GREENFIELD — Some people are so happy that
Amtrak is once again running passenger trains through their towns that they're dancing. Some are mad about the lack of ticket availability. They're dancing too.
What was to have been a celebration of Amtrak service at the John W. Olver Transit Center has turned into a sort of war dance over the lack of a ticket kiosk at the facility. Last month, Amtrak started running its Vermonter passenger train, also known as the Knowledge Corridor line, through
Northampton and Greenfield for the first time in decades. Formerly, it dog-legged through Amherst. Service will resume in Holyoke as soon as the city provides a platform for customers.
In this era of smartphones and the Internet, Amtrak is relying on customers to get their tickets online. This isn't going over well in Greenfield, according to Linda McInerny. McInerny, the artistic director at Old Deerfield Productions, has been planning a celebration of the passenger service, complete with music and dancing. Now it's more like a demonstration. She's calling it "Ticket to Ride."
According to McInerny, potential customers have come away from the Olver Center in dismay after learning that there's no ticket kiosk there.
Tina Cote, who operates a booth there for the Franklin Regional Transit Authority and cannot sell train tickets, has been shouted and spit at, McInerney said.
