What reason do you hear from people for not riding Amtrak

[aidancheddar]

Try this: "America loves planes!" :mellow:

 

[NW cannonball]

This is coming from someone who wants better public transit and wants to use it. If Amtrak could boost their schedules and timing (or cost), they'd be much more competitive. I also don't like driving eight hours for a long day trip, and would rather offload that to someone else's driving. But if I'm going to need a car at my destination, I'll seriously consider driving myself, because renting a car just seems to be a hassle and is fairly expensive.

Another issue is that these days the rental agencies are extremely price competetive and have to actually make a profit one way or another. One way is to keep a car longer in their fleet before selling it. Another is to ding customers for "repairs" that in a previous existence the rental agencies would have considered a cost of doing business. These days there are many stories of customers who got dinged for damage that a previous renter probably caused or where customers suspect that an estimate was gotten, especially where the renter sees some extra charge on a credit card. The charge may also be right below the deductible limit for the customer's insurance (they always ask these days), where the insurance company can't sic their staff or attorneys to contest the charges. Quite a few rental agencies have been accused of charging for this but never getting the repairs.

In my recent experience Alamo, National, Hertz and Avis have never dinged me for preexisting damage. And all the cars I've rented at any of them all have been spotless.Some of the real cheapos long ago would try this "hide minor pre-exisitng damage" scam. Not lately.

Most major credit cards - the ones I use anyhow - will cover the deductible on rentals using their card. I haven't paid for the rentacars "damage waiver" anytime in the last 30 years. First because it is so insanely overpriced. They are not allowed to call it insurance because then it would be regulated - and no state insurance regulator would allow a premium of -- let's see $12 per day for covering at most a $1000 deductible - collecting maybe 250 days per year- that would be $3000 premium per year for covering $1000 in possible loss - reality much less loss . If your insurance costs you this much -- why drive?

 

[dlagrua]

If I may be permitted to try and get this post back on topic:

Q. What reason do you hear from people not riding Amtrak?

Comments that I've received

1. Train travel is so slow! I can get from coast to coast in under 6 hours!

2. I didn't know that trains travel cross country!

3. Why would I want to do that?

4. They actually serve dinner on a train?

5. I cannot afford the time to travel overnight when I can get to my destination the same day.

When it comes to passenger train travel, I am amazed at the wholesale ignorance of the American public. The younger generations of Americans (and even some baby boomers) were raised where the airport was the only transportation option ever mentioned. When travel became fast, people forgot about trains. Compared to air travel; today only about 10% of the passengers take trains. This number is a reflection of the high anxiety level in todays society. People have to have everything offered to them, fast and now but recently a friend told me of his 8 hour flight to Chicago. We frequently hear of train delays here on this forum but I often wonder if plane travel is as comfortable, painless and prompt as its made out to be. As soon as the rain starts, or air traffic reaches saturation, all bets are off.

 

[aidancheddar]

4. They actually serve dinner on a train?

 

[bobnjulie]

I live in a world where people go from Point A to Point B as quickly as possible. Trains just don't cross people's minds or if they do, it's a fantasy as in "What are you doing? I've always wanted to....." Kids get trains. I finally got to take a long distance train trip last October and it changed me. The most regretable aspect of that trip was flying back home after an incredible trip. The second we got off the train and had to deal with the "real" world, I decided then and there that my next train trip would involve no flying.

I used to love to fly. Flying and airports meant adventure and freedom and now they just mean a hassle. Is it some torture? No but there is no joy in flying or in the whole process. I was nickled and dimed to death and the hassles... no airline has a station host, I can guarantee you that.

I don't get a ton of vacation time. Ha! I think I get a week for sick and vacation. What I love best about the train is how quickly I get to step in to vacation mode. We get to the train station... by car or whatever and park or get dropped off. That's it. I love train stations and train hosts and I begin to slip in to vacation mode. We step on the train and voila. There I am - on my vacation. Are there going to be issues or crummy employees... you betcha but when has anyone ever had the perfect vacation? Me... I'll take the train any day.

I think the most unfortunate thing is when people are finally exposed to the train and have a horrible experience. My boss heard me say something about trains and he (who never rants) said "AMTRAK! I hate them. The doors crashed in on my wife while we were trying to get off the train. I don't know where the conductor was but my wife was terrified." I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out what happened but he will tell that tale to every one and that is what those people will remember ... that trains are dangerous and slow.....

 

[Alexandria Nick]

Really lousy arrival and departure times.

 

[June the Coach Rider]

Anytime I discuss my train travel, people say "how can you waste so much time on the train, I would rather already be where I am going" I explain that the train trip is the vacation, but they just don't get it.

 

[TinCan782]

Anytime I discuss my train travel, people say "how can you waste so much time on the train, I would rather already be where I am going" I explain that the train trip is the vacation, but they just don't get it.

Same here...the train trip is part of the vacation!

 

[Bruce-C]

My family lives on the East coast and I'm in the West. And they are like many people, where one or both breadwinners have no paid vacation.

Long distance train travel for them is an impossibility. They have to fly in order to have some quality time and see some sights.

When I visit back East, I can only take a LD train 1-way as my time away from home is limited.

 

[aidancheddar]

Long distance train travel for them is an impossibility. They have to fly in order to have some quality time and see some sights.

But part of the train ride is seeing the sights. :blink:

 

[jebr]

Long distance train travel for them is an impossibility. They have to fly in order to have some quality time and see some sights.

But part of the train ride is seeing the sights. :blink:

Yes, but not the ones at your destination or with the people you're going out to visit.

When time off is limited and your use of time off is to go visit friends/relatives that are quite far away, train travel, especially with today's Amtrak, just won't work. Some people are willing to sacrifice time at their destination for time on the train - I myself will do it if I'm either going to a destination "for fun" (instead of visiting a specific person that I want to maximise my time with) or the time difference isn't bad (for example, last year I caught a train after work on Friday and arrived at my destination early Sunday morning. Doing that with flights would have had me arrive no earlier than Saturday around noon, so the extra half-day of time was a fair tradeoff.)

But if train travels involves another full day of travel (or more) each way, then it becomes less and less attractive if I want to spend a decent amount of time at my destination. I do want to "enjoy the journey", but if that means taking an extra day or two of PTO, it may just not be possible.

 

[Donctor]

It seems that most of the people I know simply don't know where Amtrak does and doesn't go, and don't even consider it as an option.

As for the people I know who actively choose not to ride, they do so because the train takes too long. BTV/ESX—NYP takes hours longer than driving.

 

[Bus Nut]

This may be the critical issue in usage of LD train travel in the US. LD's impossible without adequate time off. Maybe that's why we see so many Europeans on forums like these asking about which Amtrak LD to take while still-working Americans can only dream about taking continental train rides in any country.

As for shorter trips, when I lived on the NEC I did take Amtrak quite a bit for day trips. Sometimes commuter rail didn't run on the weekend, and sometimes I preferred to pay the premium and get there more quickly and in comfort. I suppose if I were a student now I would be taking those horrid cheapo buses a lot.

My family lives on the East coast and I'm in the West. And they are like many people, where one or both breadwinners have no paid vacation.