Taking 90 Palmetto from Philadelphia to New York?

[MARC Rider]

Here's the on-time performance of 90 at PHL over the last month.

https://juckins.net/amtrak_status/a...=schDp&sort_dir=DESC&co=gt&limit_mins=&dfon=1
Aside from one day that the train was cancelled, it was nearly always no more than 10 or 20 minutes behind schedule. There were two exceptions to that. It seems more likely (but not always) that the big delays are due to things that happened in CSX territory. The Palmetto is scheduled to arrive in Washington and thus leave CSX's hands, at 7:10 PM and departs Washington at 7:57 PM. Thus, one could check on the status to the train at about 8 PM and see whether it might be more worthwhile to book on Northeast Regional 186. As 186 is the last train of the day, the only other alternative (if there are scheduled trains) is to ride SEPTA to Trenton, and then transfer to NJT to get to New York.

 

[jis]

Another tidbit worth noting is that even if the Palmetto arrives Washington as late as 7:30pm, it coudl still depart 8pm to 8:05pm since the loco change can be done in 20 mins or so.

 

[zephyr17]

It's odd that the options are all rather extreme, i.e pay full bucket fare, let it slide, or force you off the train.. Surprised there is no official policy on this. For sure I am not the first person to do this as the regional trains run every hour every day ..

Policy is to boot you off for being unticketed. Some conductors are more humane, and go out of their way not to.

Of course, if you display the attitude towards them you display here, enjoy Trenton.

 

[fhussain44]

Neither Northeast Regionals, nor the Palmetto are unreserved. Tickets are only valid for the train they're issued for. Deal with it.

Philly has a ticket counter, you can swap tickets if you have a cash ticket, not sure about AGR. The regular call center is open 24/7, the AGR line isn't. You're going to have more flexibility to change it with a cash ticket, and a piddly PHL-NYP ticket seems a waste of AGR points to me in any case, but you do what suits you. Of course, you can also sit in the station and bemoan your fate while Regionals leave, not having made an attempt to get yourself reticketed, too.

If you don't want to deal with increased schedule uncertainty, take a Regional or an Acela. If you like the Palmetto's times and are willing to risk more uncertainty due to a longer run and one under CSX dispatching, do that. Those are your choices. Pick one.

I took my train 90 yesterday and it was on time at Philly. Interestingly there was someone else who boarded with a ticket for the next regional train at 10:39 instead. The conductor just said his ticket was for the next train but let him stay and didn't say anything else. So like I suspected this is fairly common and conductors likely don't care as long as you have a valid ticket on some train and train is not full..

 

[jis]

I took my train 90 yesterday and it was on time at Philly. Interestingly there was someone else who boarded with a ticket for the next regional train at 10:39 instead. The conductor just said his ticket was for the next train but let him stay and didn't say anything else. So like I suspected this is fairly common and conductors likely don't care as long as you have a valid ticket on some train and train is not full..

As was mentioned before Conductor at his discretion can allow someone to carry on. Nothing surprising there.

But when you asked about policy, the written policy is that a passenger must have a ticket for the train they are on. That has not changed. And then when the other possibilities were mentioned you complained about there not being a set policy. So what is one to do but shrug and carry on?

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

I took my train 90 yesterday and it was on time at Philly. Interestingly there was someone else who boarded with a ticket for the next regional train at 10:39 instead. The conductor just said his ticket was for the next train but let him stay and didn't say anything else. So like I suspected this is fairly common and conductors likely don't care as long as you have a valid ticket on some train and train is not full..

Glad it all worked out for you and that you had a good and safe trip.

 

[Ryan]

I took my train 90 yesterday and it was on time at Philly. Interestingly there was someone else who boarded with a ticket for the next regional train at 10:39 instead. The conductor just said his ticket was for the next train but let him stay and didn't say anything else. So like I suspected this is fairly common and conductors likely don't care as long as you have a valid ticket on some train and train is not full..

Yeah, don't count on that. If you want to try it in the future, that's on you. It's been clearly explained what the policy is, and it would be completely unsurprising to run across a conductor that rigorously enforces that policy.

 

[Bob Dylan]

As was mentioned before Conductor at his discretion can allow someone to carry on. Nothing surprising there.

But when you asked about policy, the written policy is that a passenger must have a ticket for the train they are on. That has not changed. And then when the other possibilities were mentioned you complained about there not being a set policy. So what is one to do but shrug and carry on?

True this!

 

[zephyr17]

So like I suspected this is fairly common and conductors likely don't care as long as you have a valid ticket on some train and train is not full..

Pretty much everyone who replied to you said that was a possibility, myself included. You did not seem to "suspect" it in your posts, but demanded a "policy". Everyone correctly said policy was to remove the unticketed passenger, but at least some conductors were lenient about enforcing it. That remains the case.

