John_Perkowski wrote: ↑Sat Jun 29, 2019 12:35 pm
For rail overnight to compete with air, it must ...
- Beat the price of an 11th hour full fare seat on Southwest or Spirit.
- Have 100Mbps WiFi end to end.
- Have a comfortable bed. Some of you need to try a Pullman berth from the day.
- Provide a better meal than I can get at LGA, BWI, MDW, LAX, or (insert major airport here).
- Have a pickup agreement with Uber or Lyft that takes you from the station to your destination.
AND
Absolutely, positively, arrive on time.
Forget 100Mbps Wifi
ANYWHERE. Latest Wifi spec gets half that in good (no-interference) conditions. On an airline? Satellite or cellular, and that's going to be maybe 10-25 Mbps. Toss that out the window (oh wait, you can't. They're SEALED).
Let's compare what we got currently. Lets say I get the call Sunday morning saying "We need you in Chicago by Monday." I'm basically in Baltimore, and can hop on an Amtrak or plane at BWI.
Southwest from Baltimore to Chicago, 11th hour. BWI's a Southwest hub. One way, non-stop, $388 to Midway, take the Chicago L into the city, 2 hour flight, 2 hour recommended arrival at BWI, 15 minutes to get luggage and maybe a half hour to get to the heart of Chicago.
Amtrak...
- BWI-NYP via the Regional, NYP-CHI via Lake Shore Limited, $400, no sleeper. Okay, that's out.
- BWI-WAS via the MARC ($7) then WAS-CHI via the Capitol Limited, $462, with sleeper.
- BWI-WAS via the MARC ($7) then WAS-CHI via the Cardinal... sorry, sold out.
So we're close... now only if we can get food back on these trains.