Update on Washington DC Amtrak legislative action
Well, there is now federal legislation, and there is a $1.313 billion funding package for Amtrak. There are also lots of 'strings' and 'silos', added at the last minute, apparently by some acting for the administration/US DOT. One of these added provisions (Provision #14) reads as follows: After March 1, 2006, no discount of more than 50 percent of the peak fare. This will impact our Train Treks, and monthly ticket prices, as all Capitol Corridor monthly tickets are based on 40 rides per month (20 workdays, two trips per day), and they are all less than the 50% peak fare threshold. School kids, and groups will also be impacted.
I guess that all 'contract services' such as in Maine, the Pacific Northwest, California, and elsewhere that have 'discounted multi-ride tickets', will be impacted, unless the 'subsidy' payment made to Amtrak by these contracting entities is considered as 'revenue' to Amtrak, thereby offsetting any ticket revenue not equalling 50% of the cost of full fare tickets (I will make the case strongly that we are 'exempt' because we are contract service and we pay Amtrak the difference between the fares collected and the cost of service. Our service should be 'revenue neutral' to Amtrak, regardless of what our fare structure is).
Based upon this potential adverse impact, we must seriously consider taking over all ticketing and revenue, and I am prepared to recommend to the CCJPA Board that we do so if the interpretation of the 50% 'rule' does not consider our subsidy payment as revenue to Amtrak. I really want to say to Congress/the administration "just give me the price you want to run our trains, do it, and stop legislating HOW we do it." It is just plain STUPID not to allow discounted tickets for regular riders, especially on trains which have to be moved to position them for heavy traffic loadings the next day, or in peak periods later in the day, or trains that have a lot of available capacity. Selling available capacity, even if heavily discounted, makes sense ON SOME TRAINS. This new legislative requirement shows a total lack of understanding about the basics of the business. As for food service, you watch how fast we will take that over if Amtrak is forced to drop it (and with it, I suspect the long distance system will collapse, which seems to be the objective of the administration, after all, doesn't it?)
If you want to figure out how much your monthly ticket would cost under the legislation just enacted by Congress? Take the peak (June-September summer) one-way fare, multiply it by forty (the average number of weekday trips taken, based on 2 trips each way each of 20 workdays) and divide the total in half.
For example, the Monthly ticket from Sacramento-to-San Francisco that is currently $340.00 would be calculated as follows: $20. x 40 trips= $800.00 divided by 2 (50%) = $400.00 (+$60.00 per month, or almost +20%))
For Auburn-Sacramento, the current monthly is $138.00 (only one train each way daily): New fare: $11 x 40 trips = $440.00 divided by 2 = $220.00 (+$82.00, or almost +60%)
For Davis to Martinez, current monthly is $213.00; New Fare: $13 x 40 trips = $520.00 divided by 2 = $260.00 (+$47.00, or about 22%)
For Richmond to Suisun-Fairfield, the current monthly is $184.00; New fare: $12.00 x 40 trips = $480.00 divided by 2 = $240.00 (+$56.00, or about +30%)
Remember these numbers when your Congressman is looking for your vote next election. You might want to share with them what their action will do to your costs of travel by train.
The legislation requires that the fares be set based upon the peak one-way fare rates.
I do not believe we will change our Capitol Corridor monthly fares to these levels without a federal edict, as we already pay Amtrak the difference between passenger fares and the cost of our service, so we should be 'exempt' from this federally mandated formula. However, if we are forced to do this, we will even have to eliminate all discounts for school kids, group travel, and other transportation sales that help us fill up empty seats on the trains that have available seating capacity. These special target markets help generate revenue, which, in turn, helps keep your multi-ride fares as low as possible. In that scenario, should it occur, I expect we will have to consider taking over the entire
ticketing and revenue function ourselves to protect our passengers from these federally legislated business decisions.
Should you detect a note of frustration in this, there is. Those of us who have worked to build and grow passenger service ridership and frequency of trains were never consulted by anyone in Washington about these new 'mandates'. They were apparently designed to 'reform' (punish?) Amtrak, with little regard to the impact on the people who pay to ride the Amtrak-operated trains across our country.
I shall a await 'guidance from Washington' on the interpretation of this latest legislation, before I blow a gasket completely.
Gene
Eugene K. Skoropowski
Managing Director
Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority
300 Lakeside Drive, 14th floor
Oakland, California 94612
