Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
I got into some heated debates about load factors on another board. One gentleman repeatedly argued that 50% load factors were sufficient justification for eliminating long distance trains.Its easy to see how full a plane is by looking at the load factor, because nobody gets on or off en route. But since trains pick people up and drop people off along the way, it's not as clear. Load factors only measure the average load on a given run. They don't tell you how full the train actually gets. For example, Train 14 never leaves Los Angeles full. If it did the passengers farther down the line would be out of luck. But it usually is completely full by the time it departs Sacramento. Once the train gets into Oregon, more people start getting off than are getting on, so that by the time it reaches Seattle it may only be a quarter full.  So on average the train is only 50% full, but for part of its run it is at or near 100%, while at other points it is at or near 25%. (NB: I don't know the actual numbers, these are just examples for illustration purposes.) Some people actually argue that the Starlight should therefore only operate between Sacramento and Portland because thats the only part of the run that operates near capacity. But then the train wouldn't have the passengers that boarded south of Sacramento, and so sales would be lighter. So a train starts out partially filled, fills up, then gradually empties again. What is important to understand is that the principle is the same no matter how long the route. It works the same for a run of 200 miles as a run for 2,000 miles. I even observe the same thing on local city bus routes of 5-10 miles.
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