broken ticket scanner

[Bob Dylan]

There are no Amtrak ticket agents in Bridgeport. As far as Amtrak is concerned, that is an unstaffed station. It only offers the Quik-Trak option.

I thought one could board a train with only a reservation number, when boarding at an unstaffed station, no? While I had a ticket, I remember others doing just that at WRJ.

Probably only if there is no ticket machine in the station, though.

In my experience when I lived in San Marcos,Texas(SMC),the conductors on the TE would allow pax to board and ride to

SAS or AUS with a reservation number/confirmation and get their tickets from the agents or Quik-Trak machine

once the train arrived there!SMC is unmanned,has no Quick-Trak!(of course there are only 2 trains a day there

so none is really needed with AUS and SAS so close!) Never a problem to my knowledge!

 

[wayman]

There are no Amtrak ticket agents in Bridgeport. As far as Amtrak is concerned, that is an unstaffed station. It only offers the Quik-Trak option.

I thought one could board a train with only a reservation number, when boarding at an unstaffed station, no? While I had a ticket, I remember others doing just that at WRJ.

Probably only if there is no ticket machine in the station, though.

I think I've seen this happen at Ardmore on New York-bound Keystones. Access to the QuikTrak ends at either 5pm or 6pm (it's been a while, I forget which, but SEPTA locks the station at that point and the QuikTrak is inside). So passengers with reservations might show up legitimately thinking they could print their ticket at the station (having not realized the QuikTrak had limited hours). On a few occasions I've overheard a boarding passenger on an evening train tell the conductor they had a reservation, and the conductor calls in the six-digit number, confirms the reservation, and writes the passenger some sort of ticket receipt.

But the circumstances surrounding such transactions may have been quite different than the circumstances surrounding the transaction prompting this thread. It's possible the conductor will only do this for passengers boarding after Ardmore station has closed. Since the passenger in this thread clearly had access to the QuikTrak machine(s), the circumstances already don't quite match the situation I've seen at Ardmore. If any other boarding passengers had no problem with those machines, for instance, the conductor might have been disinclined (or not allowed by Amtrak policy) to accept the reservation number. We really can't tell, not knowing the whole story.

 

[AlanB]

There are no Amtrak ticket agents in Bridgeport. As far as Amtrak is concerned, that is an unstaffed station. It only offers the Quik-Trak option.

I thought one could board a train with only a reservation number, when boarding at an unstaffed station, no? While I had a ticket, I remember others doing just that at WRJ.

Not on the NEC. Since 9/11 conductors are not allowed to cut tickets on trains running on the NEC. All passengers must have a valid ticket before boarding, no matter what. That's why Bridgeport has Quik-Trak machines, as that is the only way to get a valid ticket, in theory.

 

[PRR 60]

Not on the NEC. Since 9/11 conductors are not allowed to cut tickets on trains running on the NEC. All passengers must have a valid ticket before boarding, no matter what. That's why Bridgeport has Quik-Trak machines, as that is the only way to get a valid ticket, in theory.

That poses the obvious question: what happens if the Quik-Trak(s) are down at a station like Bridgeport with no agent (I actually thought BRP had an agent - my bad)? Since this is the NEC, riders quite often reserve less than a day or two prior to departure. Amtrak permits last minute sales for departure from stations with only Quik-Trak ticketing capability, thus presuming the ability to print tickets at the station. If the Quik-Traks are down and there is no way to print tickets at an unattended station, are holders of pre-paid reservations then denied travel? One would think that Amtrak would have a work-around to handle that sort of issue.

I'm not saying that's what happened here, but it could (and probably has).

 

[printman2000]

Not on the NEC. Since 9/11 conductors are not allowed to cut tickets on trains running on the NEC. All passengers must have a valid ticket before boarding, no matter what. That's why Bridgeport has Quik-Trak machines, as that is the only way to get a valid ticket, in theory.

That poses the obvious question: what happens if the Quik-Trak(s) are down at a station like Bridgeport with no agent (I actually thought BRP had an agent - my bad)? Since this is the NEC, riders quite often reserve less than a day or two prior to departure. Amtrak permits last minute sales for departure from stations with only Quik-Trak ticketing capability, thus presuming the ability to print tickets at the station. If the Quik-Traks are down and there is no way to print tickets at an unattended station, are holders of pre-paid reservations then denied travel? One would think that Amtrak would have a work-around to handle that sort of issue.

I'm not saying that's what happened here, but it could (and probably has).

I would have thought the conductor would allow someone on with a printout then either call ahead to the next manned station to have the tickets printed OR would have the passenger step off to get them at the next manned station.

 

[ALC Rail Writer]

Not on the NEC. Since 9/11 conductors are not allowed to cut tickets on trains running on the NEC. All passengers must have a valid ticket before boarding, no matter what. That's why Bridgeport has Quik-Trak machines, as that is the only way to get a valid ticket, in theory.

