Taking Planes, Trains or Automobiles?

[Anonymous]

Have you recently or will be taking a trip or vacation? Did you drive, fly or ride the rails?

Also, what is the farthest away you would take the train?

I Would always choose the train. The only time I wouldnt choose the train would be if I had to absolutely be there within a day for something highly important.

[Mookie]

We drove - because we are starting to be the place that has no transportation.

Who wants to get on Amtrak anywhere from 1-4 am and 5-10 am - going either direction. Our airport is down to a small bi-plane! And it only goes to the end of the runway and back! Even the dog left town, so we are down to either drive or stay home. And they are even selling the home - so guess we will live and travel in Millie!

Mookie & Driver

[Anonymous]

I took a summer vacation camping with my wife. We drove a loaded pickup truck and camping trailer to the camp site. It took us about six hours to reach the camp site; the route we chose followed a Georgia DOT rail line (unused) and a heavily used CSX mainline. Using a train wasn't an option- passenger service doesn't go from here to there.

My wife took a business trip to Baltimore. The school district paid for her plane tickets, also reimbursed her for the shuttle van to and from the Atlanta airport. It's possible to take a train from Atlanta to Washington, and on to Baltimore. We decided against it- the trip from Atlanta to Washington would have required her to leave a day earlier and would have cost more. No one in their right mind leaves their car parked unattended where the AMTRAK station is for any long period of time. It's not really sane to leave a car parked at the airport, either, which is why she took the shuttle van.

Last year I took a trip to Fort Polk, Louisiana, about 500 miles away. I went by bus, because trains don't go there. Flying out was too expensive; I would have driven, except my daughter wanted to drive back in her car and have me help with two grandchildren.

I've made a bunch of trips moving cross country during my service with the Army. They were all by car- about 2500 miles- and lasted about three days. My family flew by plane; it was easier to be picked up at JFK flying from Tucson than to go into "the City" or ride the LIRR with two small children.

I'd consider doing a train if I could count on:
-Service that didn't cause me to drive through rush hour traffic just to get to the station, and a safe place to leave my car when I got there.
-A safe, convenient place to stow my bags where I could get to them in a reasonable amount of time... which would be directly over my head or in the trunk of my car, right now.
-An expectation that I could reach my end point destination conveniently and in good condition. That would mean that I would be looking for a rental car at destination. I haven't seen an AMTRAK terminal with a HERTZ or BUDGET station on premises. That's not to say they don't exist- I'm sure they do. Forget taxis- they cost too much. Forget taking a city bus- ever tried carrying your bags aboard a standard city bus?
-Frequency of service. I would dearly love to ride AMTRAK to Washington or New Orleans from Atlanta. The train to Washington leaves at 8:06 PM and gets in at 9:50AM. One train a day, take it or leave it. To go to New Orleans, I can board at 9:18AM in Atlanta and be in New Orleans at 7:50PM. One train a day in the other direction- take it or leave it. At least with the airlines, I have a huge choice of flight times. Best of all, I can take a shuttle to the airport and let someone else drive- and be on time for the plane.

To ride the train from Atlanta to Washington would take me about 13 hours. I don't know what the fare is- I don't want to register a profile with AMTRAK. A search on ORBITZ.com says that I have a choice of 191 flights- ranging in cost from $134 dollars to over $600. Flight time appears to be about 2 hours. I can book a car on line in Washington- I can't do that with AMTRAK. I can even book hotel accomodations if I want to on ORBITZ, Travelocity, or a number of other sites... I can't do that on AMTRAK. Come to think of it, I can't book a train trip on ORBITZ, either.

Train travel is out of the question for me....

Erik

[AntonioFP45]

I go to Georgia from Florida frequently, but unfortunately Amtrak has no service to the areas I go in the north center area of the state. Savannah is a 2 hour drive east, Atlanta 1 1/2 hours west. Ironically, Seaboard Coast Line in the 60s had decent service from FL to GA but those days are gone forever. I can't blame Amtrak, as much as the congressional leaders that refuse to invest in passenger rail.

I hate air travel as my last BUMPY flight on a 737 was like riding a pickup truck with busted shocks over potholes! [:0][B)][B)][:(!] I wind up driving most of the time, as much as I dislike the interstate highways. AAA promotes auto travel so much but the marketing sales reps never mention that the scenery on most interstate highways is monotonous and you must look out vigilantly for the wackos.

My Amtrak train trips to New York, were a good experience overall. May sound strange, but to me the seats on Amtrak are far more comfortable than the coach seats of today's airliners.

[Anonymous]

My primary summer transportation is a Cannondale touring bicycle. My car died in April and I decided to live without it for a while.

