posted
What if Amtrak eliminated Guest Rewards? could they still keep the diner,lounge car and sleeper car? How about charging a 10 dollar booking fee for making reservations on the phone but not for web bookings?
How about buy on board type meals in the lounge and selling large bottles of Soda? Maybe they could eliminate some snacks that don't sell well. Or make the lounge snack bar open for limited hours? Or better yet no lounge car attendant it could be you pay with your credit card select what you want and the door opens like a vending machine?
For alcoholic beverages the conductor would open it for you after checking id?
How about cutting the movies from 1 to 2 or eliminating that feature since anyways the videos are old and you can get it in a theater? Or how about installign Quick Trak machines to check liggage and get boarding passes instead of mailing ticket travel it would be ticketless and you just need a boarding pass? Less agents to hire.
There are ways to save the diner,lounge and sleepr cars. Think Amtrak Think. Stop using tickets and email the reservaiton or just have a confirmation # to give to get your boarding pass. This is how the airlines save money. It doesn't take long to setup the reservation system to do it. The conductor would take your boarding pass when you board the train and it would let you select a seat from the mapper on the Quicktrak machine or online at amtrak.com with special requests being made so yo ucan get a lower reserved window seat. No seat checks as the conductor gets a manifest of who is in what seat.
Dining car reservations can be made with your resrvations for the whole trip you log onto Amtrak.com select the time avalability and boom no overcrowidng the dining car and no over or under ordering of meals.
Please comment on this ASAP!!! I want to hear your feedback about pre-assigning seats and boarding by rows in Coach and sleeper boards first like the airlines?
Posts: 259 | Registered: Jan 2005
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posted
the benefit to ticketless travel is that you can't fprget your tickets at home thus having to pay a lost ticket fee and easier refunds.
Posts: 259 | Registered: Jan 2005
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What's the urgency, and why are these business details so important to you?
Why would I want to make dining car reservations months ahead of time? I don't know when I'll be hungry in May if I book my tickets in March.
Let's worry about the big picture and leave the details of running the business to those so employed.
Posts: 2649 | From: California's Monterey Peninsula | Registered: Dec 2000
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posted
I'm not totally worried about sleepers, diners, and longe cars disappearing. Once people begin to look at the facts and understand how it all adds to the bottom line then the micromanagers will go away.
Yes, different ways of running the diner, etc. should be looked at to achieve savings...I'm not arguing with that!
What I'd like to say to a Congressperson is: I'm traveling 500 miles on the Zephyr and there is no place to get food or drink? Excuse me!!! Perhaps you would want to take the toilets away next since they use water and other materials...you could save money there too. Oh and then you can turn off the heat and air conditioning, and save money there too. Oh and by the way, why have car attendants? Let the passengers get on and off by themselves, we can save money there too!
I wonder if the congresspersons think about what will become of the sleepers, diners, and lounge cars. Will the lease still have to be paid on these? How will that save money?
See how ridiculous this gets and how stupid the congresspersons begin to look! OK so they look silly already...teehee!
Posts: 171 | From: Aurora, Illinois | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
When I traveled on the Capitol Ltd. in November, I was seated in the Dining Car with a gentleman in his 40s making his first train trip. He clearly had a business background and had observations of Amtrak operations from a non-Railfan perspective.
He said that Amtrak needed to do more to provide parking at its stations because passengers have to make an effort to just get to the station and must be able to drive and park to make it worthwhile.
He also noted that the Dining Car's food is not the problem, it is the high cost of staffing the car. On the Capitol Ltd., only two meals are served eastbound; a shortened dinner and a breakfast. Not much opportunity for a "revenue stream" was his comment, and the staff hardly "markets" the Dining Car product to the captive audience. Six staff for such short duty! He would have kept it open until 11:00 pm, added a lighter fare to a full-service meal, and promoted it to the whole train. It did seem like we were rushing to serve and end the service as quickly as possible.
He was enjoying the train service in general.
Posts: 76 | From: Steubenville, OH | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:Originally posted by AHALL: the Dining Car's food is not the problem, it is the high cost of staffing the car. On the Capitol Ltd., only two meals are served eastbound; a shortened dinner and a breakfast. Not much opportunity for a "revenue stream" was his comment, and the staff hardly "markets" the Dining Car product to the captive audience. Six staff for such short duty!
It's not a result of poor onboard marketing. Apart from announcing over the PA system that the Dining Car is open (and reciting a list of entrees), there's nothing a crew can do to coerce non-sleeper passengers to purchase a meal. You either wanna eat in the Dining Car or you don't. The prices really do keep most coach passengers away.
As a result, costly overstaffing is a problem on certain routes, on certain days of the week, and at certain times of the year.
Off-season, I've been in Dining Cars where the First, Second, and Final dinner seatings were announced less than ten minutes apart, simply because so few passengers turned up to eat.
