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[quote user="schlimm"]  The original three-part article in the LA Times: <A href="http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/interview-amtrak-pre-7108/" mce_href="http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/interview-amtrak-pre-7108/">http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/interview-amtrak-pre-7108/</A> <A href="http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/interview-amtrak-pre-7151/" mce_href="http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/interview-amtrak-pre-7151/">http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/interview-amtrak-pre-7151/</A> <A href="http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/interview-amtrak-pre-7153/" mce_href="http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/interview-amtrak-pre-7153/[/quote">http://travel.latimes.com/daily-deal-blog/index.php/interview-amtrak-pre-7153/</A> [/quote] The articles are interesting, but like so many of them they tell only part of the story.  Several examples struck me. Boardman noted that the long distance trains are running full and on time.  Ridership is up.  And he acknowledged that the long distance trains eat up about 80 per cent of the federal subsidy.  This is true for the operating subsidy, but it is not historically true for the capital subsidy.  Most of the capital subsidy has gone to the NEC.  Moreover, he failed to note that the long distance trains, whilst eating up most of Amtrak's federal subsidy, serve a miniscule portion of travelers choosing an intercity commercial option.  The claim that Amtrak carries more than 50% of the air/rail passengers between New York and Washington is true.  However, one needs to drill into the numbers to get a clearer picture of them.  I have ridden the Acela or a regional train between New York and Philadelphia or Baltimore or Washington three times during the past 15 months.  Based on my unscientific observation, many if not most of the passengers do not ride from New York to Washington.  Rather, they get on and off the train at one of the intermediate stations.  For example, when I took the Acela from Philadelphia to New York, it arrived at 30th Street Station approximately 40 per cent full.  But between Philadelphia and New York it appeared to have a load factor approaching 60 to 70 per cent.  Accordingly, whilst it is true that Amtrak carries more than 50 per cent of the passengers between New York and Washington, it is probably not true that it carries 50 per cent of the passengers going from New York to Washington or vice versa. The Prius driver quoted a cost of $20 in gasoline to drive from LA to San Diego and back.  He probably overstated the cost of the gasoline.  It is approximately 242 miles from LA to San Diego and back.  A Prius gets approximately 45 miles per gallon, which means that it would use approximately 5.4 gallons of gasoline for the trip.  MapQuest estimates the fuel cost at $17.48.  But the fully allocated cost would be higher.  Using my Corolla as an example, but adjusting the purchase price to what I would have had to pay for a Prius when I bought it, which is the beauty of having everything in a spread sheet, the fully allocated cost of driving it from LA to San Diego would be $71.10.  The comparable weekend rail fare on Amtrak for one person would be $72 before any discounts.  The fare for two people would be $144.  As I have noticed in other analysis, if only one person is traveling by Amtrak, the cost is about the same or less than driving, assuming that the person does not need to rent a car at his or her destination.  But beyond one person, the cost of driving is almost always cheaper than taking the train or a plane or even the bus, although in some instances the bus will trump the car even with more than one passenger.
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