I'll take the train if time & location permit. Amtrak stops once a day about 60 miles from here so it's not really convenient. The Trailways bus stops in Saranac Lake, about 6 miles from here and in Lake Placid, so if I need to leave town, that's generally how I go. But if the trip is under a hundred miles, I usually bike it.

Once in a while, I load the bike with camping gear & set out. It often involves an Amtrak ride, a Lake Champlain Ferry and lots of peddling. Next week may be a 200 mile ride to my daughter's house south of Albany & a lesiurely Amtrak ride back north along Lake Champlain. (Then the 60 mile bike ride home.)

Wayne

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by erikthered


No one in their right mind leaves their car parked unattended where the AMTRAK station is for any long period of time. It's not really sane to leave a car parked at the airport, either, which is why she took the shuttle van.

I'd consider doing a train if I could count on:
-Service that didn't cause me to drive through rush hour traffic just to get to the station, and a safe place to leave my car when I got there.

I haven't seen an AMTRAK terminal with a HERTZ or BUDGET station on premises. That's not to say they don't exist- I'm sure they do. Forget taxis- they cost too much. Forget taking a city bus- ever tried carrying your bags aboard a standard city bus?

-Frequency of service. I would dearly love to ride AMTRAK to Washington or New Orleans from Atlanta. The train to Washington leaves at 8:06 PM and gets in at 9:50AM. One train a day, take it or leave it. To go to New Orleans, I can board at 9:18AM in Atlanta and be in New Orleans at 7:50PM. One train a day in the other direction- take it or leave it.

At least with the airlines, I have a huge choice of flight times. Best of all, I can take a shuttle to the airport and let someone else drive- and be on time for the plane.
I can book a car on line in Washington- I can't do that with AMTRAK. I can even book hotel accomodations if I want to on ORBITZ, Travelocity, or a number of other sites... I can't do that on AMTRAK.

Amtrka has a deal with Hertz. It's easy to book rental cars through them. Enterprise offers a 10% discount for Amtrak travelers. Also,anyone can go online and book rental cars and hotel rooms.
That is totally irrelavent to Amtrak.


Some friendly points here...

Station location isn't Amtrak's respondibility. The problem is the city of Atlanta, which, using tax dollars, helped destroy its downtown station and move Amtrak to a less desirable location. Stations, like ariports, are the responsibility of cities.

Quite a few stations, not enough though, do offer rental car service. CHICAGO, SACRAMENTO, FLAGSTAFF, to name a few.

Regarding your lament that airlines offer so many more flights, we get the service we pay ffor. When this country decides to fund rail with more than crumbs, we will have more travel options and more train departures. Congress, not Amtrak, deserves the blame for this imbalance.

If aviation was funded at the level rail travel has been funded these last 30 years, Atlanta, too, would have only limited flights to few destinations. Some cities likely would have TRI-WEAKLY service, as do HOUSTON, CINCINNATI and, PHOENIX with train service, thanks to a stingy Congress and White House.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AntonioFP45

I
May sound strange, but to me the seats on Amtrak are far more comfortable than the coach seats of today's airliners.

That's not strange at all. Amtrak COACH seats are as wide as - if not bigger - than FIRST CLASS airline seats. Shows you how much airlines care about your comfort.

[Anonymous]

I have seen America riding Amtrak. I have ridden every long distance train. I enjoy riding the trains, the food is good in the diner, the privacy of the sleepers, and getting the rest and relaxation I wanted and needed.... One does not rest while driving......or flying..... I have rode Amtrak for up to a week riding different trains.....

On my last vacation I had to fly to Seattle to catch my Alaskan cruise..... No need to tell you the airports are a mess, and the seat of an airliner was designed for a 10 year old child....

The cruise was very enjoyable, the flight was downright nasty.....and to think I spent as much on the flights(of some 6 hours) as I did on my cruise (7 days)...... The cruise line fed me, the airline didn't.....

I have pictures posted at my homepage of several vacations....

http://homepage.mac.com/donclark

[edblysard]

My wife works for the State of Texas, and last month had to go to Austin several times for regional meetings.

First time, she flew Southwest Airlines.
Time spent in the airport security line, and in the air, 6 hours.

Houston to Austin, in 6 hours?

She drove the last two times, because she could drive there in 3 hours, cheaper and faster than she could fly.

Amtrak has no route for this run.

As for leisure travel, we ride the train.

Better on the nerves.

