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I love Amtrak, and it seems to be getting more popular lately. I hope to see more funding and support for passenger rail in the U.S.'s future. I've started com

I love Amtrak, and it seems to be getting more popular lately. I hope to see more funding and support for passenger rail in the U.S.'s future. I've started commuting by Amtrak, as I'm lucky enough to have the flexibility to work around its limited schedule. My quality of life is so much higher now that I don't drive. Also every single Amtrak employee I've met so far has been super nice. The website and app are trash. I was not able to buy a ticket on my desktop, I had to use the app. The app decides to reload all the time, sometimes losing my ticket if I don't have cell service. I have no idea what kind of APIs are available, but if anyone has an idea for fixing this please let me know.

privacythrow23 3y ago
Do you love trains or Amtrak? Because Amtrak isn't all that great from what I remember, there are far better carriers but maybe not in the US.
- explaininjs 3y ago
  Amtrak absolutely blows. Always prefer the regional provider ticket if you can. But then so does eurail (as perceived by the end user, I’m sure some independent providers are similarly fine). Small regional trains in general are decent, but they’re no match for planes across any long distance. I just earlier today was trying to get a Eurail pass for some traveling around europe over the next couple weeks. The minimum you pay is $211 for 4 days of use across a month, but every train worth using has a “seat reservation fee” on top of that. I literally couldn’t find a more expensive way to do that route I had planned.
  - bigstrat2003 3y ago
    I've had the exact opposite experience with long distance Amtrak travel. Nice sized seats which are much more comfortable, better views, no getting groped by a TSA agent. Other than the time it takes to travel being much shorter, planes aren't even in the same league as Amtrak.
    - wolverine876 3y ago
      > time it takes to travel being much shorter And that depends on how far you travel, of course: Fixed overhead for planes is around 2.5 hours (depending on airport, etc.) for parking, travel to terminal, security, time to gate, 'deplaning', time from gate to ride/car. For Amtrak, that's about 40 minutes IME. Marginal time cost for distance is, of course, far less on a plane.
    - ThePowerOfFuet 3y ago
      >no getting groped by a TSA agent Don't worry, they're working on remedying that.
      - bigstrat2003 3y ago
        I know. :(
    - explaininjs 3y ago
      If I want to get somewhere slowly I’ll just drive. Even taking my gas guzzling 2004 V8 truck at CA gas prices is far cheaper than Amtrak, and my dog can come. And that’s with just me, for 2+ people there’s no contest whatsoever.
- rainsford 3y ago
  Not the OP, but I love trains and the idea of Amtrak, while the reality actually makes me pretty sad. It says something pretty bad about the US when we seem to actively choose to make our train service embarrassingly terrible even in places where trains make a ton of sense and absolutely could work (e.g. the US northeast). Don't get me wrong, I'm also a private pilot and a car guy...I love our train alternatives too and flying and driving are things the US does a better job of. But leaving out trains as a realistic transportation option feels like a weird blind spot.
- uneekname 3y ago
  Both, and I like that Amtrak is semi-public. I think it's the right system, if only the federal government would choose to protect / support it. Amtrak is bad because it is not allowed to succeed.
RandallBrown 3y ago
Amtrak is a nightmare. Their on time percentage is abysmal. https://www.amtrak.com/on-time-performance https://www.amtrak.com/on-time-performance I've taken 4 Amtrak trips in my life, 3 basically ruined the trip. First, when I was a kid we took a train to Chicago from Michigan and for whatever reason we checked a bag. They lost the bag with my favorite stuffed animal in it and I remember spending most of that weekend crying. Second, we tried going skiing in Whitefish Montana from Seattle and they made us take a bus to Spokane to "get the train back on schedule." We were something like 7 hours late getting to Spokane because of traffic and snow (not enough snow to mess up the train) and we missed a full day of skiing on our 2 day trip. (There'a a LOT more to that story that made it even more ridiculous.) Third trip was from Seattle to Portland and it went fine. Final trip was from Seattle to New Mexico. I had the time and figured it would be kinda cool to see the country by train. The first leg of the trip to LA was actually pretty fantastic, but shortly before arriving the second leg was canceled because one of their bridges burned down in a wildfire near Palm Springs. I realize that was a freak accident but they offered zero help and I had to scramble to find lodging and eventually a Greyhound bus to my destination.
- AlbertCory 3y ago
  > Third trip was from Seattle to Portland and it went fine. I did the other direction. It took over 4 hours, because the train had to go 20 mph due to flooding elsewhere. On the other hand, Boston -> NYC and NYC -> DC went fine. If you like trains, then take Amtrak for that. Not because you expect a great trip.
  - LeafItAlone 3y ago
    Amtrak owns about 3/4 of the tracks between Boston and DC, so those will be their most reliable. That’s what I use it for the most. From my experience, that’s also more expensive than other trips, but I haven’t done an extensive comparison. Elsewhere, on tracks that are owned by others, especially commercial companies, Amtrak may not get priority, so things get dicier.
    - AlbertCory 3y ago
legitster 3y ago
I used to work for a boss who was a train fanatic and executive leadership consultant for Amtrak. His stance was that the government should not give a single dime to Amtrak in it's current configuration. Apparently leadership is thoroughly toxic and only cares about two things: adding more stops and getting more tax dollars. Things like service quality, reliability, cost competitiveness, or even ridership numbers have any consideration.
- bombcar 3y ago
  Adding stops is directly tied to tax dollars. If you’re a representative of TinyTown, ND and you get Amtrak to add a stop, you’ve won reelection for life. I have seen stores with hours like “8-5, plus an hour around whenever the train shows up”.

