Thoughts on WiFi for Long-Distance Trains

[rickycourtney]

Wow. It reminds me of the "Red" system on Virgin America. I had so much fun with that during our trip, I was amazed when our 4.5-hour flight was almost over. The time passed by so quickly.

I've used the "Red" system as well and this was very similar. The major difference was that with BLUE you bring your own screen (laptop, tablet, smartphone.)
Right now all the content on BLUE is free, but I think that in the future Greyhound has the option to charge passengers a fee to watch a movie (like the Virgin America does.) But it doesn't sound like they plan to do that anytime soon.

 

[afigg]

Amtrak has referenced implementing onboard Wi-Fi servers with features similar to the Greyhound/Boltbus Blue in earlier financial plans as a possible revenue source. An obvious issue with deploying such a system to the LD trains is the upfront cost of installing Wi-Fi in all the Amfleet II, Viewliner I and Superliner cars (625 cars total). Then there is the cost of a server hub and keeping it up to date (which would probably be done by a contractor). Amtrak may be waiting for other operators to deploy similar systems first so Amtrak can start with a more mature platform system.

The FY14 Budget and FY14-FY18 5 Year Financial Plan has this to say about Wi-Fi plans in the Capital Program descriptions:

Wi-Fi Program Expansion
This project builds on that success of Wi-Fi in the NEC by extending the installation of Wi-Fi networks to the remaining trains system-wide, beginning with the long-distance fleets. In addition to providing Internet access, the network will serve as a platform for other passenger services (e.g. movies, news, and games) and business services (e.g., on board system communications with Amtrak’s corporate network).

The question is how much revenue is there to actually make from charging a fee to watch stored onboard movies?. Easy to download movies and store them on the laptop or tablets with a lot of adequate storage capacity before setting out on the trip.

 

[neroden]

Wi-Fi Program Expansion

This project builds on that success of Wi-Fi in the NEC by extending the installation of Wi-Fi networks to the remaining trains system-wide, beginning with the long-distance fleets. In addition to providing Internet access, the network will serve as a platform for other passenger services (e.g. movies, news, and games) and business services (e.g., on board system communications with Amtrak’s corporate network).

I don't think this will raise any direct revenue. Obviously, it will raise ridership as more people buy tickets when free WiFi is available, but the idea of selling particular services, not going to work.

But redundant WiFi-based access to Amtrak's corporate network... could be quite useful.

 

[The Journalist]

Wow, that BLUE system looks genuinely impressive, as long as it works as advertised. That's the sort of thing that would work great on Amtrak. How many buses is Greyhound installing this on?

 

[rickycourtney]

Amtrak has referenced implementing onboard Wi-Fi servers with features similar to the Greyhound/Boltbus Blue in earlier financial plans as a possible revenue source. An obvious issue with deploying such a system to the LD trains is the upfront cost of installing Wi-Fi in all the Amfleet II, Viewliner I and Superliner cars (625 cars total). Then there is the cost of a server hub and keeping it up to date (which would probably be done by a contractor). Amtrak may be waiting for other operators to deploy similar systems first so Amtrak can start with a more mature platform system.

The FY14 Budget and FY14-FY18 5 Year Financial Plan has this to say about Wi-Fi plans in the Capital Program descriptions:

Wi-Fi Program Expansion

This project builds on that success of Wi-Fi in the NEC by extending the installation of Wi-Fi networks to the remaining trains system-wide, beginning with the long-distance fleets. In addition to providing Internet access, the network will serve as a platform for other passenger services (e.g. movies, news, and games) and business services (e.g., on board system communications with Amtrak’s corporate network).

The question is how much revenue is there to actually make from charging a fee to watch stored onboard movies?. Easy to download movies and store them on the laptop or tablets with a lot of adequate storage capacity before setting out on the trip.

I'm thrilled to hear that Amtrak is considering a WiFi system with an offline media server.

While it's a big job to install WiFi fleet wide the benefit Amtrak has is that you only need 1 server per trainset (probably in the lounge or dining car) and the other cars just get antenna repeaters.

Lufthansa (the German air company) developed this system for Greyhound. I believe Greyhound pays Lufthansa a fee and they take care of negotiating with the movie studios/record labels for the content and they manage the delivery of the content to the buses. These entertainment systems are nothing new in the airline industry and I would imagine it wouldn't be terribly hard for Amtrak to find a competent contractor.

As to the pricing... if it was done right, I would pay for it on a long-distance train. I would imagine that it would work better on long-distance trains to offer a day pass situation where you could buy unlimited access for 24-72 hours.

Wow, that BLUE system looks genuinely impressive, as long as it works as advertised. That's the sort of thing that would work great on Amtrak. How many buses is Greyhound installing this on?

As I mentioned, the BLUE system is in a sort-of a beta testing phase right now.It's only available on the BoltBus routes in the Pacific Northwest (Vancouver - Seattle - Portland) and on the Greyhound Express Dallas-Houston route.

Presumably if this beta test is successful the BLUE system will be rolled out systemwide.