Boarding/alighting from a car different from the car one is assigned to

[OBS]

Update

I was getting off my sleeping car this morning. I saw a passenger in the vestibule, so I stood at the entrance to the vestibule, a few moments before arriving (at a station with low-level platforms).

The car attendant saw me and started yelling, “Your attendant is in the other car! Get out of here and you have to get out from the other car!”

I hadn’t said anything to him, so I started recording it. I said, calmly, “May I have your name, please?” He turned away from me, but I stood there for a moment, and finally saw his name tag and he yelled again, “Yeah, you got my name!” and yelled a few other things.

So, no, apparently you not only can’t leave the train from any exit but you will get yelled at if you try to.

Even if requiring boarding and leaving from your car is a policy- if so, that’s fine- my complaint is yelling at passengers like that.

Totally not justifying his behavior, but if you have an on the ball sleeper attendant, he will know he has a certain number of people detraining at a certain station and will wonder what happened to you (and possibly delay the train reboarding to check your room looking for you).

 

[MARC Rider]

Can you imagine all the foot traffic in the narrow aisles if people got on any car they wished, hauling their luggage through several cars, dining cars, lounge cars etc just to get to the cars they THINK they belong in and asking Amtrak employees if this was their car?

Welcome to the Northeast Regional.

 

[TheCrescent]

Thanks, everyone.

Thanks to your feedback, now I can see why Amtrak would want people to board and get off from the car where they are assigned.

If this is a policy (is it?), then Amtrak ought to consider putting a note on tickets: “Please board the train at car 1234”.

If people board the wrong car, though, yelling at them and forcing them to get off by threatening them isn’t the way to handle things.

 

[jola]

Acela is 100% business and first class. Every seat is assigned. Can you imagine if every was behaving like you. It would be a chaos. Train would not leave on time because everyone decided to use the same door and then inside the train people trying to go both direction to find their seat. It is a public service. There are rules to keep everyone safe and in orderly fashion just like a public pool here in NYC. You are allowed to bring only towel and sunscreen lotion nothing else.

 

[marcoloco]

Out of curiosity, when you board an Amtrak train, why can’t you board a train through any car (in your class of service)? Why do you have to have to board only through the car for which you have a ticket?

For example, once I boarded the Acela through the car next to mine. The onboard staff pitched a fit and demanded that I get off and board through my car.

In addition, on a long-distance train with two sleeping cars, the staff will refuse to let you board through the other car, even if your room is at the end of the car and the door that you want to board through is right next to your room (through the vestibule).

I can see wanting people who don’t have assigned seats to board the car where the onboard staff will make them sit, but forcing a passenger on the Acela to get off because he boarded the car next to his?

Is this an Amtrak rule or is this just power trips by onboard staff?

Thanks.

As long as the employee in charge of the car knows who you are, it should be no problem. The employee of any particular car is responsible for who comes in and is responsible to keep out people that he or she doesn't recognize.

 

[TheCrescent]

Can you imagine if every was behaving like you.

A scene of everyone boarding in a different car isn’t happening, so pretending it is isn’t a valid argument.

On every train, there may be a few people who board a different car. That’s the issue to address.

I don’t know if same-car-only boarding is Amtrak policy or not, but I’ve done it a few times before and didn’t have a problem. Other railroads such as NJ Transit specifically allow it; conductors regularly tell people onboard to walk through the train to a different car to get a seat.

And again, my issue with this is that I was yelled at and told to get off, and then yelled at by a staff member who was not going to let me off the train, even though simply letting me walk through a door and down some steps behind another passenger could not possibly have been burdensome enough to trigger yelling and refusal to let me off. It’s Amtrak staff members’ nasty behavior that I see as the issue.

If they said, “Sir, next time could you please board the car where you have a ticket” or “Sir, sorry, if you wouldn’t mind stepping off and then boarding at car 1234”, I wouldn’t have thought twice about complying.

 

[AmtrakBlue]

Revisiting the original post. "For example, once I boarded the Acela through the car next to mine. The onboard staff pitched a fit and demanded that I get off and board through my car." Where were you exactly when this occurred? If you entered the FC from the BC car, the employee probably thought you had a BC ticket and were trying to sneak into the FC car (or that you were 'lost').

 

[TheCrescent]

Revisiting the original post. "For example, once I boarded the Acela through the car next to mine. The onboard staff pitched a fit and demanded that I get off and board through my car." Where were you exactly when this occurred? If you entered the FC from the BC car, the employee probably thought you had a BC ticket and were trying to sneak into the FC car (or that you were 'lost').

I was walking in between the business class car and the first class car and let the staff member know that I had a first class ticket.

Also, to respond to another post about employees needing to know that the right people are getting off: one time I was in a sleeping car and had a work emergency and had to get off and jump on the next train back home (which was leaving shortly).

I jumped off, wasn’t able to let the sleeping car attendant know and raced into the station to buy a return ticket, and I mentioned at the ticket counter that I had left my original train early, in case Amtrak needed to know or wanted to re-sell the room. The ticket agent looked at me and indicated that he wouldn’t or couldn’t do anything and didn’t care.

 

[Rasputin]

Acela is 100% business and first class. Every seat is assigned. Can you imagine if every was behaving like you. It would be a chaos. Train would not leave on time because everyone decided to use the same door and then inside the train people trying to go both direction to find their seat. It is a public service. There are rules to keep everyone safe and in orderly fashion just like a public pool here in NYC. You are allowed to bring only towel and sunscreen lotion nothing else.

I don't believe the OP was proposing that every passenger should just use whatever door they wish willy-nilly but whether an occasional and isolated use or attempted use of an incorrect door should warrant an over the top response by Amtrak employees.

 

[jis]

I was wondering if any of these cases of over the top behavior of an OBS were reported to Amtrak, and if so whatever, if anything, came of it. And if not, then why bother going on and on here, since this won't fix anything. Admittedly, this could still have some therapeutic value I suppose.

 

[TheCrescent]

I was wondering if any of these cases of over the top behavior of an OBS were reported to Amtrak, and if so whatever, if anything, came of it. And if not, then why bother going on and on here, since this won't fix anything. Admittedly, this could still have some therapeutic value I suppose.

The Acela issue wasn’t worth reporting. Everyone needs to be given some slack in case the person is just having a bad day or something.

The most recent one, where the same sleeping car attendant yelled when I was boarding and yelled and wouldn’t have let me off when I was departing, will get reported, since that clearly isn’t just a one-time issue.

 

[Steve4031]

If the interaction that involved unnecessary yelling was recorded it should be posted on twitter and tweeted @Amtrak. A few of those incidents would cure the other employees of power trips.

That being said I try to board at my assigned car if space is reserved. And I try to follow crew instructions. Over many trips I’ve learned what to do and what not to do. But this does not excuse employee for yelling at people who don’t do what they expect them to do.

 

[Bonser]

If the interaction that involved unnecessary yelling was recorded it should be posted on twitter and tweeted @Amtrak. A few of those incidents would cure the other employees of power trips.

That being said I try to board at my assigned car if space is reserved. And I try to follow crew instructions. Over many trips I’ve learned what to do and what not to do. But this does not excuse employee for yelling at people who don’t do what they expect them to do.

I'm of the opinion that social media reportage just amps things up rather than change behavior.

 

[pennyk]

MODERATOR NOTE: It appears that the OP's question has been answered and that many of the additional comments are off topic. We are locking this thread at this time for those reasons.

Thank you for your understanding.