by Arborwayfan
I support a luxury class if it pays for itself. If it helps to subsidize coach (or coach and economy sleeper), better and better.
I do not support luxury trains. Unless it can do it at a clear profit that helps run other parts of the system, Amtrak has no business turning away the Boy Scouts and college students and installers travelling from one job to the next and all the other ordinary passengers and replacing their train with a kind of museum cruise. And if Amtrak can make a profit hauling those pax, Amtrak can also use that profit to haul a few coaches on the same trains. Seems doubtful to me.
The people in coach are real passengers. Given how much we keep hearing about dining car losses, I assume the coach passengers are a lot cheaper to haul.
An overnight ferry (to Alaska, or across the Baltic, for example) has several classes of room, from barebones with bathroom down the hall to fancy with queen-sized beds. They have several restaurants at quite different price points. They also take deck passengers (no room) and let people bring their own food. Obviously a train doesn't have the space a huge ship has, but an experiential plan should look at what the ferries do, and consider doing something similar:
1. unbundle sleeping and eating. Plenty of people would like a bed and one sit-down meal a day; plenty would sit up and also eat one sit-down meal a day. Some want all sit-down meals, whether they are riding in coach or sleeper.
2. But offer slight discounts for people who pay for food in advance, maybe, whether they are in coach or in sleeper.
3. Offer different classes of sleeping accommodations if the market exists (but not otherwise).
4. Continue to cater to pax who just want a ride and a window; don't aim the whole thing at the wine-tasting crowd.
I do not support luxury trains. Unless it can do it at a clear profit that helps run other parts of the system, Amtrak has no business turning away the Boy Scouts and college students and installers travelling from one job to the next and all the other ordinary passengers and replacing their train with a kind of museum cruise. And if Amtrak can make a profit hauling those pax, Amtrak can also use that profit to haul a few coaches on the same trains. Seems doubtful to me.
The people in coach are real passengers. Given how much we keep hearing about dining car losses, I assume the coach passengers are a lot cheaper to haul.
An overnight ferry (to Alaska, or across the Baltic, for example) has several classes of room, from barebones with bathroom down the hall to fancy with queen-sized beds. They have several restaurants at quite different price points. They also take deck passengers (no room) and let people bring their own food. Obviously a train doesn't have the space a huge ship has, but an experiential plan should look at what the ferries do, and consider doing something similar:
1. unbundle sleeping and eating. Plenty of people would like a bed and one sit-down meal a day; plenty would sit up and also eat one sit-down meal a day. Some want all sit-down meals, whether they are riding in coach or sleeper.
2. But offer slight discounts for people who pay for food in advance, maybe, whether they are in coach or in sleeper.
3. Offer different classes of sleeping accommodations if the market exists (but not otherwise).
4. Continue to cater to pax who just want a ride and a window; don't aim the whole thing at the wine-tasting crowd.