Posted on 09/09/2009 4:10:38 PM PDT by RBW in PA
I’ve just been on Amtrak’s website to see how much it would cost for a single day, round trip adult ticket from Metro Park, NJ (MET) to Union Station (WAS) on September 12, 2009. When I do this, the total cost is $224.00. Note that this is for the 121 Train departing at 6:20 AM and the 182 Train leaving DC at 7:20 PM. When I enter the same itinerary for one week later, September 19, 2009 and select the same trains the total round trip cost is $98.00. The dramatic price difference confuses me and I can’t explain why it exists. When the later trip is selected, there is a promotion mentioned about non-refundable tickets being purchased 14 days in advance. However, the trip on the 19th does not fall within this time frame and I see no conditions listed if I attempt to complete the booking.
Just curious if anyone else has experienced price increases in public transportation to DC for September 12th? I was under the assumption that Amtrak is regulated and their rates should not fluctuate? Are they like the airlines, the later you book the more it costs?
Title should be Rates, I know...
I have also heard some rumors regarding the DC Metro.
Word is on the street that the Metro trains will not be stopping at the point closest to where the event is taking place. Is anyone able to shed any light on this issue?
If these inconsistencies are true, then that public-transport is responding to our [possible] actions is actually quite interesting.
It could mean that we have “the powers that be” scared. :)
A greyhound barf-bus would be cheaper and more reliable.
I have a feeling they are soaking last minute passengers...the tickets for thurs 9/10 and frid 9/11 from NYC to DC are a lot more expensive than the same trains one week later...
It all depends on how soon before your trip you buy, and it’s just like the airlines. Had you bought your tickets in advance several weeks ago, you would have paid a lower price.
Could it be the government responding to supply and demand? Nah.
If they are nearly booked for that weekend, the prices are going to be higher than the following weekend when there are still remaining seats.
Also, the airlines have different price points for 7 days, 14 days, and 21 days in advance. If Amtrak does the same, your comparison point would be more than 7 days away.
Reservations booked at the last minute are usually the most expensive, unless the provider is offering heavy discounts to book unsold seats.
“Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.”
THe only website posted delays forecast are as follows:
Friday, Sept. 11, to Sunday, Sept. 13
Red Line -- Metrorail customers traveling between the Medical Center and Grosvenor-Strathmore Metrorail stations should add at least 20 minutes to their travel time for their trips because Metro will replace drainage pump cables. Trains will share one track between these locations from 9:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 11, to closing (midnight), on Sunday, Sept. 13.
Orange Line -- Metrorail customers traveling between the East Falls Church and Ballston-MU Metrorail stations should add at least 20 minutes of travel time to their trips because Metro will replace crossties, the track support structures. Trains will share one track between these locations from 8 p.m., Friday, Sept. 11, to closing (midnight) on Sunday, Sept. 13.
Green Line -- Metrorail customers traveling between the Greenbelt and College Park-U of Md Metrorail stations should add at least 20 minutes of travel time to their trips because Metro will be tamping the rail tracks to ensure durability. Trains will share one track between these locations from 9:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 11, to 6 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 13.
As posted at Metro News
THe only website posted delays forecast are as follows:
Friday, Sept. 11, to Sunday, Sept. 13
Red Line -- Metrorail customers traveling between the Medical Center and Grosvenor-Strathmore Metrorail stations should add at least 20 minutes to their travel time for their trips because Metro will replace drainage pump cables. Trains will share one track between these locations from 9:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 11, to closing (midnight), on Sunday, Sept. 13.
Orange Line -- Metrorail customers traveling between the East Falls Church and Ballston-MU Metrorail stations should add at least 20 minutes of travel time to their trips because Metro will replace crossties, the track support structures. Trains will share one track between these locations from 8 p.m., Friday, Sept. 11, to closing (midnight) on Sunday, Sept. 13.
Green Line -- Metrorail customers traveling between the Greenbelt and College Park-U of Md Metrorail stations should add at least 20 minutes of travel time to their trips because Metro will be tamping the rail tracks to ensure durability. Trains will share one track between these locations from 9:30 p.m., Friday, Sept. 11, to 6 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 13.
As posted at Metro News
Sorry about the double post...
When I was in DC (from Seattle) in '05 testifyng before Congress, I left Washington via Amtrak to go Philadelphia to visit relatives. I took Metro between Crystal City and Union Station, and on that Saturday the subway trains were only running on one track (both directions) and on a reduced schedule.
It's how Metro does business.
Cheaper? Yes.
More reliable? No.
Amtrak's Acela service in the Northeast Corridor is exemplary. If I have reason to do business or visit people in the Washington-to-Boston corridor, I always take the train.
I haven't experienced an equipment breakdown since the Thanksgiving weekend of 1989.
Did you happen to check the prices for Sunday the 13th?
that would be the same weekend, but not TeaParty day.
Divergent prices twixt Saturday and Sunday would be more news worthy.
Amtrak operates as a private company and its fares are not regulated. Of course, it’s not a viable business model: unionized with heavy work rules, burdensome severance clauses that make layoffs impossible, underfunded defined benefit pension plan. Amtrak doesn’t own its tracks but shares it with freight trains. It can’t even abandon lines without Congressional approval. So the federal government pours hundreds of millions of dollars a year propping the whole thing up. No national passenger railroad system in the world is is self-sustaining.
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