Amtrak fares and inflation

[City of Miami]

Last night I ran across a notation in my archives that I took a Metroliner from NYC to Washington DC on June 27, 1971. The fare was $17. According to an online inflation rate calculator, historic inflation would place that same fare at slightly over $100 today.

This trip is regularly available for Amtrak's Saver Fare of $49. The trip in '71 was 3 hours: 5pm to 8pm......half hour faster than today.

I remember absolutely nothing about the trip. :wacko:

 

[Triley]

I would consider the Metroliner to be more in line with Acela type service. So..about the same amount of time (a few minutes shorter), and the fares are comparable, with $119 being the cheapest between the city pairs.

 

[Thirdrail7]

Last night I ran across a notation in my archives that I took a Metroliner from NYC to Washington DC on June 27, 1971. The fare was $17. According to an online inflation rate calculator, historic inflation would place that same fare at slightly over $100 today.

This trip is regularly available for Amtrak's Saver Fare of $49. The trip in '71 was 3 hours: 5pm to 8pm......half hour faster than today.

The Metroliner service would have been considered high speed, premium service. The comparison today would be the Acela, which is far more than $100.00. The running time is carded between 2'50" and 2:57" so things haven't changed too much, although one could argue that there is far more traffic on the NEC these days and most Acelas stop at either BWI or MET, necessitating a crossover. When the Metroliners made NCR, it was smack in the middle of 110mph territory, but did not require a crossover.

I remember absolutely nothing about the trip. :wacko:

Hmmmm. It was the early 70's and you don't remember your trip. That means you probably had a good time. Close your eyes, breathe deeply and see if you can at least remember eating a brownie prior to your trip.

 

[OBS]

A better context for comparison would be Metroliner vs Acela since that service is what replaced the Metroliner...

 

[PRR 60]

Back in the early days of the Metroliner, the fare was the regular rail fare plus a separate premium - something like $2. That also bought you a on-time arrival guarantee. If the train arrived more than a specified number of minutes late (30?), your Metroliner surcharge was refunded.

I got a good laugh back in the early 1980's when I arrived at a 10:00am meeting in Washington at about 10:20. My excuse - my Metroliner was late. The meeting - US DOT, Northeast Corridor Improvement project. As the chair said, "that's why we're all here."

 

[Thirdrail7]

Back in the early days of the Metroliner, the fare was the regular rail fare plus a separate premium - something like $2. That also bought you a on-time arrival guarantee. If the train arrived more than a specified number of minutes late (30?), your Metroliner surcharge was refunded.

I can't comment on the 80's, but the guarantee in the 90's until the policy was repealed was 10 minutes after the scheduled arrival.

 

[MARC Rider]

I remember regular coach fares in the mid to late 70s, BAL-NYP as being about $15. That's about $66 in today's money.

Yes, Amtrak currently offers a saver fare for $49, but unless you're reserving a seat well ahead of time, you won't find the saver fare available for your trip. The current low-bucket value fare is $79, and those go pretty fast, too Except maybe on #66 and #67, so most walk up fares are more.

I just checked the Amtrak App, fares for this evening from BAL-NYP on the regionals are:

#138 --$154

#188 -- $100

#90 -- $100

#66 -- $79.

That gives one an idea of the range of fare buckets. Acelas, tend to be about $200 for the BAL-NYP ride, although the fare for #2124, the one that leaves right before #138, for some reason was showing a fare of $154, identical to the Regional Fare.

One could search on Amsnag for the full range of fare buckets.

The $15 fare (i.e. $66 in today's money) of 1975 was for an unreserved seat, and you could buy it at any time up until departures, and it was refundable, too.

 

[ehbowen]

I wrote up a brief paper a couple of years ago looking at a couple of sample trips in the streamliner era and comparing the pricing to Amtrak and airliners then and now....