back half. Seemed to work well for first come first served.

I respectfully disagree. I do not think families should all be squished together. Assigned seats is okay, though.

Related to this, I saw on Streamliner Schedules that coach seat were sometimes pre-assigned in the 1950s. Maybe I read it wrong, but can someone tell how it worked back then?

Reservations bureau had car diagrams of each car for each train for each and marked them up as reservations were made. Ticket agents requested space from headquarters reservations bureau and issued tickets when reservation bureau assigned space/seat.

[JayPea]

That way seems to be better than the chaos I've seen in boarding at Chicago. Most times I've been involved in boarding coach at Chicago, it was about like trying to herd cats.

[Steve4031]

The conductor collected tickets from passengers as they sat waiting and gave seat checks with the correct car number as passengers walked out if the boarding area to the platform. Once on board a signs directed Families to front half of car and singles to back half. Seemed to work well for first come first served.

I respectfully disagree. I do not think families should all be squished together. Assigned seats is okay, though.

Related to this, I saw on Streamliner Schedules that coach seat were sometimes pre-assigned in the 1950s. Maybe I read it wrong, but can someone tell how it worked back then?

I don't think it was done to penalize/segregate families. It is still one body per seat. I'd anything singles are penalized. The families were pre boarded. There were none in my car when I boarded. I accidently sat in the front half of the cat. Then I saw the sign and moved back. I still had a window.
I hate being assigned seats by a coach attended. If you are the 2nd single to board, then you are Screwed out of TA window seat. This is unfair if you took extra time to get to station early and stand in line with the intent of getting a window seat.

Edited by Steve4031, 02 March 2012 - 10:05 PM.

[Michigan Mom]

It's going to turn out the same way anyway so might as well get the families together at the outset. If a family splits up, the singles will end up trading seats to help get the families back together... either out of the goodness of their hearts.... or from their sincere desire not to sit next to someone's 3 year old.

[Swadian Hardcore]

The conductor collected tickets from passengers as they sat waiting and gave seat checks with the correct car number as passengers walked out if the boarding area to the platform. Once on board a signs directed Families to front half of car and singles to back half. Seemed to work well for first come first served.

I respectfully disagree. I do not think families should all be squished together. Assigned seats is okay, though.

Related to this, I saw on Streamliner Schedules that coach seat were sometimes pre-assigned in the 1950s. Maybe I read it wrong, but can someone tell how it worked back then?

Reservations bureau had car diagrams of each car for each train for each and marked them up as reservations were made. Ticket agents requested space from headquarters reservations bureau and issued tickets when reservation bureau assigned space/seat.

Amtrak could do that today. I'm not trying to cause familes trouble by putting singles all ovcer the place, but if all the families go in one plaxe, things could get a little out off hand. I've seen kids get over-exicted when there are other kids all around. The noise explodes and all order is lost, exactly opposite of what we want on a train!

[Texan Eagle]

The conductor collected tickets from passengers as they sat waiting and gave seat checks with the correct car number as passengers walked out if the boarding area to the platform. Once on board a signs directed Families to front half of car and singles to back half. Seemed to work well for first come first served.

I respectfully disagree. I do not think families should all be squished together. Assigned seats is okay, though.

Related to this, I saw on Streamliner Schedules that coach seat were sometimes pre-assigned in the 1950s. Maybe I read it wrong, but can someone tell how it worked back then?

Many European trains assign your exact seat when you purchase your ticket. It works just fine. You know what is available, in case you have a specific request, and those requests are filled subject to availability. And some trains also have special "family compartments" (such as on the TGV and ICE) so that families sit together, while not bothering other passengers if they have small, wiggly children.

When I read all this I can't help but laugh at how primitive Amtrak is compared to railway systems across the world. Forget modern European trains, even on the not-so-modern train system in India, fixed seats are assigned at the time of reservation and the software algorithm automatically places families together. Also, if you have a specific request (window seat, lower bunk etc) you can mention that at the time of booking and the reservation software tries to fulfill your requests too as far as possible. Also, don't forget, this system works on Indian Railways scale of 9000 (yes, nine thousand) trains per day, and each train having 3 to 5 different classes of train cars with different seat configurations. So if you tell me something like how will Amtrak incorporate such a system for so many trains? I am just going to laugh more. Just let the passengers decide where they want to seat when they buy the tickets (or decide it for them) and print the seat number on the ticket. It is not rocket science.