Next month I need to go from Glenwood Springs to Denver. I randomly checked the date I want from Green River to Denver and its $59, but getting on two stops and 3 hours LATER at Glenwood Springs is $67. Grand Junction is even more ridiculous its presently $86 (vs. $59). If I was going the other direction I'd totally book Green River and just say I'm actually getting off in Glenwood Springs, it was cheaper. I guess with eTickets I can't that off, getting on that much later.
Amtrak buckets don't make sense. One time I miss paper tickets.
This pricing scheme is ridiculous and shouldn't be operated. I assume it's done because Amtrak's ticketing system is ancient and creaky and incapable of being programmed to be more sensible.
It's all very well for Amtrak to raise the price from Grand Junction to Denver to $86, but if they do that, they should raise the price for Green River to Denver to $86 too. Otherwise they're throwing away money. (For the math-impaired, I'll make this clear: every passenger from Green River to Denver is occupying a seat from Grand Junction to Denver, which could presumably have been sold for more money.)
Is Amtrak supposed to be running a business, or is Amtrak supposed to be running a charity for people in Green River? Think about it. At the moment Amtrak is doing the latter, running a charity by minimizing its revenue.