Auto Train Cuts

[SarahZ]

My mother cannot sit in a car for longer than 20-30 minutes due to pain issues. Therefore, stopping often and for long periods of time wouldn't work for her. That's why I used her as an example.

Additionally, there are times when driving and stopping at hotels along the way may exceed the cost of the AT (particularly if one is using points to book it).

I agree that someone terrified of flying could take one of the Silvers. I got this thread mixed up with one of the other amenity threads and didn't realize it was about the AT.

 

[Allypet]

My mother cannot sit in a car for longer than 20-30 minutes due to pain issues. Therefore, stopping often and for long periods of time wouldn't work for her. That's why I used her as an example.

Additionally, there are times when driving and stopping at hotels along the way may exceed the cost of the AT (particularly if one is using points to book it).

I agree that someone terrified of flying could take one of the Silvers. I got this thread mixed up with one of the other amenity threads and didn't realize it was about the AT.

Sarah, you didn't mix anything up. This is the newspaper thread that somehow turned into the AT cut thread. :unsure:

I really don't care one way of the other about the newspaper, I thought USA Today was a rag and really wont miss it. With that said, don't be surprised if USA Today doesn't give the newspapers to Amtrak free to keep their circulation numbers up so they can charge advertisers more.

 

[jis]

As I said all along, we'll see what effect it has. Until we have real world data it is all somewhat emotion driven speculation IMHO, post justified by selected pieces of supporting arguments. But then any discussion about future is such and they are always fun to have.

Frankly the changes in Auto-Train will have no effect at all in my use of it. I have used it several times a year and will continue to do so with no change whatsoever. I neither expect nor ride the Auto Train to get a superb experience about anything. I use it because it is convenient and serves my purpose.

 

[SarahZ]

My mother cannot sit in a car for longer than 20-30 minutes due to pain issues. Therefore, stopping often and for long periods of time wouldn't work for her. That's why I used her as an example.

Additionally, there are times when driving and stopping at hotels along the way may exceed the cost of the AT (particularly if one is using points to book it).

I agree that someone terrified of flying could take one of the Silvers. I got this thread mixed up with one of the other amenity threads and didn't realize it was about the AT.

Sarah, you didn't mix anything up. This is the newspaper thread that somehow turned into the AT cut thread. :unsure:

I really don't care one way of the other about the newspaper, I thought USA Today was a rag and really wont miss it. With that said, don't be surprised if USA Today doesn't give the newspapers to Amtrak free to keep their circulation numbers up so they can charge advertisers more.

Ha. Told you I couldn't keep them all straight.

 

[yarrow]

Auto Train lost a lounge car, and the dining car staff is being told to shove people out faster than they can eat.

I don't think this has happened on other trains.

not yet.

thanks for the suggestions of who to write to. maybe smilin' joe can live without his private cars to cut costs. probably not

 

[neroden]

Frankly the changes in Auto-Train will have no effect at all in my use of it. I have used it several times a year and will continue to do so with no change whatsoever.

Just you wait 'till your next trip. If reports are accurate about extremely long delays to eat, you may change your mind and take the Silver Service instead the time after.

 

[jis]

I doubt it. You have no idea how tolerant I am of such. Until Silver Service starts taking my car along, I will not use Silver Service instead of Auto Train. I'd simply fly if I did not have a whole pile of stuff to carry along and have to rent a car at the other end. Why waste a day traveling when I can do it in 2.5 hours? Unlike some folks here I actually love to fly, remember?

 

[The Torch]

I believe that the initial negative impact on ridership will be felt on the Autotrain but not until after the next snowbird season. The regular snowbird riders ( the seniors) on this route are not going to take kindly to paying higher and higher prices, receiving fewer amenities and dining as animals being rushed to eat an abbreviated menu...and no lounge car for sleeper passengers, your main source of revenue? I will not be taking that train late in 2014 as planned. Screw em!

 

[Palmetto]

Please, everyone who's decided to stop taking the Auto Train, write to Amtrak and explain exactly why. It's the only way they have a chance of understanding how short-sighted they've been.

