YourFoodSherpa
Train Attendant
I certainly get that sometimes things just happen, but this sure seemed like another example of Amtrak not knowing which end of the train to attach the engine.
I'm booked SEA-PDX on Cascades 505, 220pm departure, on 8/22. I arrive at King Street Station around 1 pm. Sign board shows train as "on time." Right around 2 pm, an announcement is made over the PA that due to a recent fire on the tracks near Tukwila, the train will not be departing from the Seattle station. Instead, we will be bussed to Tacoma to pick up a train that will take us the rest of the route. The busses are expected to arrive in "about" 30 minutes. Board still shows the train as "on time." Ten minutes later, another announcement was made that if you were ticketed for the complete journey to Portland, they will offer a bus service that will run the entire route, with no stops along the way, for the first 56 passengers interested in doing so.
I have made the drive, myself, along I-5 a number of times, so I figured I would try to board the full ride bus. Well, I can only say that was one big mistake. For a company that is applauding itself for keeping their customers and staff in a COVID-free environment, by mandating mask wearing, we were crammed into a bus like sardines. Now, in not trying to start a political discussion on the dos and don'ts of COVID, but if you believe strongly that masks will help prevent the spread of the virus, shouldn't you also embrace the other factors, like social distancing? I don't get it. Wear a mask, but you'll need to practically sit in one another's laps.
My bigger question is that the fire in Tukwila didn't happen an hour before my train departure. Why wasn't this planned ahead and a good backup plan enacted?
I'm booked SEA-PDX on Cascades 505, 220pm departure, on 8/22. I arrive at King Street Station around 1 pm. Sign board shows train as "on time." Right around 2 pm, an announcement is made over the PA that due to a recent fire on the tracks near Tukwila, the train will not be departing from the Seattle station. Instead, we will be bussed to Tacoma to pick up a train that will take us the rest of the route. The busses are expected to arrive in "about" 30 minutes. Board still shows the train as "on time." Ten minutes later, another announcement was made that if you were ticketed for the complete journey to Portland, they will offer a bus service that will run the entire route, with no stops along the way, for the first 56 passengers interested in doing so.
I have made the drive, myself, along I-5 a number of times, so I figured I would try to board the full ride bus. Well, I can only say that was one big mistake. For a company that is applauding itself for keeping their customers and staff in a COVID-free environment, by mandating mask wearing, we were crammed into a bus like sardines. Now, in not trying to start a political discussion on the dos and don'ts of COVID, but if you believe strongly that masks will help prevent the spread of the virus, shouldn't you also embrace the other factors, like social distancing? I don't get it. Wear a mask, but you'll need to practically sit in one another's laps.
My bigger question is that the fire in Tukwila didn't happen an hour before my train departure. Why wasn't this planned ahead and a good backup plan enacted?
