Trains Mag Map

[oltmannd]

Very interesting map in the latest Trains.  Amtrak boardings by station.  Now, what would REALLY be interesting if they had they had ridership by route and station boarding volume pair.  For example, how many people ride the Crescent from a "circle" to a "star", "circle" to "circle", etc.

(Better yet, ridership by OD pair, but doubtful you could pry that away from Amtrak.  That kind of thing is usually "top secret" marketing data!)

[Paul Milenkovic]

There is some justification for Ford keeping secrets from GM, but given the amount of public money Amtrak receives, why should they keep secrets from anybody?  Is this going to help Greyhound or American Airlines if Amtrak has greater transparency?

Or is Amtrak meaning to keep secrets from state DOTs for the state-subsidized corridor trains to Amtrak can tell state legiislatures, "Don't ask for numbers, just send us money."

[oltmannd]

There is some justification for Ford keeping secrets from GM, but given the amount of public money Amtrak receives, why should they keep secrets from anybody?  Is this going to help Greyhound or American Airlines if Amtrak has greater transparency?

Or is Amtrak meaning to keep secrets from state DOTs for the state-subsidized corridor trains to Amtrak can tell state legiislatures, "Don't ask for numbers, just send us money."

I think the knee jerk reaction for most companies is toward less transparency.  Nobody wants to be second guessed.  There probably is some value in some of Amtrak's ridership stats, but there is also that notion of transparency with OUR money!

Knowing who's being servered helps make or break the case for the LD trains.  If there's a good chunk of "circle to circle" ridership, then it's a help, but, if it's all "star to star", then might as well buy'em all plane tickets.