Keystone between PHL and NYP, why so crowded?

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Oreius

OBS Chief
Joined
Jun 5, 2012
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698
Is the one-way fare from PHL to NYP and back the same for the Keystones as the Regionals? It is interesting that when the Keystone pulls into Philly from the Harrisburg leg, it seems like over half the train disembarks. Then, a whole bunch more get on board for the trip to NYP; more than what got off at PHL. I checked the ticket prices, and they appear to be the same. Now, I've never ridden a Regional between PHL and NYP, so I can't say they are more crowded than the Keystones.
 
If the departure times and costs were similar, I'd opt for a Keystone PHL-NYP. One reason would be you'd be far more likely to

have an on-time train (less chance of a delay from HAR-PHL than from WAS or points south). Also, you'd be far more

likely to find a preferred seat since as you noted there's always a large turnover in PHL, unlike on the regionals.

The downside is lack of cafe/lounge car, but on a short segment that doesn't matter a whole lot. Just pick up food/

beverage at 30th Street and you'll be fine.
 
I'm pretty sure you're more likely to get a lower bucket fare later on on the Keystones than on the Regionals, so in effect Keystones might be cheaper for to more people than the Regionals (but I'm not 100% sure on that one)
 
I don't know about buckets. That is for you experts to keep track of. But I know that I can always get a cheaper ticket on Keystones than on Regionals to get from Newark or Trenton to Philadelphia. At least that is my experience so far. And this is true even for Keystones departing within 15 minutes of a Regional.
 
One downside of the Keystones is half the seats ride backwards.

I think the Keystones primary function is between Harrisburg and Philadelphia. The fairs for this is always the same because of the support from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I think the PHL to NYP leg is used to help with capacity on the NEC, which these two points are in the middle.
 
the_traveler said:
Keystones are unreserved only between HAR and PHL, but like regionals are reserved between PHL and NYP. Thus they are one fare only between HAR and PHL, but if your trip goes past PHL you're subject to buckets.
Click to expand...
There are actually two fare levels PHL-HAR - peak and off-peak. The peak fare is for travel departing 9:00am to 6:59pm Friday and Sunday (and some holiday periods), the off-peak fare is valid all other times.
 
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benjibear said:
One downside of the Keystones is half the seats ride backwards.

I think the Keystones primary function is between Harrisburg and Philadelphia. The fairs for this is always the same because of the support from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I think the PHL to NYP leg is used to help with capacity on the NEC, which these two points are in the middle.
Click to expand...
LNC-PHL is one of the highest city pairs on the Keystone line. While there are a lot of people that end/begin in Philly, there is a good bit of through ridership as well
 
I also think it has to do with the large Commuting block between PHL and NYP. I noticed Rush-Hour Regionals that depart close to the same time as Keystones in AM from PHL ( trains 170, 180, vs. 640) or PM from NYP (137, 55 vs. 655) are priced significantly higher than Keystones.... Even if booking during the 14-day advanced pricing window, I've noticed where both trains 137 and 55 will be over 100$ for NYP-PHL while 655 will be just 39$ (14-day), all three trains leave NYP within 20 min window. When Amtrak runs NYP-PHL 25-27$ "3-day Sales" specials it mostly only consist of the Keystone trips. Regionals (except for evening/night trips) have been excluded from the specials. I think Amtrak does this to get the majority of NYP-PHL people to use the Keystones, saving room/capacity for people going South of PHL.

I remember people saying a big problem with PHL-NYP rush-hour Regionals was that commuters within those two city pairs were filling up the train, leaving no capacity for WIL, BAL, WAS from NYP. But the same trains would then have a ton of capacity leaving PHL,
 
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Keep in mind that there are less seats on a Keystone then a regional train set. 62 BC seats and 432 coach seats plus space in the cafe. Versus around 350-360 on a Keystone set. So about 500 seats to about half the capacity.
 
Usually less stops in NJ on the keystones. I think last one I took just stopped at Newark Penn and Trenton only.

End to end takes a few less minutes than regional so a fair amount may pick it for that reason.
 

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