Ed

[Anonymous]

Erik, you could have taken an Amtrak trip from Atlanta to New Orleans on the Crescent, and from New Orleans to Lake Charles on the Sunset Limited....Then you could have ridden a bus to Fort Polk....around an hour away.... Yes, you would have had to probably spend a night in New Orleans, as the Sunset Limited leaves New Orleans before the Crescent arrives.... But spending a night in New Orleans isn't so bad, is it?

However it would be nice to have HSR in place, whereby you could have done the same in less than 6 hours? I doubt whether there will ever be a train stop at Fort Polk, but Lake Charles is another story....

As most already know, I support a moratorium on federal highway and airport spending for two years, so that a 7,000 mile network of HSR can be built.... From the NEC to Chicago, Chicago to Dallas/Houston, Dallas/Houston to Atlanta, Atlanta to NEC, and to Miami.....Golly, that's only about 4,000 miles.....We have another 3,000 miles which could build a Chicago to Atlanta line, a Chicago to Minneapolis line, a Toledo to Detroit line connecting to the line from Chicago to the NEC, a New York City to Toronto and Montreal lines, plus the shortcut along the coast from Raleigh to Jacksonville..... with enough miles left over to build a HSR line from San Francisco or Oakland to LA....and maybe we could squeak a few more miles to San Diego....

We won't miss the federal highway and airport spending those two years, as the HSR network will reduce demand on those items..... If anything, there will be a cry for more HSR lines.....such as a line from Louisville to Cincinnati to Columbus to Cleveland to Buffalo.....which could be extended to Memphis and Dallas.....

The most difficult of the lines would be through Pennsylvania, but I have my opinion on that on another thread...which is to build a grade up to 1,000 feet and then build bridges over the valleys as these mountains are not the Rockies by any means, with an occasional tunnel when necessary.....Once we get to Ohio, its mostly flat to get to Chicago....

[MP57313]

QUOTE: Originally posted by ohlemeier

Quite a few stations, not enough though, do offer rental car service. CHICAGO, SACRAMENTO, FLAGSTAFF, to name a few.

Los Angeles has a rental counter also (Budget, I believe).

I take the plane for business. As with Erik I would take rail if I could work it in, but I can't at this time. Right now the best I can do is take the MTA Green Line from work to LAX (Los Angeles Airport). The Green Line costs $1.25 vs. $8.00 for a shuttle van. Travel Times are comparable; trains run every 15-20 minutes.

I used to travel from LA to San Jose; by air (1 hour by plane vs. 10-12 by train). In San Jose I was able to use the light rail (VTA) instead of a rental car; that is $3/day vs. $40/day. Of course I lose the flexibility of a car, but the VTA connects with CalTrain at Mountain View, so where else is a railfan going to go anyway?

I ride the rails for short one-day out-and-back trips. Would ride more if I could; I'm constrained more by time than the cost.

On overseas trips we have ridden the rails; in Switzerland we got 14-day passes. The Swiss are very proud of their rail system and it is well maintained. Trains go to "most" places you would want to visit, and the Federal system and private carriers work well together and you can get multi-system itineraries with ease. (As with everywhere else, though, private cars are encroaching more and more. People love the freedom of having their own car).

[locomutt]

Don't actually want to fly,done too much over the years;would love to take the train somwhere,but you have to DRIVE to get to a train first.[:)]

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

We drove - because we are starting to be the place that has no transportation.

Who wants to get on Amtrak anywhere from 1-4 am and 5-10 am - going either direction. Our airport is down to a small bi-plane! And it only goes to the end of the runway and back! Even the dog left town, so we are down to either drive or stay home. And they are even selling the home - so guess we will live and travel in Millie!

Mookie & Driver

The Kentucky Cardinal used to come thru here. It left Jeff., IN early in the morning.
Paula and I used to get up, get in the car, and go to Union Station, sit there forever
to watch it come in. And we were there to see it come back in the evening, around
8:30 - 9:00. But we did make the inaugural evening run and the final morning run.[:)]

[jeaton]

I prefer the train as long as it comes close to meeting my time considerations. Being retired, it is easier for me than for the business traveler or vacationer. Of course some destinations aren't served or the services isn't practical. Chicago to Gainsville, GA via Washington, DC doesn't cut it.

I've made trips to DC for a rail sale fare less than the cost of gas for the trip in my car. (I get about 22 per on the road). By the way, Enterprise Rental will meet the train.

The car is second choice.

I'll fly to the West Coast or beyond the boundries of the lower 48.

[Anonymous]

I drove from Delaware to Wisconsin, and back. Amtrak was an option but I'm traveling with a 1 yr old and she needs a ton of stuff.

