by Arborwayfan
Why, every weekend I think "Do I buy that new shirt from Gucci or from Target?" Seriously, though, they are. Plenty of people have enough money and interest to buy some expensive designer clothes but still need to buy most of their clothes more cheaply; or they can afford either a fancy gas grill or a designer coat or a little vacation, but not both. At the margin, Gucci and Target are in competition for those people's business. Maybe neither of them really aims at those people, but I'm sure plenty of people buy from both and that that affects the price and presentation of some items at both companies.
Same with Amtrak. There are absolutely people out there who teeter on the edge of bus vs. train in the NEC region, or who sometimes use one and sometimes the other. Not the people who can only afford the cheapest bus fare (I'll concede that Amtrak is not really in competition for those passengers) but somewhere along the line between them and people who can easily afford the Acela fare and who can't imagine taking any bus are thousands and thousands of people who can sometimes afford the train, or who can always afford it but sometimes feel better saving the money. And the existence of those people either affects what Amtrak can charge, or only doesn't affect what Amtrak can charge because there is not even enough capacity on the NEC to carry everyone willing to pay Acela fares.
Same with Amtrak. There are absolutely people out there who teeter on the edge of bus vs. train in the NEC region, or who sometimes use one and sometimes the other. Not the people who can only afford the cheapest bus fare (I'll concede that Amtrak is not really in competition for those passengers) but somewhere along the line between them and people who can easily afford the Acela fare and who can't imagine taking any bus are thousands and thousands of people who can sometimes afford the train, or who can always afford it but sometimes feel better saving the money. And the existence of those people either affects what Amtrak can charge, or only doesn't affect what Amtrak can charge because there is not even enough capacity on the NEC to carry everyone willing to pay Acela fares.