Red Caps Announcement?

[Rail Freak]

I was watching a You Tube Video of the #3. When approaching LAX, the Conductor announced the Red Cap service was only for Seniors & Disabled! I have taken Amtrak around the country for several years & have never heard that announced! I'm also fairly certain, in my experiences, there have been folks of all ages using the service! I'm not complaining, I just never noticed that announcement before! BTW, I am a disabled senior. (Damn It,

)

 

[cpotisch]

I was watching a You Tube Video of the #3. When approaching LAX, the Conductor announced the Red Cap service was only for Seniors & Disabled! I have taken Amtrak around the country for several years & have never heard that announced! I'm also fairly certain, in my experiences, there have been folks of all ages using the service! I'm not complaining, I just never noticed that announcement before! BTW, I am a disabled senior. (Damn It,

)

That's definitely not official policy, but I could see that at a busy station like LAX, they only want people using Red Caps if they physically need it. I guess like pretty much all things Amtrak, YMMV.

 

[Thirdrail7]

I was watching a You Tube Video of the #3. When approaching LAX, the Conductor announced the Red Cap service was only for Seniors & Disabled! I have taken Amtrak around the country for several years & have never heard that announced! I'm also fairly certain, in my experiences, there have been folks of all ages using the service! I'm not complaining, I just never noticed that announcement before! BTW, I am a disabled senior. (Damn It,

)

This seems to be spreading. The poster in the Refused Red Cap boarding because I'm not old or disabled thread was told the same thing.

Red caps provide general services to passengers.

 

[the_traveler]

I’m not sure about other times, but when I came into LAX on 1/421 at 5 am, there were only 2 (TWO) Red Caps on duty!

 

[SarahZ]

I have been on trains where they mention there are only X number of Red Caps available and they are in high demand. Passengers are then told that elderly and disabled passengers will be given priority, at which point most able-bodied people decide it's not worth the wait and walk to the terminal.

So, while the crew isn't specifically stating the Red Caps are ONLY for the elderly and disabled, it's definitely a nudge to those who simply don't feel like walking. I feel it's a pretty diplomatic way of handling the situation.

 

[laurenpl]

I just came off a 3-train trip, and heard the same message noted by SarahZ above. With a limited number available, it seemed to be a tactful way of getting folks to make an informed d3cision to either walk, or wait it out.

 

[Palmetto]

If people checked their luggage, they wouldn't need redcaps. Oh, wait.

 

[Zach]

They way it's worded needs to be careful. A red cap cannot deny service because they do not appear to be a senior citizen or have a visible disability. If one requests assistance, one is entitled to that assistance, whether it takes X amount of time or not.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I have been on trains where they mention there are only X number of Red Caps available and they are in high demand. Passengers are then told that elderly and disabled passengers will be given priority, at which point most able-bodied people decide it's not worth the wait and walk to the terminal. So, while the crew isn't specifically stating the Red Caps are ONLY for the elderly and disabled, it's definitely a nudge to those who simply don't feel like walking. I feel it's a pretty diplomatic way of handling the situation.

If Amtrak doesn't want younger and more ambulatory people swamping an insufficient number of remaining redcaps then maybe they should hire more staff. Or they could revamp the annoying cattle calls and gate dragon nonsense that makes redcaps so appealing to customers who can otherwise walk and carry their own luggage. Amtrak creates an unnecessary impediment to easily boarding your train, Amtrak then creates a solution to said impediment, but then arbitrarily restricts who can make use of that solution. If this were merely a temporary restriction while Amtrak worked on hiring more staff or streamlining the boarding process then I'd agree that this would be genuine diplomacy, but as a continuing long term policy it looks more like guilt tripping in the service of bean counting to me.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

I agree completely, DA.

I have used the red caps in Philly to avoid standing in line for half an hour for the Keystone, because everyone lines up so early, and although I am not that fragile, it does hurt my legs to stand that long. However, I am not "taking" a red cap, because I'm tagging along with them when they take other people and their luggage down.

Also, Philly has plenty of red caps, and some will even see me and ask if I need them--one even took me up to the lounge when I stopped by to say hi and said that's where I was going, and I didn't ask for that.

Perhaps it has something to do with the attitude in the station? The ones in Philly seem to actively want to help as many people as they can. Or perhaps the number? I have never seen fewer than two red caps at PHL, and usually three or four.

 

[SarahZ]

I have used the red caps in Philly to avoid standing in line for half an hour for the Keystone, because everyone lines up so early, and although I am not that fragile, it does hurt my legs to stand that long. However, I am not "taking" a red cap, because I'm tagging along with them when they take other people and their luggage down.

The announcements I heard were made on busy trains during holiday seasons, not in the stations.
They were not asking for proof of age or disability. You would not have been “denied”. They were simply asking people to use a bit of common courtesy and do the honorable thing by letting passengers with mobility issues use the Red Caps first, as a triage of sorts.

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

Oh, I see, Sarah--that does make a difference, and in that case, it does sound reasonable.

 

[Lonestar648]

I thought the number of Red Caps was being reduced, cost savings. Bean counters who NEVER leave their offices to see and experience the real world. As I see it, there are no tracking mechanisms to justify that the Red Capsg are being used and not just sitting getting paid, that would help protect the positions. I learned long ago that like it or not, if you do not have physical data supporting what you do, then you are venerable to the bean counters who ONLY deal with numbers. It was a royal pain to keep up, but two of my manager kept matrix of everything we did, highlighting success. He could justify his team when other mangers stumbled with guesstimates.

 

[Dakota 400]

I’m not sure about other times, but when I came into LAX on 1/421 at 5 am, there were only 2 (TWO) Red Caps on duty!

That was my experience arriving LAX on #1. My SCA actually walked down the platform to inform one of the Red Caps that he had another passenger and me that needed his assistance. And, the SCA stayed with us until the Red Cap picked us up on his second swing by the train.

 

[Palmetto]

I've had an SCA off 98 actually take my bag and me up to the Acela Lounge in Penn Station.

 

[dlagrua]

On our trip from PHL to OMA two weeks ago, we noticed that only two Red Caps were available in CHI but there were a few at PHL. Could Amtrak be cutting the amount of Red Caps down?

 

[Lonestar648]

Or just not replacing those who retire or quit.