Missouri Amtrak Service

MoDOT Predicts State Will Owe Amtrak About $2.9M At End Of Fiscal Year

Missouri uses state tax dollars to subsidize the twice-daily train service between the state's two largest cities. But MoDOT officials said the state's subsidy has fallen short of covering its full costs in recent years, and will continue to do so next year unless lawmakers authorize more spending.

The state transportation agency said ridership on the Amtrak route increased from about 164,000 in the 2010 fiscal year to about 191,000 passengers last year.

Read more: http://www.kmbc.com/money/30295061/deta ... z1kaIp1b1l

About $15 a head at current loadings.

Or, divided by the population of the state, about $0.50 (for what its worth)

Missouri has record revenues/reserves.

StlToday - Amtrak cites lack of state funding in cutting service in Missouri

Amtrak will cut the number of passenger trains running between St. Louis and Kansas City in half in January in response to a lack of funding from the state.

https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/gov ... f4a64.html

Did some quick math...

Average of 160 pax per day comes out to 40 people per train.

Paraphrasing from the comments in the article, this a carnival ride and the cancellation will strand dozens...

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Maybe if the passengers didn't have to wait in a trailer there'd be more ridership...
Let's not base assumptions on local newspaper comment sections lol.

I don't think that the lack of waiting room facilities is responsible for ridership being about 30% of what it was 10 years ago.

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All transportation modes ridership are down to 25%-35% of what they were pre-covid.
With train ridership down, along with the number of trains down, subsidy requirements are up.
40 passengers per train could have been handled by a 40 passenger intercity bus. Why continue to use trains when a bus will suffice?

An average of 40 per train is unlikely to mean 40 people on every train. Some might have 100, some 20 . Varying on different days of the week , different seasons.
DMU's probably best for this route , single unit on slack days , double or tripled for busy days .

Buses would be handy to provide thruway services to increase the utility and connection of the trains. If you have a train like this , that appears to have excess capacity , then using connecting bus services to full the train is cost effective. If for example they can spend $ 1 miilion on bus services but generate $2 million worth of ridership , theyre saving a million.

This is a case where bus is a better option. Greyhound runs three trips a day, versus Amtrak's one, probably because Greyhound continues to run beyond Kansas City which makes it more lucrative for them.

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A federal law requires states to pay a portion of the cost of certain Amtrak trains. Missouri’s state budget does not include funding for continuing to operate two Missouri River Runner round-trip trains.

Beginning January 3, 2022, only train 314, the morning departure from Kansas City to St. Louis and train 313, the afternoon departure from St. Louis to Kansas City, will continue to operate.

Trains 311 and 316 will be suspended until further notice.

So service is reduced to 1X a day. 5-6 hours.
248 miles Drive in 1/2 the time.

The whole service is inadequate. The route could work as passenger rail (there's really no excuse for it not to), but in its current state (travel time, station, rider experience, connectivity to other transportation) it's not economical in terms of money nor time, especially in a state like Missouri where there really isn't anywhere you can live without owning a car.

TurningOfTheWheel wrote: ↑Thu Dec 23, 2021 12:44 am The whole service is inadequate. The route could work as passenger rail (there's really no excuse for it not to), but in its current state (travel time, station, rider experience, connectivity to other transportation) it's not economical in terms of money nor time, especially in a state like Missouri where there really isn't anywhere you can live without owning a car.

Whether the service is adequate or not, it is a service Missouri supposedly has contracted with Amtrak to provide, with Missouri paying the subsidy of the train's losses. Of course, the losses are higher during a pandemic, hence higher than what Missouri thought it would have to pay, and Amtrak being forced to cut back on services. It is a cut private enterprise would make as well. Why is this news?
Services being provided should match ridership, ridership down > services down.

I understand how the state subsidies work and how the pandemic affects the arithmetic involved. I was just responding to the comments about bustitution with a commentary on the service's noncompetiveness being due to other factors than it simply being a train.