Recent content by TiBike

SOP on the Capitol Corridor seems to be for crew to reserve a row of seats at the end of one of the California cars. Can't recall seeing them use a table in the cafe car, although it's not something I pay much attention to. I've sat in the cafe and had a conductor scan my ticket there – no worries.

According to a post on Train Orders, it's a Charger test train. The OP linked to a schedule: https://imgur.com/a/M5JQ8Sw

If Amtrak shows up in, say, Sacramento with an offer and considerable skin in the game, I'm guessing people will listen. If all Amtrak does is suggest a new, fully state subsidised route, the answer will probably be something like "put your email address on the list and we'll send you a copy of...

Amtrak can cherrypick the states that want it. Given Amtrak's operational constraints, the willing states are sufficient for now, and for years to come.

The public transit option on Google maps does a pretty good job of combining all the transit options into a single user platform, including Amtrak California, Amtrak long distance, Greyhound and the ferries. It's improved to the point that I struggle to find an option it misses :-).

Many of my last few trips to Asia have taken me through Taipei airport (I'm a fan of EVA Air), and I've done the blind masseuse thing on my layover every time: outstanding. It's a tradition in many Asian countries that goes back centuries. It's a job where sight offers no advantage, and the lack...

I did a Mongolia/China trip in 2018. Booked my rail tickets through a service. I used china-diy-travel.com but there are others. They were very careful to tell me to double and triple check my information, so it matched my passport exactly. I needed the passport to pick up the tickets at the...

No, the high speed train needs axle count cars.

11(28) had four sleepers, three coaches and a business class car today. Pretty much full.

They're gonna have to lock up those little plastic bottles when they get to California – that's contraband here :-)

You must be thinking of someone else. Amtrak should run more like an airline – safe, conveniently scheduled, on time, clean transportation, serving dense corridors where a train's carrying capacity gives it a competitive advantage over buses and its in-town stations give it an advantage over...

With airline-style booking, you choose your own seat. The passenger has some measure of control, and it's not happening when the passenger (not to mention Amtrak staff) is stressed out. It's also impersonal – it won't turn into an unpleasant confrontation, which I've seen happen on platforms.

Strictly speaking, that's not true. Some people stay onboard Southwest flights at intermediate stops. It is different, though. There's nothing preventing Amtrak staff from using seat checks to keep track of who's going where, or from giving a passenger who picked an aisle seat a friendly heads...

If I could redeem the coupon at 3am, it wouldn't be so bad :). It's a trade off – the occasional possibility of upsetting a handful of passengers by waking them up versus the certainty of subjecting all passengers to an interaction that will annoy many of them and royally **** off some of them...

Unless they show up late, then staff work it out. Pleasantly and professionally. I've never seen it turn into a problem. For that matter I can't recall an unpleasant interaction with Southwest staff, and I fly Southwest a lot more than I ride Amtrak.