Cutting ticket agent jobs seems to be a new fad with Amtrak. They are removing the station agent in Havre and Shelby along the Empire Builder route.
From the above article:
"I'm afraid we're seeing a change in policy right now because Amtrak is canceling ticket agents along the route and cutting staff," Boardman said. "There are some people in this administration who want to see the end of long-distance passenger service, but I believe the Southwest Chief and other trains remain important to their regions."
"Rick Klein, city manager of La Junta, said he became alarmed earlier this year when Amtrak announced it was shutting down 40 ticket offices along the line, including La Junta."
Richard
Posts: 1909 | From: Santa Rosa | Registered: Jan 2004
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Does anyone really need to go to a station to buy a ticket? When was the last time you saw a city ticket office for an airline? Or went to an airport to buy a ticket?
Frank in sunny but cool SBA
Posts: 2160 | From: Santa Barbara, CA, USA | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Originally posted by sbalax: Does anyone really need to go to a station to buy a ticket? When was the last time you saw a city ticket office for an airline? Or went to an airport to buy a ticket?
Frank in sunny but cool SBA
Checked baggage, unless we restore on train baggagemasters, which would seem to be a good idea, then you could have checked baggage at all stops.
Posts: 2808 | From: Olive Branch MS | Registered: Nov 2002
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It is painfully obvious to me and others that Amtrak top management has one goal: stop running long-distance trains as soon as they can get away with it,and cut as much as they can from everything else, except for the oh-so-holy and untouchable NEC.
Richard Anderson was chosen (some say by Wick Moorman) to be the man who does the dirty deed of destroying what little is left of our national passenger train system.
And when Anderson is done, the US will be the only technologically advanced country in the world with no national passenger train system, and he will retire with a big "golden parachute" as his reward for ordering and seeing through the destruction of our national passenger rail system.
Is it any wonder that many people in other countries think we are crazy?
[And if net neutrality goes away, as it may, so will this website, and so will all other small websites. We won't have any place to get excellent info from well-informed people such as GBN and all the other other regulars here, nor will we have these great forums where we can go to discuss issues related to railroads, especially Amtrak. Sad..... ]
Posts: 211 | From: California | Registered: Dec 2004
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I think Frank has a point. I like the e-ticket and like not having to check in at an Amtrak station before boarding. However, I would hope station and/or ticket agents will not disappear. It also seems that Amtrak is discouraging checked baggage. A bad idea.
I also think elderly and handicapped passengers should expect some assistance with their boarding.
The city manager of La Junta says 40 ticket offices will be shut down, along the line. I only count around 33 station stops along the SW Chief route. Also, will not the Amtrak employee union have something to say? Will they really lay off all of those ticket agents or just redistribute them elsewhere?
Here is a news article concerned with the removal of ticket agents at the Havre and Shelby Amtrak depots:
Margaret: If they cut all Amtrak trains except for the "holy" NEC, I don't have a problem with committing a sacrilege and eliminating all NEC Amtrak trains and rid our country of our national embarrassment called Amtrak. I am hopeful, should this happen, that something good would arise from the ashes.
Richard
Posts: 1909 | From: Santa Rosa | Registered: Jan 2004
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I had not thought about baggage but could it not be self-service as it is most often at airports. You would just need a person -- train crew? -- to monitor the bags once they are tagged.
Frank in cool and cloudy SBA
Posts: 2160 | From: Santa Barbara, CA, USA | Registered: Oct 2003
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It is clear to me and many others that Richard Anderson is using the old and very successful "death by a thousand cuts" method to destroy the LD trains and thus our national passenger rail system.
Getting rid of ticket agents is just one more cut that the cutters know that most opponents to the cuts will get no support for opposing because "[The individual cut] is not worth the time and energy and money to oppose."
In this case, the individual cut is Amtrak abolishing many ticket agent jobs. It is very important to see this cut as one of the thousand cuts that is meant to destroy most of Amtrak.
And ticket agents do far more than just sell tickets. They help load baggage, and keep the station open and tidy and clean, and answer questions the public has, and are one of the most important public faces of Amtrak.
Some people cannot handle their own baggage without assistance. Those people need and deserve to have well-trained and kind Amtrak employees at stations to assist them with their baggage. Not everyone who is disabled looks disabled.
And not everyone has a smart phone or a computer, so those people do need and deserve to have well-trained and kind and knowledgeable Amtrak employees to buy tickets from. And not everyone is good at using computers. Nor should they be just to be able to ride Amtrak trains.
And everyone needs and deserves all stations to be staffed -- and by well-trained and kind and knowledgeable Amtrak employees. And there IS plenty of money for all of that; it is just both being spent on the very wrong things (war, CAHSR, Seattle tunnel, and other welfare-for-the rich projects) and is being hoarded ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Papers ).
We all need and deserve to be able to deal with well-trained and knowledgeable and kind human beings who have authority to deal with problems. There is no reason at all to support replacing humans with computers for customer-facing jobs. This ongoing devaluation of the great importance of human interactions has got to be reversed.
Posts: 211 | From: California | Registered: Dec 2004
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Baggage cars and checked baggage service would be discontinued.
Sleeper cars and all on-board services would be discontinued.
Dining cars and any form of Federally subsidized food service would be eliminated.
Lounge cars would be eliminated because we have assumed that food service should be provided at not net cost to the taxpayer.
However, also from the same report, "None of the sleeper car passengers would switch to basic coach service if sleeper service is eliminated".
Right. Would a potential passenger on, let's say, the Coast Starlight or Empire Builder think about a 36-48 hour trip in coach, eating cold boxed meals? I think the writing is on the wall.
Richard
Posts: 1909 | From: Santa Rosa | Registered: Jan 2004
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Just think, if the Chief is discontinued, the only Daily Chi-LA service will be CHI-5-SAC-704-BFD-5804-LAX.
Wow, Clark or Marilyn stepping off a BUS? (well, other than the movie "Bus Stop") and at an ungodly hour to boot.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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A little off the subject, but your post reminded me of a book I read, a while back, called "Super". The book was written by Jim Lehrer, and it depicted the passsenger train experience, especially by film stars such as Gable, aboard the SF Super Chief in the 50's.
Although the book was fiction, you got the impression that some of the events really happened. The book implied that some movie stars, of the male variety, had attendant friends, generously tipped, who would invite attractive, young women back to the celebrities' sleeper. Under the guise of getting a cocktail and an autograph. However, what the young lass really got was more than an autograph and a free drink.
I don't know if this kind of activity really took place.
Richard
Posts: 1909 | From: Santa Rosa | Registered: Jan 2004
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Now there is another "Metoo" scandal a brewing (something about USC) and that same woman lawyer, who has quite the knack of getting her face on the tube, has done it again.
Posts: 9975 | From: Clarendon Hills, IL USA (BNSF Chicago Sub MP 18.71) | Registered: Apr 2002
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