NARP Membership Status

[jis]

Looks like in the process of transitioning to the new fancy web site, NARP has lost my membership login info and my email address. Or alternatively my membership has lapsed, for which I have received no email or solicitation to renew membership or anything like that.

I guess I will have to muster up enough energy to call them since there is no way to figure out whether you are already a member without logging in, and there is no way to login or even get access to any credentials recovery using your membership number.

Oh well, I guess I will just let it rest for now since I am pretty unhappy with them anyway. If it has lapsed it just won;t get renewed until I have a reason to renew.

 

[CHamilton]

I will be happy to ask them to look up your information if you wish.

The new website definitely has some issues, which many of us are working on with them.

 

[jis]

I will be happy to ask them to look up your information if you wish.

The new website definitely has some issues, which many of us are working on with them.

I just sent an email to Jenna. Let's see if I hear back anything.

 

[CHamilton]

I will be happy to ask them to look up your information if you wish.

The new website definitely has some issues, which many of us are working on with them.

I just sent an email to Jenna. Let's see if I hear back anything.

Good luck. I am scheduled to chat with Abe tomorrow, so I'll mention it to him as well.

 

[xyzzy]

My experience: NARP staff are more responsive to individual members now than under the previous regime. YMMV. Will be interesting to see what changes the new president makes.

 

[jis]

I wonder what it would take to get NARP to come out strongly against the service cuts by a thousand cuts on Amtrak instead of just being an aopologist for Amtrak. I figure Amtrak has a perfectly capable marketing department to play that role. NARP should focus more on being an advocate for the users of passenger service instead of a parroting agent form the Amtrak party line.

 

[CHamilton]

I wonder what it would take to get NARP to come out strongly against the service cuts by a thousand cuts on Amtrak instead of just being an aopologist for Amtrak. I figure Amtrak has a perfectly capable marketing department to play that role. NARP should focus more on being an advocate for the users of passenger service instead of a parroting agent form the Amtrak party line.

This conversation is definitely going on among NARP Council members. I think that NARP is beginning to be a stronger advocate, but it's not as strong as it needs to be.

 

[CHamilton]

By the way, there are still a number of vacancies on the NARP Council. I would be delighted to see more AUers on the group. If anyone is interested in applying, please PM me and I can tell you how it works. (Chris, I hope you are still interested!)

ALABAMA (1 Seat)
One Vacancy

ARIZONA (2 Seats)
One Vacancy


CALIFORNIA (12 Seats)
Two Vacancies

GEORGIA (2 Seats)
One Vacancy

IDAHO (1 Seat)
One Vacancy

LOUISIANA (1 Seat)
One Vacancy

MISSOURI (2 Seats)
One Vacancy

NEVADA (1 Seat)
One Vacancy

NEW MEXICO (1 Seat)

One Vacancy

NORTH CAROLINA (2 Seats)
One Vacancy

OHIO (4 Seats)
One Vacancy


TEXAS (6 Seats)
One Vacancy

WYOMING (1 Seat)
One Vacancy

The next NARP Council meeting will be in Salt Lake City October 17-20, a week after the AU Gathering. Any NARP member is welcome to attend.

 

[CHamilton]

Jis,

I checked with the NARP office, and they tell me that your membership is current. You will be hearing from them to confirm this.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I wonder what it would take to get NARP to come out strongly against the service cuts by a thousand cuts on Amtrak instead of just being an aopologist for Amtrak. I figure Amtrak has a perfectly capable marketing department to play that role. NARP should focus more on being an advocate for the users of passenger service instead of a parroting agent form the Amtrak party line.

When I first got here it seemed that AU was Amtrak's biggest apologist by far. Thankfully that mindset seems to have subsided over the years, at least with regard to common issues. When someone brings up a truly rare complaint we still struggle to allow them the benefit of the doubt. I believe that NARP is conflicted with many of the same conflicts each of us struggle with. If passenger rail service was heavily used and strongly supported then it would be a lot easier to criticize Amtrak without risking even more devastating "solutions" by a growing number of staunchly anti-rail politicians. That being said I think there is still plenty of room for NARP to stand on its own and take a longer look at the bigger picture. In many ways Amtrak seems blind to their own problems and in some ways they are legally prevented from actively promoting their own interests. A stronger and more independent NARP that counts Amtrak more as an equal and less as a superior could be a more productive proponent of our passenger rail future.

 

[jis]

Jis,

I checked with the NARP office, and they tell me that your membership is current. You will be hearing from them to confirm this.

Thanks Charlie. I never heard back from NARP.
Hopefully they will also fix the screwy new web site so that it is able to log me in. Right now it can't. It claims it does not know my email address which I have used like forever on that site.

IMHO NARP has two roles to play which are seemingly in conflict:

1. Be an advocate for Amtrak at Congress etc.

2. Be an advocate for passengers with Amtrak.

For whatever reason NARP has tended to concentrate on 1 and has reacted to issues regarding 2 as if it needs to defend Amtrak. I think that is not a winning strategy. Good management should be able to handle such conflicting goals and not ignore one of them. Corporations do such things all the time when they at same time cooperate and compete with other entities. The new blood in the top management of NARP opens up an opportunity to break with the past and put new processes and structures in place to handle both of these in a balanced way.

It has been stated by some that if one criticizes or takes Amtrak to task then they will stop listening. Well they hardly seem to listen now, so not much would be lost. Or is it the case that NARP asks for so little from Amtrak in the fear of being put in the doghouse by Amtrak that Amtrak has nothing to listen to.

