Huge ridership killer in reservation system for 3x weekly service

[Anderson]

I get that less people are riding but I think having more trains allows people to spread out rather than crammed in to 1 train every 3 days. (Virus, you know.) I get that Amtrak doesn’t want to lose $ but I think safety is pretty important.

That's not even the half of it, considering that Amtrak isn't at least bumping capacity on the remaining trains.

 

[Lonestar648]

From what I see, frequency is reduced, and capacity (number of COVID revenue opportunities) has also been reduced. Traveling the other day from DAL to SAS, the 21 Coach and the 421 Coach were sold out according to the Conductor, who said the 421 Sleeper had no rooms. Amtrak dropped a 21 Coach and the 21 (Dorm) Sleeper when daily went to 3x weekly. The TE weekly reduction in capacity is over 70% with the current consist running 3x weekly.

 

[me_little_me]

From what I see, frequency is reduced, and capacity (number of COVID revenue opportunities) has also been reduced. Traveling the other day from DAL to SAS, the 21 Coach and the 421 Coach were sold out according to the Conductor, who said the 421 Sleeper had no rooms. Amtrak dropped a 21 Coach and the 21 (Dorm) Sleeper when daily went to 3x weekly. The TE weekly reduction in capacity is over 70% with the current consist running 3x weekly.

More evidence Amtrak doesn't want LD? No reason why they can't put those sleeper cars back.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

I'm sorry. I still don't understand that. What exactly is the reason?

I would say that some of the reasons are those pesky practical ones.

The stations are now geared up for the Meteor times four days in a row, and then the Star times three days in a row. So, the station employees only have to deal with the change twice a week. If they alternate between the two trains daily, the employees will have to change every day.

For similar reasons, Amtrak knows how to turn LD trains around daily. So, the Silvers will run normally and then stop running, changing just twice a week. If they alternate, they have to change daily. That's a lot of switching back and forth. IMHO, a major part of this is that there were typically two of each Silver "in flight" at a time. For example, if you checked the pre-pandemic "where's the train", you see two 91's, two 92's, and so on, in movement at the same time.

Not that one could not redesign the system, but that would be more of a dramatic (traumatic?) change for Amtrak.

 

[Sidney]

I just planned a January trip,trying to save as much as I can. Flying to LAX from BWI for $52 on Southwest and a few days later taking the Texas Eagle and Cardinal to DC and a regional to BWI. Senior roomette was still low bucket at $600. Getting off in St Louis and transferring to Coach for the remainder saved me $127.00. Cardinal was still low bucket. Saved $60 by switching to Coach in Huntington WV.

Even with the three day a week schedule my schedule remained unchanged.

 

[niemi24s]

Just noticed after poking around in Arrow that cross-border service to and from VAC on the Cascades and to and from MTR on the Adirondack are bookable starting on 1 Jan and 10 Jul, respectively. Maple leaf can't be booked at all - at least not yet.

Don't know whether this is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel or just a glitch in Arrow, but my fingers are crossed.

[Moderators: If there's a better thread for this post, please feel free to move it. And if I'm the only one in the Western Hemisphere who didn't already know this, just delete it!]