Amtrak Ridership on Record-Breaking Pace

[caravanman]

There seem to be two or three strands to this issue. On one hand, it is good to see train use increase, as it helps support it's claim for funding for long term viability. The bad stuff is that I can no longer actually afford to use Amtrak. For several years I have travelled to America in Jan or Feb, and just enjoyed riding the trains with a rail pass, and paying for the roomettes at off peak prices. No way I can afford the roomettes in Jan 2011. I did post a comment a few years back with my view that the best years for riding Amtrak off peak as a reasonably good value hobby were behind me.. seems I was right. Please don't get me wrong, I understand that Amtrak recieves public money, and must charge what the market is willing to pay.. It is just that my next trip to America will now be a more affordable summer time car hire, road and hotel trip.

Cheers,

Eddie

 

[GoldenSpike]

From another angle (I didn't note the source when copied):

Year Ridership Ridership per 1000 US residents

1971 6,450,304 31.19

1972 15,848,327 75.73

1973 16,958,056 80.23

1974 18,670,319 87.51

1975 17,269,000 80.15

1976 18,046,136 82.95

1977 19,206,942 87.40

1978 18,918,814 85.18

1979 21,406,768 95.32 <- Carter cuts (October)

1980 21,219,419 93.67

1981 20,609,944 89.82

1982 19,042,325 82.20

1983 19,038,563 81.43

1984 19,943,075 84.57

1985 20,776,091 87.32

1986 20,165,473 83.98

1987 20,699,454 85.43

1988 21,492,461 87.90

1989 21,382,436 86.63

1990 22,381,895 89.94

1991 21,965,000 86.82

1992 21,353,603 83.25

1993 22,065,869 84.90

1994 21,838,455 83.00

1995 20,724,900 77.83 <- Mercer cuts (April)

1996 19,673,900 73.03

1997 20,190,500 74.05 <- Desert Wind, Pioneer cut; EB, CZ, CoNO restored to daily ops

1998 20,901,234 75.77

1999 21,508,700 77.08

2000 22,517,264 80.01

2001 23,493,783 82.42 <- Acela rollout (first was Dec 2000)

2002 23,406,894 81.35

2003 24,028,045 82.80

 

[Bob Dylan]

There seem to be two or three strands to this issue. On one hand, it is good to see train use increase, as it helps support it's claim for funding for long term viability. The bad stuff is that I can no longer actually afford to use Amtrak. For several years I have travelled to America in Jan or Feb, and just enjoyed riding the trains with a rail pass, and paying for the roomettes at off peak prices. No way I can afford the roomettes in Jan 2011. I did post a comment a few years back with my view that the best years for riding Amtrak off peak as a reasonably good value hobby were behind me.. seems I was right. Please don't get me wrong, I understand that Amtrak recieves public money, and must charge what the market is willing to pay.. It is just that my next trip to America will now be a more affordable summer time car hire, road and hotel trip.
Cheers,

Eddie

Dont give up on Amtrak yet Eddie! Ive traveled quite a bit in the summer and since it's the height of most peoples travel hotels,rent cars,(traffic is bad!),food etc. tend to be pricey most places! With the exception of the Western LD trains, and the NE trains most of the Southern (ie Florida/New Orleans, Texas,Arizona etc.)

trains arent full except around holidays and weekends. I was able last summer to book the CS/EB/CONO/TE/SSL all @ low bucket fares including Low Bucket sleepers by booking in advance and being flexible! Even the hotels in Cal/Oregon/Washington were cheaper than earlier than in the summer, even cheaper than now! (Priceline/Orbitz are my two favorites!)With gasoline rising and the economy picking up ridership should continue to rise which is good for Amtrak, maybe not so good for us! With adequate planning and searching, which you as an experienced International traveler are, booking trains should be possible for the lowest possible prices! Im a retired Govt employee (read among the poor of this land!)and I can still travel cheaper on trains than driving, using motels,meals etc. Remember if you time it right the train is your hotel, snacks are cheap to carry on and most cities over here have pretty good hostels! (The best three Ive stayed in are SEA,CHI and Austin!) Good night and good luck! Dont give in to busses and cars or even worse airlines! :angry:

 

[hippyman]

How about more superliner equipment, where could that come from? I'm not very familiar with Amtraks supplier, but how fast could they roll new cars off the assembly line?