If that is the case then it is unfortunate and NARP is truly incapable of serving as a passenger advocacy organization and may be time to think of setting up a separate organization for that, and leave NARP to just handle Amtrak advocacy at Congress. I would hope that things don't come to that.

By the way, what on earth do the Customer Advisory Councils set up by Amtrak, (and wasn't it managed by NARP at some point) exactly do. I have never seen anything concrete come out of the those groups. Has any specific change been made by Amtrak based on feedback from any of them? Have they said anything about the recent service reductions? Or are they just another cheering section for Amtrak spending taxpayers money while doing nothing?

 

[CHamilton]

Jis,

I checked with the NARP office, and they tell me that your membership is current. You will be hearing from them to confirm this.

Thanks Charlie. I never heard back from NARP.
Hopefully they will also fix the screwy new web site so that it is able to log me in. Right now it can't. It claims it does not know my email address which I have used like forever on that site.

I understand that there have been some issues with the membership database, and they are working to resolve that.

IMHO NARP has two roles to play which are seemingly in conflict:

1. Be an advocate for Amtrak at Congress etc.

2. Be an advocate for passengers with Amtrak.

For whatever reason NARP has tended to concentrate on 1 and has reacted to issues regarding 2 as if it needs to defend Amtrak. I think that is not a winning strategy. Good management should be able to handle such conflicting goals and not ignore one of them. Corporations do such things all the time when they at same time cooperate and compete with other entities. The new blood in the top management of NARP opens up an opportunity to break with the past and put new processes and structures in place to handle both of these in a balanced way.

I totally agree. There are some folks on the NARP board who are still afraid to push #2, but you are right: now is the best opportunity we've had in years to change the status quo. It's too early to tell for sure, but I'm getting good vibes from what I'm hearing so far. And it would be easier to move things forward with some more AUers -- not to mention younger folks, women and minorities -- on the council, which is why I'm pushing to fill those slots.

It has been stated by some that if one criticizes or takes Amtrak to task then they will stop listening. Well they hardly seem to listen now, so not much would be lost. Or is it the case that NARP asks for so little from Amtrak in the fear of being put in the doghouse by Amtrak that Amtrak has nothing to listen to.

If that is the case then it is unfortunate and NARP is truly incapable of serving as a passenger advocacy organization and may be time to think of setting up a separate organization for that, and leave NARP to just handle Amtrak advocacy at Congress. I would hope that things don't come to that.

I hope not, too. Amtrak is facing huge challenges right now, but being unresponsive to its passengers is not the way to improve things.

By the way, what on earth do the Customer Advisory Councils set up by Amtrak, (and wasn't it managed by NARP at some point) exactly do. I have never seen anything concrete come out of the those groups. Has any specific change been made by Amtrak based on feedback from any of them? Have they said anything about the recent service reductions? Or are they just another cheering section for Amtrak spending taxpayers money while doing nothing?

I honestly don't know. Jim Mathews, the new NARP executive director, was on ACAC for several years, as was Carol Haslett, one of the current NARP vice-chairs. But it's rather discouraging that nothing has been posted since 2012.

 

[Ryan]

#1 on the list of passenger advocacy should be pushing Amtrak to fix (or at least disclose) the issue with overcharging for rooms on the website. It's a small thing that can make a big difference.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

#1 on the list of passenger advocacy should be pushing Amtrak to fix (or at least disclose) the issue with overcharging for rooms on the website. It's a small thing that can make a big difference.

It really says something when a simple website "bug" requires sustained advocacy just to get Amtrak to admit it's even an issue in the first place.

 

[xyzzy]

IMHO NARP has two roles to play which are seemingly in conflict:
1. Be an advocate for Amtrak at Congress etc.

2. Be an advocate for passengers with Amtrak.

The goals don't have to be in conflict. You pursue #1 in public, and with the leverage obtained from doing #1 you pursue #2 in private. You don't have to be an apologist for Amtrak to pursue #1, but you do have to explain the constraints that Amtrak operates under. If I were in the NARP hierarchy, I wouldn't hesitate to criticize Amtrak behind closed doors when they deserve it. There has to be a balanced scorecard, of course. You could just as well criticize Congress for what they do or fail to do in supporting passenger rail, but this is the age-old dilemma that if you are too extreme in criticism, you simply get disinvited from a position of influence.

Where I tend to differ with the previous NARP regime is its focus on Amtrak as the only game in town with respect to passenger rail and its trying to be all things to all people by equivocating on the NEC versus short corridors versus historic LD trains. The approach has succeeded in preserving the status quo of 20 years ago, but it hasn't resulted in any major breakthroughs in passenger rail -- nor will such a strategy ever result in a major breakthrough. It is simply a holding pattern. It is, however, the strategy that creates the least turmoil within NARP.

 

[Green Maned Lion]

NARP is not independent. They run the CAC for Amtrak and are paid to do so. NARP is an employee of Amtrak.

 

[The Journalist]

I as well just discovered that I can't login to NARP's website with my existing account, and my email address isn't recognized. Which is odd, since I'm still getting newsletters.

 

[CHamilton]

I as well just discovered that I can't login to NARP's website with my existing account, and my email address isn't recognized. Which is odd, since I'm still getting newsletters.

Call or email the NARP office.

Phone: 202-408-8362

Email: [email protected]

I'm told that they have had some issues with the member database, but they can look up your info and get you logged in again. I find that the site can be on the slow side, too. I'm scheduled to chat with them about these issues later in the week, and will be happy to pass on any comments you may have -- I've already got a list.