 

[fhussain44]

Pretty much everyone who replied to you said that was a possibility, myself included. You did not seem to "suspect" it in your posts, but demanded a "policy". Everyone correctly said policy was to remove the unticketed passenger, but at least some conductors were lenient about enforcing it. That remains the case.

What annoyed me was the tone of responses implied getting kicked off was something to worry about when it wasn't. And then folks insisted this is still my problem instead of Amtrak's problem. They should be able to rebook automatically if train is an hour or more late or have official policy letting you board next regional train.

 

[Ryan]

You still don't get it.

The fact that one person didn't get off of the one train that you were on does not mean that it isn't something to worry about.

It is absolutely your problem. You bought a ticket for a train. You are welcome to ride that train or buy another ticket for a different train that better suits your needs. Permission granted to exercise some personal responsibility rather than expect someone to fix your problems for you.

It's not rocket surgery.

 

[zephyr17]

What annoyed me was the tone of responses implied getting kicked off was something to worry about when it wasn't. And then folks insisted this is still my problem instead of Amtrak's problem. They should be able to rebook automatically if train is an hour or more late or have official policy letting you board next regional train.

Speaking of tone, I have to say I am somewhat gratified you were annoyed, Mr. North Korea.

Irrespective of your opinion, it really was your problem. Amtrak's systems do not work that way, they're really old, and everyone was trying to acquaint you with reality.

Personally, I think Amtrak ought to go back to unreserved on the NE Regionals where a ticket was good on any NE Regional train as they once were. But I also recognize reality and do not equate Amtrak with the most despotic regime on earth either when they don't suit me (which is often).

Perhaps you would be comfortable on Flyertalk, where an entitled attitude is more often than not met with applause.

 

[MARC Rider]

Just to let you know what can happen, back around 2002 or 2003 when they were converting the Northeast Regionals from mostly unreserved to all-reserved, I had an unreserved ticket from Washington to Baltimore, and got on the train before the one I usually take. This train had, unknown to me, just been converted from unreserved to reserved. When I showed my ticket to the conductor, he got annoyed and told me the ticket wasn't any good, even though I had paid the exact same fare I would have paid for a ticket on the reserved train. He dumped me off, unceremoniously, in New Carrolton. Fortunately, I didn't have to wait an hour for the next Regional, as a MARC train came by within a few minutes. I considered myself fortunate that he didn't call the police, from his annoyed attitude. However, he didn't take my unreserved ticket, so I was able to use it later in the week, making sure that the train I was riding was unreserved.

 

[TheCrescent]

Amtrak really needs to adopt a standby policy, allowing people to take other trains on the same day and same route for which they have a ticket.

On American Airlines, if I’m going from NY to Boston, I can get a confirmed seat (or go standby if no seats are definitely available) on any other flight on the same day as my ticket, for free. (Non-frequent flyers might have to pay a fee.)

So if my meeting in Boston ends early, I can head home early.

If I have a ticket on the Acela, if my meeting ends early, I have to wait around until the my scheduled train leaves, as I’m certainly not buying a last-minute, full-fare ticket.

European railroads (Thalys, etc.) also allow ticket changes.

 

[jcastallack]

I can say from experience that if your train is delayed more than an hour, because trains are ~once an hour, you can go up to the ticket window and have it exchanged for the next train at no cost. I have done this many times. The problem is, everyone else will do that too and trains are now running 90% full and it will be sold out in no time. Once you are waiting two hours, odds are, your original train will show up.

But that is for tickets you buy with money. Tickets bought with points will not be dealt with at the ticket window at all, you must call, and you will absolutely wait on hold 45 minutes or more these days. By the time you get through, that later train will have left, again pushing you to the train after that and your original train will likely arrive then or shortly after.

 

[Winecliff Station]

What annoyed me was the tone of responses implied getting kicked off was something to worry about when it wasn't. And then folks insisted this is still my problem instead of Amtrak's problem. They should be able to rebook automatically if train is an hour or more late or have official policy letting you board next regional train.

You seem to be confusing policy with practice. If the speed limit is 65mph, that is policy. Can you drive 75 and not get a ticket? Possibly, or in some places, probably. But I’d never tell someone they can absolutely drive 75 and never see a trooper. “Policy” is you violated the law by exceeding the speed limit and you get a ticket, just like “policy” with Amtrak is you are denied boarding or told to get off the train. Whether or not either of these policies are practice at a given time and place vary by situation. I think that was made pretty clear to you on here with respect to your set of facts.

 

[jis]

MODERATOR'S NOTE: This thread could do with a brief cooling off period in the opinion of the Moderating Staff, so it is locked for a little while.