Does anyone know an accurate source for age demographics of Amtrak ridership by route?
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
schlimm Does anyone know an accurate source for age demographics of Amtrak ridership by route?
Here is a link to some demographics for the NEC. I am not sure whether it is for the Acela or the total NEC. In 2015 ridership on the NEC was 11.7 million, so it appears that the data in the referenced source is for the whole NEC.
http://amtrakmedianetwork.com/about-the-network/demographics
Rio Grande Valley, CFI,CFII
Five or six years ago, while on the Sunset Limited to LAX, I had a long chat with the sleeping car attendant.
He said that he had been a sleeping car attendant for more than 40 years, and he was approaching retirement. He began his career in Chicago and worked practically every train out of Chicago. He said that he frequently worked the Broadway Limited.
He recalled seeing many business travelers in the sleepers during the early days of his career, especially between New York and Chicago. Now, however, he said most of the people in the sleepers were pensioners. His term! He repeatedly referred to the pensioners.
This is just one person's observations. They may not reflect an accurate picture of Amtrak's sleeping car passengers.
I have not taken a sleeper for years. I fly for long distances and only use Amtrak or other trains for short distance travel when I am in California or New York. But my recollection of the other sleeping car passengers is that most of them were retired or nearly there.
The Sunset crews are based in LAX. He said that he transferred to LAX many years ago to escape the cold weather in Chicago.
JPS1 Five or six years ago, while on the Sunset Limited to LAX, I had a long chat with the sleeping car attendant. He said that he had been a sleeping car attendant for more than 40 years, and he was approaching retirement. He began his career in Chicago and worked practically every train out of Chicago. He said that he frequently worked the Broadway Limited. He recalled seeing many business travelers in the sleepers during the early days of his career, especially between New York and Chicago. Now, however, he said most of the people in the sleepers were pensioners. His term! He repeatedly referred to the pensioners. This is just one person's observations. They may not reflect an accurate picture of Amtrak's sleeping car passengers. I have not taken a sleeper for years. I fly for long distances and only use Amtrak or other trains for short distance travel when I am in California or New York. But my recollection of the other sleeping car passengers is that most of them were retired or nearly there. The Sunset crews are based in LAX. He said that he transferred to LAX many years ago to escape the cold weather in Chicago.
Well the Amtrak LD sample you used is mostly trains with two nights aboard. I would be curious about the Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited. Two fairly fast trains with decent departure times from Chicago. I would be even more interested in the demographics if you got an overnight train to depart a major city at 7-8 p.m. and arrive at it's destination at 7-8 a.m. the next morning. Not too many Amtrak trains meet that criteria because Amtrak sets it's schedules more for the liesure traveler than the business traveler when it comes to overnight trains.
As a business consultant, I cannot ride Amtrak even if I wanted to because my employer states a deadline that I have to arrive at a client site no later than 1 p.m. on Monday and as a individual that does not want to waste my personal time I want to depart after dinner sometime the night before. Try matching that with the Amtrak timetable. I stated earlier in another thread the Chicago to Duluth Amtrak North Star was considered a "Business Traveler" train between Chicago and MSP because the schedule times in the late 1970's were so favorable in those two cities and it had sleeper cars. Only Amtrak train I have seen that ever met the criteria.
Before it was pulled in the late 1950's Milwaukee Road's Southwest Limited was also known as a popular overnight Business train to Kansas City because of the amenities offered. Milwaukee had a virtual Monopoly on Chicago to Kansas City traffic for business travelers with it's 7:20 p.m. Chicago Departure and arrival in Kansas City of 7:50 a.m. I would venture to bet it would still be popular with some business travelers if it still was running on that schedule (see below timetable). It even offered a Milwaukee section that split off the train at Sabula, IA and around Rockford ran on a more Northerly route to Sturtevant, WI then Milwaukee.
http://streamlinermemories.info/Milw/Milw40TT.pdf
CMStPnP Well the Amtrak LD sample you used is mostly trains with two nights aboard.
Well the Amtrak LD sample you used is mostly trains with two nights aboard.
It was not a sample. It was one attendant's observations.
The attendant mostly (frequently) worked Chicago to New York trains when he was based in Chicago, so he said, as best I can remember, which are one night trains.
The Sunset Limited is two nights for passengers that ride it all the way. However, according to Amtrak, less than 10 per cent of the Sunset's passengers ride it end point to end point. I rode it from El Paso to LAX.
The attendant's observations, which were based on more than 40 years of service, were his perception of the changing demographics of the Amtrak passengers that he encountered in the sleepers over his service period.
One man's observations passed on to me. Nothing more; nothing less.
JPS1 CMStPnP Well the Amtrak LD sample you used is mostly trains with two nights aboard. It was not a sample. It was one attendant's observations. The attendant mostly (frequently) worked Chicago to New York trains when he was based in Chicago, so he said, as best I can remember, which are one night trains. The Sunset Limited is two nights for passengers that ride it all the way. However, according to Amtrak, less than 10 per cent of the Sunset's passengers ride it end point to end point. I rode it from El Paso to LAX. The attendant's observations, which were based on more than 40 years of service, were his perception of the changing demographics of the Amtrak passengers that he encountered in the sleepers over his service period. One man's observations passed on to me. Nothing more; nothing less.
That corresponds increasingly with what I've observed (n=1) over 40 years on and off on the one night trains to NYC or DC from CHI.
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