3 ms·

Passengers are rare? Most times when I've taken Amtrak, its packed

by feet 4y ago

stephenhuey 4y ago
I've only seen that in the northeast. Don't think you'll see much of that riding from Houston to Chicago or heading out west! Edit: While I haven't ridden trains in every corner of the USA, the best I saw were in the northeast, and I did have a nice ride from Seattle to Portland once, but in middle America you almost never hear of someone riding a train (my grandmother rode them in Texas in the 1930s and a buddy of mine took the 24-hour trip from Texas to Illinois one time, but those are the only stories I have personally heard around here).
- feet 4y ago
  The Midwest is what I am directly referencing
- pessimizer 4y ago
  I've started and ended 100 Amtrak trips in Chicago. The train is one of the reasons Chicago (and Memphis) exists.
ben_w 4y ago
That tells you the ratio of train seats to train passengers, not the ratio of train passengers to other transport users, nor the ratio of spending on train conveyances for human passengers versus cargo.
tablespoon 4y ago
> Passengers are rare? Most times when I've taken Amtrak, its packed Certainly compared to other modes in most circumstances. If, on a particular route, there's one train a week and 100 planes a day, the train can still be packed while "train passengers" are still rare. IIRC, Amtrak was created because the railroads were losing money on passenger traffic and wanted to get rid of the service. I imagine that's because the service had a lot more competitors than it did in rail's heyday.
- feet 4y ago
  Four trains per day on the route I am referencing I don't know why people are bringing up hypotheticals that are so far from reality like one train per week. That's just not how trains are scheduled with Amtrak. I take the train on a regular basis and your example is entirely removed from the reality that I have personally observed. How many planes are there per day on a single route in the Midwest? Because I doubt its hundreds

Passengers are rare? Most times when I've taken Amtrak, its packed

by feet 4y ago

Passengers are rare? Most times when I've taken Amtrak, its packed

I've only seen that in the northeast. Don't think you'll see much of that riding from Houston to Chicago or heading out west! Edit: While I haven't ridden trains in every corner of the USA, the best I saw were in the northeast, and I did have a nice ride from Seattle to Portland once, but in middle America you almost never hear of someone riding a train (my grandmother rode them in Texas in the 1930s and a buddy of mine took the 24-hour trip from Texas to Illinois one time, but those are the only stories I have personally heard around here).

feet 4y ago
The Midwest is what I am directly referencing
pessimizer 4y ago
I've started and ended 100 Amtrak trips in Chicago. The train is one of the reasons Chicago (and Memphis) exists.

ben_w 4y ago

That tells you the ratio of train seats to train passengers, not the ratio of train passengers to other transport users, nor the ratio of spending on train conveyances for human passengers versus cargo.

tablespoon 4y ago

> Passengers are rare? Most times when I've taken Amtrak, its packed Certainly compared to other modes in most circumstances. If, on a particular route, there's one train a week and 100 planes a day, the train can still be packed while "train passengers" are still rare. IIRC, Amtrak was created because the railroads were losing money on passenger traffic and wanted to get rid of the service. I imagine that's because the service had a lot more competitors than it did in rail's heyday.

feet 4y ago
Four trains per day on the route I am referencing I don't know why people are bringing up hypotheticals that are so far from reality like one train per week. That's just not how trains are scheduled with Amtrak. I take the train on a regular basis and your example is entirely removed from the reality that I have personally observed. How many planes are there per day on a single route in the Midwest? Because I doubt its hundreds