Tadman wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2019 1:36 pm
eolesen wrote: ↑Tue Dec 10, 2019 4:01 am
Gotta laugh at all y'all who think Amtrak's management has anything to do with the fact that less than 1% of intercity travelers use rail. Baby Boomers on down grew up and lived in a car/air culture, and now account for 95% of all trips, if not more. It's time to stop living 70 years in the past.
Agreed. My parents are in their late 60's and think I'm utterly nuts for riding the trains. To them, the trains were the South Bend, Indiana, offerings of 1960 or 1970, which was erratic Penn Central or decrepit South Shore. And the CTA was a great place to get mugged when you went into town. To their parents, the train was something that carried you to war with Japan. Why give it that "off to war" feeling when you could drive in your own car?
The regulatory climate of 1950-1980 pushed riders away from passenger trains, and it's going to take a few more generations before they come back with blind trust.
Gotta laugh at y'all who ignore the fact that passenger rail is not a thing of the past. If it is, then what is old is what's new. It is easy to see this when you look at the last decade or so that has passed.
Consider that Amtrak has returned passenger service to Roanoke for the first time in 38 years, returned passenger service to Norfolk for the first time in 35 years. Additionally, service to upper Mass was expanded and added train to towns that hadn't seen multiple frequencies since the 1960's.
Groundwork is being laid to expand service to Burlington, VT, which is a town that last had passenger service since the 1950s. Plans are being made to operate trains to the Catskills, for the first time in decades. Additional trips have been added to the Cascades, the Downeaster, and Norfolk.
So, it seems like there are plenty of people that not only want to "live 70 years" in the past, but they are embracing and financing it. The baby Boomers also grabbed their kiddies and wandered out to houses in the suburbs. Well, a lot of the cities have come back and some people shun the expenses of houses and vehicles. Yet, they still want to be linked to other areas.
This is a market that should be nurtured.
However, your eyes won't believe what your mind won't conceive.