Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
[quote user="Phoebe Vet"] "most of the Acela passengers are executives, high level managers, senior professionals, lawyers, consultants, etc. The majority of them are probably riding on an expense account. Accordingly, in most instances the cost of the ride will be passed through to the customers who buy the goods and services of the business, government agency, law firm, consulting firm, etc. " Right. There are none of those people on the airlines, and certainly none of them flying first class on the airlines.  What a strange complaint. [/quote] Several of the key points embedded in my comments have been missed. The Acela covers its operating costs only because it is a premium service.  Otherwise, it would not be able to do so.  It still requires a large subsidy for the capital costs.  And according to Fred Frailey, its costs $370 million a year to maintain the NEC.  Of course, not all of them maintenance cost is allocable to the Acela's, but most of the improvements  in the NEC were made to accommodate the Acela's. The premium fares are paid by riders who for the most part are on an expense account.  They are passing the cost through to the ordinary Americans who buy their goods and services or have them imposed on them.  Few of these ordinary Americans can afford to ride the Acela, yet the goods that they buy and the taxes that they pay help support a premium rail service.  This is fair? It is the premium portion of the fare, which is the difference between the Acela fare and the regional fare, that is the premium pass through.  Most corporations require all but their top executives to travel coach class.   The majority of air travelers between Washington and New York fly coach class.  The majority of them use the shuttle.  Some of the same class of travelers that ride the Acela are authorized to fly business class on the shuttle or any carrier.  Again, the premium fare is passed through to ordinary Americans who for the most part cannot afford to fly business class.  I am as opposed to passing premium airfares through to ordinary Americans as I am to passing premium train fares through to them.   Moreover, the airlines are not supported by the taxpayers, as is the case of Amtrak.  Just witness the number of airlines that have gone out of business over the past couple of decades.  If they were supported by the government, would it have allowed them to crater?
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