 

[Ryan]

That assembly line hasn't been running for 15 years, so they'd basically be starting from scratch.

 

[dlagrua]

There is a news report online that one airline just started to charge a fee to use the public toilet. Another is now charging $45 for each carry on bag. If stupid fees like this keep getting added to airline ticket prices while the security measures become more paranoid and intrusive, it will increase Amtrak ridership even more.

I never thought of LD passenger trains as mainstream travel but if the airlines keep going like this, Amtrak LD routes may just become mainstream, especially on the overnight runs. Many of these trains are already overcrowded so the situation could get worse until more coaches, sleepers and diners are added. Amtrak seems caught in a rut at the present time. They want to increase business but they do not have the equipment to accomodate more passengers. Even with fares 4x the cost of the regionals, the Acela on the NE corridor often sells out and still no extra coaches are available.

 

[OlympianHiawatha]

If I recall the airline toilet fee was proposed by either Ryanair or EasyJet but there was such an outrage the idea was nixed. But both those carriers have stripped almost all non-safety amenities from the cabins and advertising is plastered everywhere you look. But I must admit if you need to travel across Europe and can travel light and don't mind the bus like atmosphere, they offer great fares. Nonetheless I'd rather take a train

 

[GoldenSpike]

There is a news report online that one airline just started to charge a fee to use the public toilet. Another is now charging $45 for each carry on bag. If stupid fees like this keep getting added to airline ticket prices while the security measures become more paranoid and intrusive, it will increase Amtrak ridership even more. I never thought of LD passenger trains as mainstream travel but if the airlines keep going like this, Amtrak LD routes may just become mainstream, especially on the overnight runs. Many of these trains are already overcrowded so the situation could get worse until more coaches, sleepers and diners are added. Amtrak seems caught in a rut at the present time. They want to increase business but they do not have the equipment to accomodate more passengers. Even with fares 4x the cost of the regionals, the Acela on the NE corridor often sells out and still no extra coaches are available.

In addition to the added costs you point out, full body scanners coming to an airport will require even more lead time - adding more incentive when considering the time element in the NE.

 

[delvyrails]

From another angle (I didn't note the source when copied):

Year Ridership Ridership per 1000 US residents

1971 6,450,304 31.19

1972 15,848,327 75.73

1973 16,958,056 80.23

1974 18,670,319 87.51

1975 17,269,000 80.15

1976 18,046,136 82.95

1977 19,206,942 87.40

1978 18,918,814 85.18

1979 21,406,768 95.32 <- Carter cuts (October)

1980 21,219,419 93.67

1981 20,609,944 89.82

1982 19,042,325 82.20

1983 19,038,563 81.43

1984 19,943,075 84.57

1985 20,776,091 87.32

1986 20,165,473 83.98

1987 20,699,454 85.43

1988 21,492,461 87.90

1989 21,382,436 86.63

1990 22,381,895 89.94

1991 21,965,000 86.82

1992 21,353,603 83.25

1993 22,065,869 84.90

1994 21,838,455 83.00

1995 20,724,900 77.83 <- Mercer cuts (April)

1996 19,673,900 73.03

1997 20,190,500 74.05 <- Desert Wind, Pioneer cut; EB, CZ, CoNO restored to daily ops

1998 20,901,234 75.77

1999 21,508,700 77.08

2000 22,517,264 80.01

2001 23,493,783 82.42 <- Acela rollout (first was Dec 2000)

2002 23,406,894 81.35

2003 24,028,045 82.80

Thanks, GoldenSpike. The recent trend is encouraging. The better measure would be passenger-miles over the years, if that measure is available.

 

[Ryan]

I'm completely incapable of looking at numbers in a table like that, here is the same data presented graphically (I used just the riders/1,000 residents figure):

 

[dlagrua]

There is a news report online that one airline just started to charge a fee to use the public toilet. Another is now charging $45 for each carry on bag. If stupid fees like this keep getting added to airline ticket prices while the security measures become more paranoid and intrusive, it will increase Amtrak ridership even more. I never thought of LD passenger trains as mainstream travel but if the airlines keep going like this, Amtrak LD routes may just become mainstream, especially on the overnight runs. Many of these trains are already overcrowded so the situation could get worse until more coaches, sleepers and diners are added. Amtrak seems caught in a rut at the present time. They want to increase business but they do not have the equipment to accomodate more passengers. Even with fares 4x the cost of the regionals, the Acela on the NE corridor often sells out and still no extra coaches are available.

In addition to the added costs you point out, full body scanners coming to an airport will require even more lead time - adding more incentive when considering the time element in the NE.

I believe that most of the passenger traffic on the NE corridor Bos to WSH is already served by Amtrak. This increased security garbage will only add the remaining pasengers to an already overcrowded route. I used to take Amtrak to WSH from Princeton and it took about 2:35 because when I compared it to taking the airline it ended up being almost a 4 hour trip. (1 hr to EWR, 1 hr to get through security, 30 minutes on the tarmac, 1 hr flight 20 minutes to get your luggage and 30 minutes from Dulles Airport to downtown) . It really sucked.

 

[Hytec]

I think you'll find that low basic airline fares are a marketing ploy to sucker the travelling public into buying a ticket. Then all these add-ons, justified or not, merely get the price of flying back up to where it was before the economic meltdown. Ain't no free lunch, no where, no how. Unfortunately, as we know, Amtrak does not have the financial and equipment resources to take advantage of the public's growing dislike of air travel and TSA BS.

BTW, I believe it was in the late 70s that I was offered a box lunch for ~$4 as I entered the jetway to board a Class 1 airline. Though to pay for using the head/lav/loo/toilet is ridiculous, and will only result in increased usage of Barf Bags. h34r:

 

[afigg]

From another angle (I didn't note the source when copied):
Year Ridership Ridership per 1000 US residents

Thanks for the numbers. What they show is that Amtrak total ridership was pretty much stagnant from FY 1979 to 1999 varying between 19 and 22 million. In FY 2000, it increased to 22.5 million and with some dips has increased since then. A quick check of Amtrak reports, shows FY 2006 24.3 million, FY 2007 25.8 million, FY 2008 28.7 million, FY 2009 with the great recession and falling gas prices a dip to 27.3 million. The growth matters because stagnant passenger numbers over a period of years don't help with getting political support for more funding.

Wonder what the total passenger numbers might look like 3 years from now for the first half of FY 2013? The reason for 3 years is that the $1.3 billion of stimulus funding to Amtrak should pretty much have been spent and the projects done. Of the $8 billion HSR funding awarded, $3.5 billion was for true HSR in CA and FL which won't see service by then and likely won't be part of the Amtrak system anyway. But much of the remaining $4.5 billion that was given to projects for existing or new Amtrak service corridors or LD trains should have been spent by then. Some of the Tiger grant awards went to rail projects that will fix some bottlenecks that effect Amtrak. Some of the FY10 $2.5 billion HSR funds, which are yet to be awarded, will likely have resulted in some completed corridor projects by then.

By the first half of FY13, there should be increased service frequency and faster trip times on the Cascades and Chicago-St. Louis corridors which should be resulting in big boost in ridership. Don't know if the Madison service is expected to start by then. Who knows what will happen with the Ohio 3C corridor, but I would not lay odds on that being running by beginning of 2013. The Empire service corridor in NY should be faster and more reliable. The Vermonter and Springfield service will see improvements, but the Vermonter passenger numbers are a very small part of the system. Probably won't see much improvement in trip times on the NEC by then beyond a few minutes here and there. Increased reliability and on-time performance on the NEC would help however. Some faster run times south of DC to Richmond to NC, but not that much until the DC to Richmond to Raleigh corridor get a lot more funding and years to get the projects done.

So if Amtrak can sustain a 4-5% overall growth, they would get to between 15 to 16 million passengers in the first half of FY 13. Possible? Or too low?

 

[GoldenSpike]

I'm completely incapable of looking at numbers in a table like that, here is the same data presented graphically (I used just the riders/1,000 residents figure):

Nice visual graph. Lists like the one I posted take a bit more time to evaluate.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

I'm sure that 9/11 has something to do with it, too. Both fear of flying and the hilariously over-reacting theatre BS they added subsequently.