Why no E-ticket?

[Groundpounder]

I just bought a ticket from Boston to Atlantic City, NJ, and Amtrak is unable to provide me with an e-ticket. Any idea why? I am guessing it might be because I need a paper ticket for the ride on NJ Transit between PHL and ACY?

 

[Ryan]

That is correct.

 

[fairviewroad]

Correct, but I wonder why Amtrak couldn't provide an e-ticket for the portion on Amtrak, and a paper ticket for the NJT portion? Too potentially confusing for the passenger? To difficult to work from an internal systems standpoint?

 

[Groundpounder]

Who knows....sadly my need to go to ACY just canceled, so thank goodness for a refundable ticket, but I'm disappointed not being able to go on a work sanctioned train trip!

 

[Acela150]

For future reference don't buy a ticket to Atlantic City through Amtrak.. There are TVM's at PHL for NJT tickets.

 

[Groundpounder]

For future reference don't buy a ticket to Atlantic City through Amtrak.. There are TVM's at PHL for NJT tickets.

What is the advantage to not buying from Amtrak?

 

[PRR 60]

For future reference don't buy a ticket to Atlantic City through Amtrak.. There are TVM's at PHL for NJT tickets.

What is the advantage to not buying from Amtrak?

There are two advantages. One: you can take advantage of Amtrak e-ticketing. There are no paper tickets to print, and no chance of losing a ticket. Another: you can use Amtrak discounts such as AAA. Since NJT does not offer AAA or similar discounts, Amtrak blocks use of such discounts for the entire itinerary if one segment is NJT.

You do not need to buy an NJ Transit ticket at 30th Street. If you have a smart phone, you can use the MyTix app. That lets you buy NJ Transit tickets on-line and simply display the ticket and code on the train. I've used it, and it works great.

 

[Ryan]

That's really awesome. Hopefully other transit systems will develop such an app.

 

[CHamilton]

Trimet in Portland already has one, and the same company has a contract to develop one for VRE. The Portland app works well.

 

[Acela150]

MBTA has one. I used it once.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Alternately, by booking the AC segment from amtrak you can get a refund. NJT tickets are non refindable, and theoretically good until used.

 

[guest]

Would one possible advantage of using a paper ticket rather than an e-ticket, be that a passenger won't have to worry about having the ticket cancelled if a no-show? And could a paper ticket be used to board a station down-line without no-show cancellation worries?

 

[Ryan]

Yes.

 

[SubwayNut]

Is the NJT Throughway Train segment eligible for AGR Points?

 

[PRR 60]

Is the NJT Throughway Train segment eligible for AGR Points?

No. The NJ Transit ACY trains have Amtrak numbers in the 7800's. The 7000 series Thruway connections are not eligible for points.