Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote user="lattasnip9"] Gee Willikers, Sam.  I don't really get your reasoning but let me try to get it straight.  You don't want Amtrak/the Government to offer a service that you enjoy riding.  Now I also enjoy trains and do see a purpose for LD trains because they provide a safe, affordable way both to see the country and to provide service to small and medium towns that wouldn't have public transportation if the trains didn't exist.  But it is because of riders like you that raise passenger numbers and make Amtrak and other passenger rail advocates believe that there actually are people out there who need LD trains.  [/quote] I don't need long distance trains, nor do most Americans, as indicated by the fact that less than one per cent of intercity travelers use them.  They are safe and enjoyable, but they are not affordable.  If they were Amtrak could charge enough to cover their costs.  As it is, Amtrak cannot charged enough to cover the operating expenses, let alone the fully allocated costs, associated with the long distance trains.  If they did, they would lose most of their passengers.   To think that one train a day, stopping in many instances in the middle of the night, is a viable service for most communities is a stretch of the imagination.  Moreover, in most instances, people have a viable alternative. In Texas, for example, only one of the communities served by Amtrak is more than a 2 hours drive from an airport with reasonable commercial air service.  All of them have reasonable intercity bus service.  There may be a few cities served by Amtrak that would incur a hardship if their one train a day was eliminated, but they are only a handful.  I doubt there are many riders like me.  How many do you think urge their Congressional representatives to discontinue funding the long distance trains and use the monies to enhance existing corridors or develop new ones?  Better yet, how many people who ride Amtrak have the foggiest idea how it is funded or how much money it loses each year?
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag