MBCR vs Amtrak

Have Noticed that Amtrak agents have been nasty and dont like giving info to Commuter Rail passengers since they lost the contract to run commuter rail. Do they consider MBCR to be a scab operation

How would you feel if someone came in to your place of employment and asked you questions about a competitor's product? Amtrak's agents are paid by Amtrak to assist Amtrak's passengers. MBCR isn't contributing one cent to the agent's salary so why should Amtrak or its agents perform a service for MBCR for free? Would you answer questions about a competitor's product at your workplace? I'm not trying to be harsh but just because Amtrak at one time was the operator does not forever enjoin them to answer questions about a service they once provided under contract.

Drew

Where did you notice this?

First, I presume we are addressing the Boston area commuter agency; apparently they no longer are known as the MBTA.

Secondly, Amtrak is equally "mean" to South Florida Tri-Rail; best not address an Amtrak agent regarding their service; in fact best not be loitering in the Amtrak Waiting Room, as yours is the platform.

I think the issue has nothing to do with "competition" but has to do with asking the right person. Why would the Amtrak ticket window workers know the commuter rail system and schedules? Also, the Amtrak ticket window is about 10 feet from the MBTA ticket windows as well as the racks containing all of the commuter rail schedules. Maybe you should ask some MBCR employees about Amtrak schedules. I bet you'd get the same reaction.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:First, I presume we are addressing the Boston area commuter agency; apparently they no longer are known as the MBTA.

They are, Mr. Norman. The Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad (MBCR) referred to by Mr. Caboose is the contract operator of Boston rail commuter service on behalf of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Operating employees work for MBCR, a private, for-profit company. That's been the case since 2003, so it's unclear to me why there would be any new issues at this time.

Worchester and other points.

My argument here is that MBCR feeds passengers into Amtrak. Much like a commuter airline

How do you come to that conclusion when they are 2 completely different railroads?

Littleredcaboose wrote:My argument here is that MBCR feeds passengers into Amtrak. Much like a commuter airline

I respectfully disagree. Commuter railroads and Amtrak neither cooperate or compete with each other. There are no established agreements for commuter railroads to feed passengers to Amtrak such as Republic Airways and others have with all of the large airlines (other than Southwest). About all you can say is they share the same facilities in many places.

MudLake wrote:

Littleredcaboose wrote:My argument here is that MBCR feeds passengers into Amtrak. Much like a commuter airline

I respectfully disagree. Commuter railroads and Amtrak neither cooperate or compete with each other. There are no established agreements for commuter railroads to feed passengers to Amtrak such as Republic Airways and others have with all of the large airlines (other than Southwest). About all you can say is they share the same facilities in many places.

This is certainly true in the Boston area. There are however other areas where there are examples of specific agreements between commuter railroad and Amtrak on specific routes. The big one that comes to mind is in Southern California involving cross honoring 10 trip and monthly tickets. The other one that comes to mind is between NJT and Amtrak on the Philly - Atlantic City service which is considered an Amtrak Thruway service and can be ticketed through Amtrak in conjunction with a connecting Amtrak leg at Philly.

At Metropark in NJ the ticket agents are NJ Transit and they help Amtrak customers with no problem at all. They printed my Amtrak ticket just last week. Another ticket question. When you buy Amtrak tickets on line can you print them out at any NJT station or does it have to be like a Metropark where both lines serve the station? Meaning can I buy Amtrak tickets online an then have the ticket agent at my local NJT station print them out? A little off topic but wonder? Thanks JC

matawanaberdeen wrote:At Metropark in NJ the ticket agents are NJ Transit and they help Amtrak customers with no problem at all. They printed my Amtrak ticket just last week. Another ticket question. When you buy Amtrak tickets on line can you print them out at any NJT station or does it have to be like a Metropark where both lines serve the station? Meaning can I buy Amtrak tickets online an then have the ticket agent at my local NJT station print them out? A little off topic but wonder? Thanks JC

Metropark is handled under an agreement between Amtrak and NJT. NJT agents are supposed to deal with Amtrak passengers as a part of their duties at Metropark.

You can get Amtrak tickets printed only at Amtrak stations, not at any arbitrary NJT station.

Thanks that is what I thought. I went to Metropark to have mine printed out. It would have been nice to go right to Matawan NJT station but oh well you can't. Thanks again. JC

In the Chicago area, Amtrak and Metra have separate ticket agents at Union Station, Glenview, Naperville and Joliet. Amtrak has an agent at Homewood, but Metra just has vending machines. It's doubtful the Amtrak and Metra ticket agents would know anything about the others service, except in a general way.