Complaints should be directed to Mark Murphy, Director of Long-Distance Services, or directly to Joe Boardman; they're the ones who have the power to change things.

Amtrak is terrible about publishing internal addresses, so I suppose letters have to go directly to Amtrak headquarters: 60 Massachusetts Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002.

Here's what I wrote to Amtrak:

[SIZE=medium]I am reading in various places that services are being downgraded on long distance trains: dropping of a lounge on the Auto Train, the disappearance of wine and cheese tastings, the appearance of PLASTIC plates in dining cars [how do you call yourselves a green company?], flowers gone in the dining car? Are you really all that beholden to the likes of Sen. John Mica? Is Amtrak in existence solely at the whim of lawmakers? It seems that this is becoming the case, and you're cutting your nose off to spite your face. Has Amtrak considered the airline model? At least the offer the possibility of amenties for those wiling to pay for them! I have a $1,400 ticket in the reservation system, in sleeper class. I am seriously considering cancelling this reservation. Is this the reaction you want from customers? [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]I currently live 200 miles from the nearest Amtrak service, but will be moving in August to a city that Amtrak serves [Miami]. I am seriously thinking of flying to my destination as a result of these cutbacks in sleeper class.[/SIZE]

 

[neroden]

Yeah, I already mentioned that most people on the Auto Train take once-a-year trips, and most of them don't hang out on forums like this -- so the drop in revenue and ridership will largely be noticed after a year's delay, when they take a bad trip and decide not to go next year. Sigh.

 

[Just-Thinking-51]

Mica is in the House not the Senate.

 

[rusty spike]

Yeah, I already mentioned that most people on the Auto Train take once-a-year trips, and most of them don't hang out on forums like this -- so the drop in revenue and ridership will largely be noticed after a year's delay, when they take a bad trip and decide not to go next year. Sigh.

You may be right unless enough early arriving snowbirds tell their friends and relatives still up North what an awful experience they had on the Auto Train this time. Some of these folks don't use this forum but they have their own "grapevine" of information.

You know the old saying about your customers: "Make a customer happy and he may tell a friend or two; make him really angry and he'll tell 10 to 20 people". You might see significant number of reservations cancelled (or not made) before the winter season is over.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

Oi gevaldt,

 

[Anderson]

(Mod note: The big influx of posts here is due to the newspaper-specific thread getting cleaned up and the posts moved in here. I don't think it should be too confusing, but that's the source of any disconnect in the conversations over the last day or so.)

 

[Palmetto]

Mica is in the House not the Senate.

And thanks for pointing that out. When I wrote what I did, I was a bit annoyed at the whole downgrade-of-services situation. Not a good thing to write anything when one is hot under the collar!

 

[Paulus]

The Auto Train was significantly ahead of ticket revenue Budget (+21%) due in part to the addition of a coach car in March. As a result, April coach ridership on the Auto Train was +26% vs last April, and Auto Train coach ticket revenues were nearly 50% higher than last year (the Auto Train is the only long distance route YTD that is ahead of ticket revenue Budget).

April Monthly Performance Report

Sleeper ridership was up 8.9%, revenue up 18.4%

Amtrak accounting's response to thoughts of reversing that decision

 

[Ryan]

Lets see what it looks like next April. Most of the people that bought those tickets did so before the service reductions.

 

[neroden]

Lets see what it looks like next April. Most of the people that bought those tickets did so before the service reductions.

Exactly what I said, in advance.

With this particular sort of downgrade (actually most sorts), there's a serious lag time between the downgrade and the revenue drop.

You see the same phenomenon with OTP drops, though with a shorter lag time -- when OTP crashes on a commuter or urban rail line, the numbers for the month where it crashed are still pretty good, it's the next month where you see the drop in ridership.

When the Southern Pacific decided to install Automat cars instead of dining cars, I'm going to bet that the ridership and revenue looked better for a brief period too, not that I know how to look that up.

