Reserved Trains

[johnny.menhennet]

I was thinking about the possibility of the PS becoming reserved, and how it would affect revenue. I was wondering what the revenue figures turned out be on the Regionals in 2004/5 the year after they became reserved-status. I assume ridership went up since 2004/5 were good years fro Amtrak, but you never know how it worked out because standees couldn't ride.

 

[the_traveler]

I really don't know the answer, but I would say yes. With unreserved trains, all seats are the same fare, but with reserved trains you got different buckets. I'm just making these amounts up, but unreserved trains have all $30 tickets, while a reserved train could have $25, $30, $37, $44 and $52 fares.

 

[NY Penn]

On the other hand, unreserved trains can sell more seats than they have, while reserved trains cannot.

It would be interesting to see the numbers.

 

[AlanB]

Here's the numbers:

      Ridership   Revenue
2003   5,850,975   299,148,786
2004   6,405,087   320,244,267
2005   7,024,021   362,944,581
2006   6,755,085   396,149,944

Note that part of the drop in 2006 was due to the loss of the Clockers, which NJT took over at the end of 2005.

 

[johnny.menhennet]

Here's the numbers:

  	Ridership   Revenue
2003   5,850,975   299,148,786
2004   6,405,087   320,244,267
2005   7,024,021   362,944,581
2006   6,755,085   396,149,944

Note that part of the drop in 2006 was due to the loss of the Clockers, which NJT took over at the end of 2005.

Looks pretty steady - hard to tell of any difference, of course minus the Clocker ridership.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I think the PS should be made reserved because the same thing was good for other trains. Especially since the PS recently had incresed fares.

 

[Long Train Runnin']

Would it be possible with the service sharing that goes on between Amtrak and Metrolink? I know monthly pass holders on Metrolink can currently ride a surfliner, and I believe there is a stipulation about going to the airport.

 

[Shawn Ryu]

Surfliner being ran by Amtrak CA and not from DC has something to do with it I imagine.