privacythrow23 3y ago

Do you love trains or Amtrak? Because Amtrak isn't all that great from what I remember, there are far better carriers but maybe not in the US.

explaininjs 3y ago
Amtrak absolutely blows. Always prefer the regional provider ticket if you can. But then so does eurail (as perceived by the end user, I’m sure some independent providers are similarly fine). Small regional trains in general are decent, but they’re no match for planes across any long distance. I just earlier today was trying to get a Eurail pass for some traveling around europe over the next couple weeks. The minimum you pay is $211 for 4 days of use across a month, but every train worth using has a “seat reservation fee” on top of that. I literally couldn’t find a more expensive way to do that route I had planned.
- bigstrat2003 3y ago
  I've had the exact opposite experience with long distance Amtrak travel. Nice sized seats which are much more comfortable, better views, no getting groped by a TSA agent. Other than the time it takes to travel being much shorter, planes aren't even in the same league as Amtrak.
  - wolverine876 3y ago
    > time it takes to travel being much shorter And that depends on how far you travel, of course: Fixed overhead for planes is around 2.5 hours (depending on airport, etc.) for parking, travel to terminal, security, time to gate, 'deplaning', time from gate to ride/car. For Amtrak, that's about 40 minutes IME. Marginal time cost for distance is, of course, far less on a plane.
  - ThePowerOfFuet 3y ago
    >no getting groped by a TSA agent Don't worry, they're working on remedying that.
    - bigstrat2003 3y ago
      I know. :(
  - explaininjs 3y ago
    If I want to get somewhere slowly I’ll just drive. Even taking my gas guzzling 2004 V8 truck at CA gas prices is far cheaper than Amtrak, and my dog can come. And that’s with just me, for 2+ people there’s no contest whatsoever.
rainsford 3y ago
Not the OP, but I love trains and the idea of Amtrak, while the reality actually makes me pretty sad. It says something pretty bad about the US when we seem to actively choose to make our train service embarrassingly terrible even in places where trains make a ton of sense and absolutely could work (e.g. the US northeast). Don't get me wrong, I'm also a private pilot and a car guy...I love our train alternatives too and flying and driving are things the US does a better job of. But leaving out trains as a realistic transportation option feels like a weird blind spot.
uneekname 3y ago
Both, and I like that Amtrak is semi-public. I think it's the right system, if only the federal government would choose to protect / support it. Amtrak is bad because it is not allowed to succeed.

RandallBrown 3y ago

Amtrak is a nightmare. Their on time percentage is abysmal. https://www.amtrak.com/on-time-performance https://www.amtrak.com/on-time-performance I've taken 4 Amtrak trips in my life, 3 basically ruined the trip. First, when I was a kid we took a train to Chicago from Michigan and for whatever reason we checked a bag. They lost the bag with my favorite stuffed animal in it and I remember spending most of that weekend crying. Second, we tried going skiing in Whitefish Montana from Seattle and they made us take a bus to Spokane to "get the train back on schedule." We were something like 7 hours late getting to Spokane because of traffic and snow (not enough snow to mess up the train) and we missed a full day of skiing on our 2 day trip. (There'a a LOT more to that story that made it even more ridiculous.) Third trip was from Seattle to Portland and it went fine. Final trip was from Seattle to New Mexico. I had the time and figured it would be kinda cool to see the country by train. The first leg of the trip to LA was actually pretty fantastic, but shortly before arriving the second leg was canceled because one of their bridges burned down in a wildfire near Palm Springs. I realize that was a freak accident but they offered zero help and I had to scramble to find lodging and eventually a Greyhound bus to my destination.

AlbertCory 3y ago
> Third trip was from Seattle to Portland and it went fine. I did the other direction. It took over 4 hours, because the train had to go 20 mph due to flooding elsewhere. On the other hand, Boston -> NYC and NYC -> DC went fine. If you like trains, then take Amtrak for that. Not because you expect a great trip.
- LeafItAlone 3y ago
  Amtrak owns about 3/4 of the tracks between Boston and DC, so those will be their most reliable. That’s what I use it for the most. From my experience, that’s also more expensive than other trips, but I haven’t done an extensive comparison. Elsewhere, on tracks that are owned by others, especially commercial companies, Amtrak may not get priority, so things get dicier.
  - AlbertCory 3y ago

legitster 3y ago

I used to work for a boss who was a train fanatic and executive leadership consultant for Amtrak. His stance was that the government should not give a single dime to Amtrak in it's current configuration. Apparently leadership is thoroughly toxic and only cares about two things: adding more stops and getting more tax dollars. Things like service quality, reliability, cost competitiveness, or even ridership numbers have any consideration.

bombcar 3y ago
Adding stops is directly tied to tax dollars. If you’re a representative of TinyTown, ND and you get Amtrak to add a stop, you’ve won reelection for life. I have seen stores with hours like “8-5, plus an hour around whenever the train shows up”.