Please don't flame me for this opinion.....If Amtrak wants to see a dramatic improvement in the ridership of a particular route, at virtually no additional cost, here's what I propose:
Find a way to circumvent the collective bargaining agreement in an experiment. Have management carefully hand pick the very best performing service and train crews that have demonstrated their superior performance and popularity with passengers, by way of compliments paid, performance evaluations, or any other appropriate measure. Put this select crew on one particular long distance route, and see how long it takes for word-of-mouth by highly statisfied passengers to get around and impact the ridership on that route versus the average of all the other routes.
Another way to improve ridership without buying fancy feature cars, would be to simply make a greater effort to maintain the current cars, and to improve their reliability and condition. While it might mean spending some more on maintenance in this case, it would still be less than adding 'parlor-lounge cars'.
Find a way to circumvent the collective bargaining agreement in an experiment. Have management carefully hand pick the very best performing service and train crews that have demonstrated their superior performance and popularity with passengers, by way of compliments paid, performance evaluations, or any other appropriate measure. Put this select crew on one particular long distance route, and see how long it takes for word-of-mouth by highly statisfied passengers to get around and impact the ridership on that route versus the average of all the other routes.
Another way to improve ridership without buying fancy feature cars, would be to simply make a greater effort to maintain the current cars, and to improve their reliability and condition. While it might mean spending some more on maintenance in this case, it would still be less than adding 'parlor-lounge cars'.