Dr. Rich Wallace posted this on the Rail Usenet group. I thought this forum would find some of his comments interesting.
He has given me his permission to repost.
He has given me his permission to repost.
Subject: Comparing US and UK rail
I had a nice trip to the UK over Thanksgiving weekend. The route included SEPTA, New Jersey Transit, The Newark Airport Monorail, Virgin Air, The London Tube and British National Rail.
Shortly before my trip, I asked my colleagues in the UK about discounts on British rail for seniors and disabled. I explained how the Medicare card is the usual proof of qualification demanded by ticket agents and conductors for such discounts on Amtrak and many local commuter systems. Much to my surprise, I discovered that such pensioners in the UK ride the rail system *for free* if they apply for a monthly pass. I suppose we don't offer such service in the U.S. because our whole welfare system is in such bad shape. If people on social security could ride Amtrak for free, we'd have a whole homeless population *living* on Amtrak trains. Whereas in Europe they take housing for granted.
The upshot for seniors and disabled tourists from the U.S. is that there is no discount for travel on the rails in the UK, you have to pay the full adult fare. They don't recognize your Medicare card and the ticket machines have no senior/disabled discount button.
Anyway, back to the rails. You can't help but notice how smooth the ride is on the tube and especially British national rail compared with any rail system in the U.S.
Food service: a nice lady pushes a trolley down the aisle with an assortment of hot and cold items. I don't know if this is private or part of the national rail service, but it sure beats the Amcafe and "no service" on NJT. Although, the prices were high. (So were ticket prices unless you qualify for that free pensioners pass). Why don't US trains have a food service trolley? Seems like a good idea for a private business. Heck, I've considered boarding a long distance Amtrak train with a cooler full of canned sodas and selling them for $1 each out of my seat. Probably violates some rule.
You can't help but be impressed with the sheer number of routes and trains in the UK. The schedules are frequent, day and night, with express and local trains. Yes, they have air travel and cars too. Someone is going to jump on me and say it's much smaller than the U.S., cities are closer together etc. But isn't it pretty much the same across the whole continent of Europe? You can take a train from Glasgow to Moscow (or even Vladivostok) if you want to, or fly, the point is you have a choice. Nobody over there is arguing about whether they should or should not have the rail system.
You also can't help notice how there are so many more sensible automobiles available in Europe. The Smartcar is a cool 2-seater, and there are lots of other subcompacts on the road. Higher gas mileage, easier parking, less polluting. Someone is going to say, yes but gas is $5 a gallon. Well maybe it should be. Then we too could have sensible cars and a decent national rail system.
P.S.
I forgot to mention two parts of the trip. The monorail at EWR makes you realize what a ridiculous idea that form of transit is. It is even more wobbly than Amtrak. But the frequency of one train every 4 minutes is pretty nice.
Virgin Air, wow, what an airline! The best in-flight entertainment system ever. They could use that on Amtrak. I watched 4 movies on-demand, and spent the rest of time either sleeping or browsing the globe on their navigation monitor. Because the flight was way overbooked, I almost took the opportunity to grab their offer of a free RT anywhere they fly.