[SALfan]

I flew from where I live (Northern Virginia) to Georgia (near Savannah) in May. I hate the hassle of getting from the airport front door to the plane, but flew because CSX was doing trackwork from Savannah south at the time, and had the train schedules all fouled up. Also, it's a monumental hassle getting from where I live to Washington Union Station to catch a train south. Here's a comparison:
Plane: Leave the house 2 hours before flight time, 10 minute cab ride to Dulles, 30 minutes of hassle getting thru security, wait an hour to board the bird, 1-1/2 hour flight, 30 minutes to get bag & get to the car, 1 hour drive to destination. Total time: 5 hours, give or take.
Train: Leave the house at least 2-1/2 hours before train time, 1-1/2 hour trip by car, bus & subway to the station, during rush hour (UUGGHH!!!) and dragging baggage, wait and hour for the train IF it's on time, 12-13 hour trip, 1hour drive to destination. Total time: 15-1/2 to 16-1/2 hours. That doesn't count the inconvenience of leaving the house early in the morning to get the only train and getting to Savannah late in the day, when my mother doesn't have any business driving to get me. The train fare would have been a good deal cheaper because of a promotional train fare, but flying won out.

[RudyRockvilleMD]

We are going to San Antonio, Dallas/Fort Worth,and Austin, TX. We will fly from BWI to San Antonio, rent a car for sightseeing and day trips, turn in that car, fly to Dallas, and rent another car for more sightseeing and day trips. Amtrak is out of the question because it takes too long, its schedules are not convenient, and most of the time rental cars are only available on call. Who wants to get to San Antonio at o Dark Thirty AM?

I haven't used Amtrak in many years. My last train ride in the US was on New Jersey Transit's River Line a few days ago. I view suggested high speed rail routes as pie in the sky; they will neve happen

My wife will let me off-the-leash in Dallas where I will do some railfanning there, and I hope to ride and photograph DART and the Trinity Rail Express.

[Anonymous]

we lucked out here, in a way...as amtrak has 3 trains that stop in princeton. the calif. zephyr, the southwest cheif and the IL zephyr. it's a 10 minute drive from my house to the depot in princeton and an hour and a half ride to chicago for what it costs to PARK in a garage in chi-town for a day. also, my mom lives in arizona, about an hour and 15 from the depot in winslow. a 26 hour ride on the s.w cheif and i'm there. the drive there from here can be done in around the same time for about the same cost, but the train you just get on, sit down and sleep....the only issue is how punctual amtrak feels like being on any given day... the last trip we made, my brother rode to arizona and the train was 2 1/2 hours late out of chicago. somehow it GAINED back all the time on the way out there. how that happened, i don't know. i didn't think that could be done anymore...

[agentatascadero]

I take the train when I can, but it's not that easy. America is built around cars. For short trips it's usually cheaper and more pratical to drive. That being said, I've taken 15 or more transcontinental trips on the Sunset, Overland, Zephyr, GN, CN, CP routes, and I never want to get off when I arrive. Even in the modern AMTRAK era, rail travel is vastly more pleasant than airline travel, and my last flight was before 9/11. My last rail trip was in March,03, on the CZ SF-Denver-SF for a snow trip. Well, the infamous drought of 03 was in progress and there was almost no sonw, in fact Denver was a balmy 75 degrees. Days after I returned, the Great Blizzard of 03 occured, closing the line for days. If I didn't have bad luck.....I wouldn't have any luck at all. But, I rode for $41, courtesy of Rail Sale, plus a room coming home for $75 upgrade. All in all, a wonderful trip, and I met dozens each way who were, like me, simply out for the ride, many for the first time. The stories I hear this year have to make even the most devoted train traveller apprehensive, though my friend, her sister, and their kids had a great SF-Provo-SF trip on the CZ this July.

[Anonymous]

Acela from Baltimore to New York in October!

[Junctionfan]

I liked the Via train between Toronto and Belleville Ontario. The trip took about 2 hours despite going over 100mph but was comfortable and could walk around a bit if your butt started to fall asleep. Can't do that in a car and wouldn't dare on the 401.

[tpatrick]

I make my living as a pilot, flying a helicopter for a hospital. One of the job requirements is to go to West Palm Beach annually for simulator training. My home is near Buffalo, so the trip is long in any case. By air it is about six hours, including a layover in DC or Charlotte. By rail, it is something like 30 hours - via New York and Silver Service to the south. The plane ride is something to be endured. The train ride is to be enjoyed. Especially so when going first class. Much more expensive, but very well worth it.

My last airline flight was 9/9/01, two days before you-know-what. Even in those days before the security concerns, airline flying was an exercise in discomfort. Today it can only be worse, even for one who would normally love to fly.