# More Good News for Amtrak



## dlagrua (Apr 10, 2010)

I predicted this a while back. The airlines are using every devious method possible of legally extracting every last penny from their customers.

Coming off last weeks news about Spirit Airlines now charging $45 for carrry on bag we now have the latest in a scheme to charge passengers for the use of the public toilet.

See article here:

*http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/ite...p;ak=86948.blog*

It it any wonder that more people are flocking to the rails. If it keep going like this rail travel will again be a major transportation mode for travel passengers.


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## greatcats (Apr 10, 2010)

Are you sure this isn't a late April Fool's joke? If not, please remind me not to patronize Ryan Air, as I will be their most troublesome customer.


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## PRR 60 (Apr 10, 2010)

dlagrua said:


> ...Coming off last weeks news about Spirit Airlines now charging $45 for carrry on bag


Starts August 1.


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## hippyman (Apr 10, 2010)

PRR 60 said:


> dlagrua said:
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> 
> > ...Coming off last weeks news about Spirit Airlines now charging $45 for carrry on bag
> ...



You have got to be kidding me, charging people to use the bathrooms?  Isnt there some kind of human rights law against that? :angry: Oh well, more points for Amtrak!!! :lol:


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## PRR 60 (Apr 10, 2010)

hippyman said:


> PRR 60 said:
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> 
> > dlagrua said:
> ...


I don't think there are too many potential regular Amtrak customers in Ireland.

By the way, charging for bathroom access is pretty common in Europe. Many train stations do that.


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## saxman (Apr 10, 2010)

Ryan Air announced this idea awhile. They are an ultra low fare airline and charges for just about everything, including checking in. They decorate the inside of the planes with ads.

And many public bathrooms in Europe charge a nominal fee. Stick a coin in the slot and the door opens.


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## JayPea (Apr 10, 2010)

There used to be pay toilets here in the US too. I know the Spokane airport had them; they didn't quite create the revenue anticipated though because one person would pay and then hold the door for the next person in line. And so on. So there might be several, uh, uses of the facility on only one dime.


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## jis (Apr 10, 2010)

PRR 60 said:


> hippyman said:
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> > PRR 60 said:
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Theoretically it could be a gain for _Iarnród Éireann_. But since IE does not run trains to London or the Continent, which is where Ryanair flies to, it is not at all clear that it is anyone's gain other than perhaps certain other airlines if that. But then again none of those other airlines would sell you a ticket to the continent for a face price of 1E, and of course perhaps a 100 Euros worth of various taxes and fees tacked on either  .

And yes, actually all London main train stations charge a 20p fee to use a toilet at any of those stations. It is more to keep the riff raff out of the toilets and keep them clean. On an average London station toilets are indeed cleaner than any in say New York Penn Station, except of course those few that have those frickin' pissing walls. But then again that is a different weird British thing.

Last time I read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, I did not see any mention of a right to pee without paying :lol: , but as a practical matter as long as one is not caught at it, I think one can discharge almost anywhere. :blink:


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## Bill Haithcoat (Apr 11, 2010)

JayPea said:


> There used to be pay toilets here in the US too. I know the Spokane airport had them; they didn't quite create the revenue anticipated though because one person would pay and then hold the door for the next person in line. And so on. So there might be several, uh, uses of the facility on only one dime.


I vouch for Jay Pea's memory of pay toilets. They were everywhere, bus and train stations, airports included. I do not recall the abuse of the system Jay mentions, though.

Instead, I THINk I remember that there was usually 3 or 4 pay stalls and one that was free. My question, what was the free one for? Was it for really quick emergencies? Was it for people without change? Did they trust people to be honest? Was it for the handicapped? Not likely since there were few if any helps for the handicapped years ago.

Or am I crazy and just remembering it wrong?


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## Bob Dylan (Apr 11, 2010)

Bill Haithcoat said:


> JayPea said:
> 
> 
> > There used to be pay toilets here in the US too. I know the Spokane airport had them; they didn't quite create the revenue anticipated though because one person would pay and then hold the door for the next person in line. And so on. So there might be several, uh, uses of the facility on only one dime.
> ...


Your memory is fine Bill! I used to fly alot and I remember the pay toliets in the airports, also Greyhound had them in some stations! In the case of the "Free"stalls(s), there were local ordinances about providing "free" toliets as back in the day there werent federal laws about access for handicaped/disadvantaged etc. I do remember on a few occassions guys holding the door for people waiting in line and one of my favorite panhandling stories was guys asking for change to use the loo! :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## gswager (Apr 12, 2010)

I remembered when I was little, I was in a school tour at Pomona station. When we came into the bathroom for a relief, we was dumbfold about paying a coin to gain an access to the bathroom stall. We were smart enough by crawling under the stall doors and happily relieved.


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## Ispolkom (Apr 14, 2010)

In Minnesota, pay toilets are banned in "public places, *public conveyances,* or public buildings." Looking up the history of the statute, between 1975 and 2001 it read that there had to be an equal number of free toilets to pay ones, kept to the same level of cleanliness.

I remember when I was a kid my brother and I would crawl under the doors of the pay toilets in the Denver airport and stuff toilet paper in the latch so that the next person could use it for free. Seven years old and already stickin' it to the Man! Fortunately, we didn't mention this fighting for freedom to our mother.


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## PRR 60 (Apr 15, 2010)

In the PRR days, the rest rooms in most larger station had a combination of mostly pay toilets and a couple of free ones. The typical condition of the free ones was such that the 5 cents (or whatever it was) for the pay toilets seemed a bargain.


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## WhoozOn1st (May 11, 2010)

Spirit Airlines places ads, not coin locks, on lavatories

"Spirit executives say the money brought in by posting ads for Fresh & Go travel toothbrushes on the lavatory mirrors helps subsidize the cost of the flights.

"But airline executives repeated previous vows never to charge passengers to use the onboard bathrooms."

Inlcudes a link to an item about Spirit installing "pre-reclined," nonadjustable seats.


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## had8ley (May 13, 2010)

WhoozOn1st said:


> Spirit Airlines places ads, not coin locks, on lavatories
> "Spirit executives say the money brought in by posting ads for Fresh & Go travel toothbrushes on the lavatory mirrors helps subsidize the cost of the flights.
> 
> "But airline executives repeated previous vows never to charge passengers to use the onboard bathrooms."
> ...


Ryan Air, a European low fare carrier, has full intentions of ordering new planes for 189 pax with just one toilet at a cost of one euro per flush. "We can add six more seats if we eliminate two of the three toilets" an airline spokesman said.


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## Green Maned Lion (May 13, 2010)

That's easy. I'd just use it and let someone else flush it. They have to be pricing it using a different mechanism than that.

I wouldn't actually do that... but we all know people would if that was the system.


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## GG-1 (May 13, 2010)

had8ley said:


> Ryan Air, a European low fare carrier, has full intentions of ordering new planes for 189 pax with just one toilet at a cost of one euro per flush.


Aloha

Has the euro declined that much in value?   :unsure: :unsure: :lol: :lol:


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## the_traveler (May 14, 2010)

GG-1 said:


> had8ley said:
> 
> 
> > Ryan Air, a European low fare carrier, has full intentions of ordering new planes for 189 pax with just one toilet at a cost of one euro per flush.
> ...


It went in the toilet!

:lol: :lol: :lol:


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## amtrakwolverine (May 14, 2010)

it pays to flush


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