The really unfortunate part is that there's also a lag time between quality improvements and the return of ridership and revenue. So when OTP gets better, the riders don't come back for a year or so. The same is true of reversing the idiotic and destructive amenities cuts, though riders come back quicker for stuff like that; even if the cuts are reversed next week, the damage is going to last for a while.

One would hope that the analysts at Amtrak would understand these lag times when they do their analyses, but I worry that they don't.

 

[Paulus]

Auto Train revenue April 2013: $6,316,157 of which

sleeper: $2,510,286

coach: $3,805,871

Auto Train revenue April 2014: $8,015,290 of which

sleeper: $2,972,011

coach: $5,043,279

In order to have a drop in revenue relative to FY13, you need a 57% drop in sleeper revenue. I'm really doubtful we'll see that.

 

[neroden]

Like I say, and like I said as soon as the cuts were announced, the results won't be clear until 2015. Maybe it will work out fine for Amtrak -- the underlying trend in favor of rail service is so astoundingly positive that people flock even to terrible services. Or maybe it won't. But either way, we won't know for sure until next year.

 

[Ryan]

In order to have a drop in revenue relative to FY13, you need a 57% drop in sleeper revenue. I'm really doubtful we'll see that.

I'm not sure what you're talking about there. An overall decrease in revenue of 22% will put revenue below 2013.

If you're just talking about sleeper revenue, a decrease of 16% will put you under 2013 sleeper revenue.

Is that the criteria for success/failure is? If revenues only decrease 10% this will be a "success"?

 

[Paulus]

In order to have a drop in revenue relative to FY13, you need a 57% drop in sleeper revenue. I'm really doubtful we'll see that.

I'm not sure what you're talking about there. An overall decrease in revenue of 22% will put revenue below 2013.

If you're just talking about sleeper revenue, a decrease of 16% will put you under 2013 sleeper revenue.

Is that the criteria for success/failure is? If revenues only decrease 10% this will be a "success"?

The criteria for failure is a net overall loss in revenue. If sleeper revenue goes down, but there is a greater increase in coach revenue, such that net revenue increases, the change is a success. Since the potential negative impact from the changes is just on the sleepers, they are where I expect any ridership loss to take place.

 

[Ryan]

So the 57% comes from holding coach revenue the same and driving sleeper revenue down until you're lower than 2013? You're right, that is utterly ridiculous.

Time will tell... I'm not jumping to any conclusions until the data comes in.

 

[FormerOBS]

New order of equipment on Auto Train:

From North to South:

Transition sleeper (Crew dorm)

52/5345 standard Superliner sleeper

52/5344 " " "

52/5343 " " "

52/5342 " " "

52/5341 10-bedroom all-deluxe Superliner sleeper

52/5340 " " " " " "

Diner (sleeping car passengers only)

Lounge (all passengers)

52/5310 Superliner coach

52/5311 " "

52/5312 " "

52/5313 " "

52/5314 " "

Diner (coach passengers only)

Diner (coach passengers only, overflow)

Beginning very soon, a seventh sleeper (presumably 52/5346) will be added to the consist for one trip per week, on a trial basis. This is expected to be for a period of about a month. This may necessitate removal of the recently added extra coach on these days. The sleeper diner was repositioned so that lounge car seats & tables can be used for overflow seating for the sleeper diner. If the sleeper diner were left in the middle of the sleeper section, the lounge car seating would not be adjacent to the diner. As of yesterday, the O.B.S. crews have not been told whether an extra waiter will be assigned to work these extra tables. The earlier announcement from management indicated that extra help would not be provided in any case, but it is possible that this has changed. The question of using the train's one already-crowded lounge car for dining car seating has not been addressed as far as I know, but it is possible that this is being looked into as well.

Butcher paper is no longer being used as table cloths. This was a short-lived, unsuccessful plan. A different kind of paper tablecloth is sometimes being provided, but not on a truly consistent basis. Cloth tablecloths are used when paper tablecloths are not available.

 

[Allypet]

Some sleeper car passenger have a 6 car walk to dinner or 7 cars to the lounge? That will work. Right! What are they thinking?