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[quote user="Phoebe Vet"]   <A href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/428582.html">http://www.charlotteobserver.com/breaking/story/428582.html</A> [/quote] Unfortunately, the press frequently reports only part of the story.  Here are some examples from the referenced story. Last year more than 140,000 riders stepped on or off the six trains that stop each day at the modest brick station on West Cabarrus Street..... A record Thanksgiving crush saw as many as 900 passengers a day streaming through a station.......  On an annual basis these numbers, assuming that they are correct, which is always suspect when they are rounded to even numbers, works out to an average of 384 passengers per day passing through the Raleigh Station.  The station may be inadequate for peak travel days, but 384 passengers between 7:00 a.m. and 9:13 p.m., based on the pictures of the station, are not likely to jam it. Amtrak passenger counts were up ..... 20 percent in North Carolina during the fiscal year that ended in September -- and not just because of $4 gas..... The number of riders on the Carolinian increased 15.3 per cent during FY2008, whilst the Piedmont saw an increase of 30.4 per cent.  The average number of riders per train was 247.51, although how many rode from end point to end point is not made public by Amtrak or North Carolina DOT.  However, the average load factor on the Carolinian was 60 per cent, whilst the average load factor on the Piedmont was 43.2 per cent, suggesting that the trains operated below capacity except on peak travel days.    Revenues were up 29.8 per cent on the Carolinian and 18.8 per cent on the Piedmont.  Unfortunately, the revenues were not sufficient to cover the fully allocated costs.  The Carolinian covered its average passenger per mile operating costs by ½ cent per mile, but after application of interest, depreciation, and other charges, it lost money.  The Piedmont lost 11.1 cents per passenger mile before interest, depreciation, and other charges.  These items added an average of 16.61 cents per passenger mile, thereby turning the operating profit on the Carolinian to an estimated loss of 16.09 cents per passenger mile while boosting the loss on the Piedmont to 27.71 cents per passenger mile.  Amtrak's Jeff Mann says the trains that pass through North Carolina arrived on schedule 85 percent of the time in November, compared to 64 percent in November 2007. The Carolinian arrived at its end points 39.3 per cent on time, whilst the Piedmont achieved an on time arrival of 70.1 per cent, which given its shorter run is as expected.  The Silver Star, which is the other train serving Raleigh, arrived on time at its end points 45.1 per cent of the time.  Although Raleigh is not an end point for the Star, it is difficult to believe that its on time arrival at Raleigh was much better than its end point arrival times.  The standard one-way fare from Cary to Greensboro is $9.50, but Stover pays $77 for a 10-ride ticket. With additional discounts from a frequent-rider rewards program, each trip costs him about $7.....  The article failed to mention that Stover's trip from Cary to Greensboro costs Amtrak $12.68 on the Carolinian or $20.78 on the Piedmont on average.  Thus, depending on the train that he rides, Mr. Stover gets a taxpayer subsidy of $3.18 per trip on the Carolinian or $11.28 on the Piedmont before the frequent- rider rewards program. My problem with articles like this one is the same as my problem with NARP's drumbeating.  Both highlight the positive features of passenger trains without telling the whole story.  I doubt Mr. Stover or the taxpayers know that each time he boards the train he is being lifted up by the taxpayers.
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