trainboy325 said:
Sorry x-press, I understand your frustration but when it comes to Superliner trains, 42 beds per car is way too much for one person let alone splitting three cars among two people. As for your suggestion regarding no attendant for the trans-dorm: been there, done that. Both 58/59 and 21/22 had a job known as the 09/30 job. The job had a second coach attendant in the forward coach that also was the sleeper attendant for the revenue rooms in the trans-dorm. What ultimately happened is that the conductors made the coaches the priority for the TA and the sleeper passengers in the dorm car were abandoned. I worked the job twice, did my absolute best job to provide "service." Most of the sleepers were kind to me, but I knew they were unsatisfied, my tips made that clear. I asked my boss (who's Amtrak's #1 problem employee) how to improve the situation, she said I had to work both doors at one time, serve the beverages and provide room service. Needless to say the sleepers lost since the conductor demands the OBS crews serve the higher capacity car. "The needs of many outway the needs of the few" to quote Mr. Spock, but with the twist that "I don't care how much the sleepers pay" said my boss. Sorry, everytime you cut labor, you cut service. Sleepers are dead because labor cuts demand cut in service. No people mean no service offered. That's the Amtrak way! <_<
Hi Trainboy,
Your insider comments are appreciated. I guess to understand my viewpoint, you need to understand my perspective:
- I'm in Baltimore, just a few blocks from Penn Station and the Northeast Corridor.
- Most of my friends fly everywhere over 200 miles (can't understand why), and drive everywhere less than 200 miles, including New York City (NO idea why that thought would cross their minds, I swear they seem like reasonable people). This is in spite of nightmare stories they tell from all their trips, especially those via automobile. Yet every time I mention a train I get the "too expensive" response.
- My idea of good train service is a train that arrives within 15 minutes of ontime, gets me where I'm going without crashing, and a seat that is "significantly more comfortable than an airline seat" (read: not too hard to accomplish).
- There are no "coach attendants," no dining car (unless you count a cafe), and certainly no sleepers unless they bring back the Federal (which I've been begging for). By current long-distance train standards, this service would be disastrous . . . but I don't think it's so bad. Hear me out:
- Conductors/Assistant Conductors open the doors and make sure that all the passengers are off at their appropriate stops. Passengers seat themselves, and except at the absolute peak times do a fine job of it.
- Compared to either sardine-can airline service, or driving yourself through beltway traffic (and parking in New York, Philly, or Washington), it is PARADISE. It's not just "adequate" or something we'd "be better off with than without," it's AWESOME. The sold out trains every rush hour are backing me up.
Now to long distance trains. OBVIOUSLY the needs are different . . . I just don't think they're SO different as to require such different expenses. You need food service. Maybe not 4-star restaurant service as has been provided in the past, but better than Amcafe, to be sure. You need more train attendants than, well, NONE, as provided on the NE corridor (long distance trains have low level platforms and can't simply open every door at the push of a button). Sleeper service is a necessity for overnight trips . . . without it, maybe I WOULD cram myself on a Southwest flight . . .
Yet there is a disparity between what I, at 28 years old, expect of my train services, and what is being provided. The biggest example follows:
I had NO IDEA that Amtrak attendants would still make a bed for you while you were in the dining car until about two years ago. I always just made them myself. I thought that had gone the way of pullman porters shining shoes, and the Capitol Limited serving meals on their own, custom-made blue china (a piece of which I own from an antique dealer). Don't get me wrong, I think this service is really neat, and ever since I learned of it I've been using it and tipping quite well (I never used to tip, since the sleeper attendants did virtually nothing for me). But would its absence be enough to make me swear off sleeper travel? Not even remotely close!
To me, a sleeper attendant's job during the trip includes saying hello to pasengers (not hard), making up beds FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT (eg elderly or handicapped), giving tips to anyone confused by the bed-making process (its really not that hard), handling complaints (no towels in the shower, no ice for drinks, toilet blowing up . . . tedious, but not that labor intensive). Basically, for most of the trip, they'd just be there to "keep an eye on things."
It's not lost on me that for the last 2-3 hours into the terminal, sleeper attendants work as hard as an old-time coal miner. They currently have to make more beds than I would for all the money in the world. My point is, couldn't that be done AT the terminal? Have help on hand to make up the beds, instead of paying someone to ride hundreds of miles from home?
People tend to see any change in service as the end of the world. In the end, it's not necessarily worse . . . just different. What you see as "neglecting sleeper passengers" might simply mean passengers making their own beds. If they're 80 years old and in wheel chairs, maybe not. But that's not a large enough segment of the population to sustain Amtrak anyway. I'm still trying to figure out what a "coach attendant" does . . . are the conductors/assistant conductors not doing their jobs?
I know some of my ideas/comments are not going to be popular around here. I understand why. The problem is this: We are all living in a Southwest Airlines world. It's not my choice. I think I was born a century too late, and I yearn for a time when "getting there cheap" wasn't the ultimate goal. Amtrak has to realize they are not competing for the "Twentieth Century Limited's" passengers. They're competing for the family sweltering in a station wagon in nightmare traffic, or the vacationer sitting in confusion at a Southwest Terminal whose flight's been cancelled due to "low demand." I guarantee you, a superliner coach with legrest and footrest, plus "diner-lite" would seem like paradise to them. A sleeper, even if they have to make their own beds, would simply seem too good to be true. These travelers could care less about home-cooked meals, mints on the pillows, and the "attendant" button. They DO care about trains running four hours late (much less 24 hours late), or cancelled trains due to equipment shortages, or prices that are more than a 3-hour flight. That's where the resources ought to go. If we truly can't solve those problems, than why are we wasting our time? The rail enthusiasts could be riding steam choo-choos, and the Amtrak employees could be working at far more secure jobs and lowering their blood pressure.
I'll attend the next NARP meeting, re-iterate to my reps that I support a national rail network (though they're already in favor of it), and continue booking trips on a network that may or may not exist when trip time comes around. There's not much more I can do.
Keep supporting rail, but TRY to be flexible.
Best Regards,
JPS