by gokeefe
There are a couple of bright spots that I can see right now.
First and foremost is the continued improvement in revenues despite the drop in passenger loads. Amtrak is clearly positioning themselves well for the future there when ridership inevitably picks back up again. This improvement in total revenues is also very significant because it enables continued capital spending, which yet again, supports future revenues.
Second, Auto Train continues to do very well. That's another good sign for the future. I feel that passenger load is partly indicative of the Florida base load for travel and that as Amtrak continues to improve the Atlantic Coast Service that they will see good growth in that market. Auto Train is also one of the largest, by revenue, long distance services. Any decline (or improvment) in performance on that service would have a disproportionate impact on Amtrak's budget.
The Downeaster appears to be in full recovery from recent operational difficulties and I expect that performance will continue to recover throughout calendar year 2016.
In general given the challenges of cheap gas I think we could have reasonably expected far worse. Amtrak is retaining almost all of the ridership gains made when gas was $3/gallon or more and that is perhaps the biggest success of all.
First and foremost is the continued improvement in revenues despite the drop in passenger loads. Amtrak is clearly positioning themselves well for the future there when ridership inevitably picks back up again. This improvement in total revenues is also very significant because it enables continued capital spending, which yet again, supports future revenues.
Second, Auto Train continues to do very well. That's another good sign for the future. I feel that passenger load is partly indicative of the Florida base load for travel and that as Amtrak continues to improve the Atlantic Coast Service that they will see good growth in that market. Auto Train is also one of the largest, by revenue, long distance services. Any decline (or improvment) in performance on that service would have a disproportionate impact on Amtrak's budget.
The Downeaster appears to be in full recovery from recent operational difficulties and I expect that performance will continue to recover throughout calendar year 2016.
In general given the challenges of cheap gas I think we could have reasonably expected far worse. Amtrak is retaining almost all of the ridership gains made when gas was $3/gallon or more and that is perhaps the biggest success of all.
gokeefe