That poses the obvious question: what happens if the Quik-Trak(s) are down at a station like Bridgeport with no agent (I actually thought BRP had an agent - my bad)? Since this is the NEC, riders quite often reserve less than a day or two prior to departure. Amtrak permits last minute sales for departure from stations with only Quik-Trak ticketing capability, thus presuming the ability to print tickets at the station. If the Quik-Traks are down and there is no way to print tickets at an unattended station, are holders of pre-paid reservations then denied travel? One would think that Amtrak would have a work-around to handle that sort of issue.

I'm not saying that's what happened here, but it could (and probably has).

I would have thought the conductor would allow someone on with a printout then either call ahead to the next manned station to have the tickets printed OR would have the passenger step off to get them at the next manned station.

On the NEC you might only have a few minutes to detrain and embark all the new pax-- much less allow one to run down to a ticket agent and get a ticket printed.

 

[printman2000]

Not on the NEC. Since 9/11 conductors are not allowed to cut tickets on trains running on the NEC. All passengers must have a valid ticket before boarding, no matter what. That's why Bridgeport has Quik-Trak machines, as that is the only way to get a valid ticket, in theory.

That poses the obvious question: what happens if the Quik-Trak(s) are down at a station like Bridgeport with no agent (I actually thought BRP had an agent - my bad)? Since this is the NEC, riders quite often reserve less than a day or two prior to departure. Amtrak permits last minute sales for departure from stations with only Quik-Trak ticketing capability, thus presuming the ability to print tickets at the station. If the Quik-Traks are down and there is no way to print tickets at an unattended station, are holders of pre-paid reservations then denied travel? One would think that Amtrak would have a work-around to handle that sort of issue.

I'm not saying that's what happened here, but it could (and probably has).

I would have thought the conductor would allow someone on with a printout then either call ahead to the next manned station to have the tickets printed OR would have the passenger step off to get them at the next manned station.

On the NEC you might only have a few minutes to detrain and embark all the new pax-- much less allow one to run down to a ticket agent and get a ticket printed.

I realize that. The first option would probably work, though more effort for the conductor.

So what then are they to do?

 

[AlanB]

Not on the NEC. Since 9/11 conductors are not allowed to cut tickets on trains running on the NEC. All passengers must have a valid ticket before boarding, no matter what. That's why Bridgeport has Quik-Trak machines, as that is the only way to get a valid ticket, in theory.

That poses the obvious question: what happens if the Quik-Trak(s) are down at a station like Bridgeport with no agent (I actually thought BRP had an agent - my bad)? Since this is the NEC, riders quite often reserve less than a day or two prior to departure. Amtrak permits last minute sales for departure from stations with only Quik-Trak ticketing capability, thus presuming the ability to print tickets at the station. If the Quik-Traks are down and there is no way to print tickets at an unattended station, are holders of pre-paid reservations then denied travel? One would think that Amtrak would have a work-around to handle that sort of issue.

I'm not saying that's what happened here, but it could (and probably has).

I would have thought the conductor would allow someone on with a printout then either call ahead to the next manned station to have the tickets printed OR would have the passenger step off to get them at the next manned station.

On the NEC you might only have a few minutes to detrain and embark all the new pax-- much less allow one to run down to a ticket agent and get a ticket printed.

I realize that. The first option would probably work, though more effort for the conductor.

So what then are they to do?

All good questions/observations gentlemen and I have no answers. I do agree with ALC that it would be very hard to allow a passenger to run into a station, especially on Metro North territory where this took place. I also don't believe that Amtrak has enough staffing either at Stamford to have someone run down with the ticket to hand to the conductor.

So again, I have no idea what contigency plans if any, Amtrak has for this situation. It is important to note however that Amtrak will not sell one a ticket via the online website once the clock shows less than one hour before departure. So that would give one some time to deal with the problem by phone if one doesn't wait until the last second to run to the station.

And no Bill, there is no ticket agent in Bridgeport. Or at least no Amtrak ticket agent. Probably a few Metro North agents, but they can't help.

 

[PRR 60]

...It is important to note however that Amtrak will not sell one a ticket via the online website once the clock shows less than one hour before departure. So that would give one some time to deal with the problem by phone if one doesn't wait until the last second to run to the station.

It may be a recent change due to PDA booking, but at least in the NEC the on-line booking deadline is 15 minutes prior to departure. I know I've booked on-line with less than a 30 minute cushion. Minutes ago the 8:37 Acela PHL-NYP was open. The 8:30 Regional was closed.

 

[p&sr]

Honestly, you should always have at least one credit card with a high limit that you keep in your wallet, and only use in the event you need to spend a lot of money, right now, or you are screwed. I'd honestly and truly say that is a cardinal rule of travel. By Amtrak or any other way.

Excellent advice.

 

[p&sr]

He was then forced to take a late train after I wired the money, and there was no metro connection that late at night, so I am forced to pick him up at the station when he arrives. I have recently had a heart attack and have no business out at 2 am. thanks to amtrak I have no choice.

Rather, you CHOSE to have him take that late train, knowing there would be no connection for him on arrival, rather than having him wait for a decent connection in the Morning. We ALWAYS have choices... some better than others.