Uh-oh looks like Amtrak has competition in Florida

[MARC Rider]

I discovered the following service that should give fans of train service pause:

http://www.redcoachusa.com/

These guys run first-class motorcoach service between various points in Florida. The service includes buses with 27 seat capacity (vs. ~50 in usual intercity coaches), 2X1 seating, free wi-fi, etc.

I priced a journey for tomorrow from Orlando to Miami. They have two departures, with 4.5 hour scheduled time and a fare of $45. Amtrak offers a 5.75 hour ride on the Meteor and a 7.5 hour ride on the Star and a fare of $53.

At that, I rode the Silver Star last week and was amazed at the number of passengers riding intrastate in Florida. The crowd looking to board at Tampa for Miami and intermediate points looked like what you see on the NEC. Even though I prefer to ride trains, with faster cheaper first-class bus service, I'm not sure... Certainly opponents of passenger rail could easily say that people who don't like to fly could be well serviced by quality motorcoach services, with first class coaches for those who want the extra room. I had heard such services were widely available in Mexico, but this is the first time I've heard of them in this country. Is this the future of intercity ground transportation? What can Amtrak do to meet this challenge?

 

[Railroad Bill]

For the $8 difference in price, I will take an Amtrak train any day against a bus ride. With my long legs I like to stretch out, walk around and have a lot more privacy than a bus :giggle:

 

[pennyk]

For the $8 difference in price, I will take an Amtrak train any day against a bus ride. With my long legs I like to stretch out, walk around and have a lot more privacy than a bus :giggle:

Ditto - except that i have short legs.

 

[saxman]

They have compitition from buses pretty much on most of the routes they run. I don't know if that luxury bus along the NEC still operates, but I don't think people are running to it if it is. I'm sure it's a nice ride though, but it's still a bus that gets caught in I-95 traffic.

 

[WhoozOn1st]

it's still a bus that gets caught in I-95 traffic.

Exactly. And as such it's backdoor bus bullshirt that has no business in this forum.

 

[Ispolkom]

it's still a bus that gets caught in I-95 traffic.

Exactly. And as such it's backdoor bus bullshirt that has no business in this forum.

Well, I wouldn't be so harsh, but this is probably better in the "Non-Rail" section.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

I thought there was a luxury bus service from Atlanta to Miami. Does that still operate?

Wonder what would happen if somebody started CHI to MIA luxury buses? Amtrak service gap.

 

[jphjaxfl]

I refuse to ride a bus for more than a hour trip, but there are no limits on the time I will spend on a train.

 

[jis]

I thought there was a luxury bus service from Atlanta to Miami. Does that still operate?

Wonder what would happen if somebody started CHI to MIA luxury buses? Amtrak service gap.

Nothing special will happen. Most reasonable will still continue to fly on that route.

 

[the_traveler]

it's still a bus that gets caught in I-95 traffic.

Exactly. And as such it's backdoor bus bullshirt that has no business in this forum.

Well, I wouldn't be so harsh, but this is probably better in the "Non-Rail" section.

I agree, and am going to move it there, as it is not about Amtrak directly.

 

[Oldsmoboi]

Amtrak has competition in Pennsylvania too with Megabus, Greyhound, and US Air, but they are still packing them into the Pennsylvanian pretty well despite the limited timings.

 

[jis]

Megabus has 25 services each day from New York to Washington DC with a 4:30 running time priced from $15 to $24. That appears to have relatively little impact on Amtrak with 24+ service each day, with lowest Regional fare at $49 ($102 BC AAA discount), and the lowest Acela fare $145 and highest at several hundred dollars (over $300 in FC), with Acela running time at around 2:45 and Regional at around 3:20.

Oddly enough, there are also over 50 flights from the NYC airports to WAS airports per day, many of them sub 100 seaters, with fares ranging from $60 to $477! And as we know they carry a rather small proportion of the air-rail ridership, but they still do exist and seem to thrive.

Looks like there is room for each and the travel market in that segment is still pretty saturated.

 

[Oldsmoboi]

I've been on a regional, a crescent, and 2 Acelas in the past week running up and down the NEC. Each one was PACKED.

 

[Anderson]

I discovered the following service that should give fans of train service pause:

http://www.redcoachusa.com/

These guys run first-class motorcoach service between various points in Florida. The service includes buses with 27 seat capacity (vs. ~50 in usual intercity coaches), 2X1 seating, free wi-fi, etc.

I priced a journey for tomorrow from Orlando to Miami. They have two departures, with 4.5 hour scheduled time and a fare of $45. Amtrak offers a 5.75 hour ride on the Meteor and a 7.5 hour ride on the Star and a fare of $53.

At that, I rode the Silver Star last week and was amazed at the number of passengers riding intrastate in Florida. The crowd looking to board at Tampa for Miami and intermediate points looked like what you see on the NEC. Even though I prefer to ride trains, with faster cheaper first-class bus service, I'm not sure... Certainly opponents of passenger rail could easily say that people who don't like to fly could be well serviced by quality motorcoach services, with first class coaches for those who want the extra room. I had heard such services were widely available in Mexico, but this is the first time I've heard of them in this country. Is this the future of intercity ground transportation? What can Amtrak do to meet this challenge?

So, let's see...I can ride a bus from ORL to MIA and bring a cold sandwich and a soda if the bus is on time and be hungry if we get stuck in traffic, or I can take the train and have a full-service lunch if the train is on time, and dinner if things run slow and we're late. This is not a hard question.

The Star is slow because of the Tampa side-trip. The Meteor's timing, while not perfect, is still decent...and remember, there's padding at the back end of the schedule such that an "on time" train will likely be a little early getting in.

As to the NYC-WAS airline flights...a lot of those are "feeders" to either different transcontinental flights or to international flights. Not all of the airlines offer international flights to/from every major airport in the region.

 

[jis]

As to the NYC-WAS airline flights...a lot of those are "feeders" to either different transcontinental flights or to international flights. Not all of the airlines offer international flights to/from every major airport in the region.

You really think La Guardia to Reagan National flight are international or transcontinental connecting flights? Those are the ones that appear to command the higher fares. Yes there are many others that are connecting flights, but not those. They are primarily O/D.

 

[Anderson]

As to the NYC-WAS airline flights...a lot of those are "feeders" to either different transcontinental flights or to international flights. Not all of the airlines offer international flights to/from every major airport in the region.

You really think La Guardia to Reagan National flight are international or transcontinental connecting flights? Those are the ones that appear to command the higher fares. Yes there are many others that are connecting flights, but not those. They are primarily O/D.

I said a lot of them (to be fair, I was thinking JFK/Newark-Dulles/BWI, not LaGuardia-National). LaGuardia-Reagan National is probably commanding a higher fare because if it wasn't for the fare, those planes wouldn't run.

 

[GG-1]

For the $8 difference in price, I will take an Amtrak train any day against a bus ride. With my long legs I like to stretch out, walk around and have a lot more privacy than a bus :giggle:

Ditto - except that i have short legs.

And Boots to. :lol:

Aloha

 

[the_traveler]

For the $8 difference in price, I will take an Amtrak train any day against a bus ride. With my long legs I like to stretch out, walk around and have a lot more privacy than a bus :giggle:

Ditto - except that i have short legs.

And Boots to. :lol:

Aloha

Not to mention the 7 layers of clothes worn on "cold" days in the 50's!

(In much of the country, that's short sleeve weather!

)