On the Lake Shore Limited a few weeks ago, I walked into a completely empty Dining Car at 8AM on a Sunday morning, and made it all the way through breakfast before a second customer even walked in. I had a similar experience recently on the Texas Eagle.
Each time, an entire diner crew was standing around with little or nothing to do. The lack of customers isn't their fault, I know. But during low travel periods, the current setup is a very expensive way to serve so few meals.
Posts: 793 | Registered: Mar 2002
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One thing I have noticed is that most coach passengers are unaware of what is available and the cost of meals in the dining car.(Attach a simple xerox copy of the menu to the magazine that is in the pocket in front of all coach passengers. A low cost advertisement opportunity.) Perhaps it is time to consider some lower price meals.Lighter fare at lunch. Perhaps a 1/2 sandwich and a cup of soup. How about soup and salad. Keeping the price of lunch below $5.A simpler breakfast menu -- Juice or fruit cup and a bowl of cereal (hot or cold). I am sure if they took a simple survey of the passengers (including first class) they might be surprised to find that not everyone wants to feel overstuffed three meals a day. Find out what people really want.
Posts: 460 | From: North Central CT | Registered: May 2004
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I wish that Amtrak could offer something between microwaved sandwiches w/ chips and formal sit-down dinners.
Something like a 'lunch-counter' offering hot but budget meals would appeal to many in coach. This was a concept that both the Kansas City Southern and Louisville and Nashville Railroads used to reduce dining car deficits in the 1960's.
-------------------- David Pressley
Advocating for passenger trains since 1973!
Climbing toward 5,000 posts like the Southwest Chief ascending Raton Pass. Cautiously, not nearly as fast as in the old days, and hoping to avoid premature reroutes. Posts: 4203 | From: Western North Carolina | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote:Originally posted by DeeCT: I am sure if they took a simple survey of the passengers (including first class) they might be surprised to find that not everyone wants to feel overstuffed three meals a day.
During my longer Amtrak trips, I've always felt that building the cost of three full meals per day into the price of a sleeper room is "food overkill."
Granted, no one forces me to eat. But every few hours, I dutifully show up in the Dining Car anyway -- even when I'm still full from the previous meal. I suspect most of my fellow Sleeper passengers do the same.
After all, we've already paid for the food (regardless of what the railroad's promotional materials say, nothing Amtrak gives you while you're traveling by Sleeper is "complimentary").
In fact, solo travelers pay for each meal twice, since the room cost includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner for two.
That means your solo plate of "First Class" prime rib actually costs you at least double the already lofty price printed on the menu. And you've paid for it whether you eat the meal or not -- which is why I always sit down and eat. Even when I'm not hungry. Even if it kills me. Sad but true.
That's why I'd prefer to see Amtrak completely do away with the current meal practice for First Class passengers, lower the Sleeper fares accordingly, and let everyone purchase only those meals they really want, with a much broader range of prices.
The Dining Cars would still stay in business (everyone has to eat sooner or later). Sleeper passengers would have fewer excuses for becoming more rotund than they already are. And with more reasonably-priced items on the menu, far more Coach passengers would be willing to give 'dinner in the diner' a try.
Posts: 793 | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote:In fact, solo travelers actually pay for each meal twice, since the room cost includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner for two.
So, do y'all think Amtrak wants you to "hook up" with a member of the "coach" class if you are traveling first class by yourself and treat them to a room and free meals?
Hmmm....
Posts: 1418 | From: Houston, Republic of Texas | Registered: Jan 2001
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quote:Originally posted by notelvis: I wish that Amtrak could offer something between microwaved sandwiches w/ chips and formal sit-down dinners.
Something like a 'lunch-counter' offering hot but budget meals would appeal to many in coach. This was a concept that both the Kansas City Southern and Louisville and Nashville Railroads used to reduce dining car deficits in the 1960's.
I remember my first few trips on the Coast Starlight circa 1974 Amtrak had exactly that. In the middle of the coach cars was a "snack car", essentially a counter service diner. It had a full kitchen, like the regular diner, but no tables. They got rid of it by mid '75, though.
Posts: 2649 | From: California's Monterey Peninsula | Registered: Dec 2000
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posted
I haven't taken a train trip for a few years, but I have never experienced an "empty" dining car -- I always travel sleeper on overnight trains, but the dining car has always had a good share of coach passengers in it as well as sleeper passengers. Has the cost of meals gone up considerably over the last couple years?
Posts: 2428 | From: Grayling, MI | Registered: Mar 2002
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I find I must agree with you...when I traveled on VIA Rail, even though I paid for a sleeper, I still had to pay for my meals. I think this would bring the cost of the sleeper down a bit as well as lowering the cost of meals in the Diner! I also agree that more of a selection (with possible smaller portion choices)would get more people to use the Dining Car.
Posts: 171 | From: Aurora, Illinois | Registered: Jun 2005
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