HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
*wheeze*
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
This is easily the funniest thing I've seen posted on this board.
Brightline was a nice idea but it became pretty clear that they didn't have the resilience needed to withstand the pandemic. They've been shut down for the better part of a year now. Amtrak, while losing a LOT of money, was able to chug along (no pun intended) throughout.
Contracting Amtrak operations out to private operators is a complete farce. It's not like they're going to get better terms from the freight operators, run more services, or even have a higher quality of life on board. It's just not gonna happen. Metra has enough problems right now and even they contract out, with services that travel over UP and BNSF lines being operated by those respective carriers. The rolling stock is Metra, but the crews are UP or BNSF. I don't know much about the East Coast commuter operators, but I don't know if they'd want to take this on either.
You wanna solve Amtrak's problems? Here's how:
-ADEQUATE FUNDING: Amtrak needs to have consistent, stable funding in order to operate at the highest possible level. This can be achieved in the form of a trust of sorts. This funding needs to cover actual food/beverage service, not the cheap stuff we've seen, plus equipment maintenance/repair/overhaul as well as capital for starting new services and fleet renewal at fixed intervals. (Say every 2-5 years for new services and 15 for fleet renewal).
-CULTURE CHANGE: It is no secret that Amtrak's culture isn't exactly one of service. We've all heard the horror stories of employees being rude to passengers. It is up to Amtrak to change the culture of their OBS personnel and turn that particular workforce into a happier group of people. Get the unions involved in this, too.
-REBRANDING: I don't mean moving away from the Amtrak name, but rather fixing the current brand. Amtrak would do well to recruit some folks from Delta to help with the "brand experience" from the moment they enter the origin station to the moment they leave the terminating station. Organized boarding processes, clean, happy, and knowledgable customer service employees, etc. Amtrak needs help to get their brand experience and major station operations together.
-EXPANSION, EXPANSION, EXPANSION: The mission of Amtrak, according to Tony Coscia, is to serve the American public, NOT MAKE A PROFIT. To that end, Amtrak needs to start new services and be able to enforce OTP rules.
Private operators are only going to end up giving us an Americanized version of what's happening in the UK: pandamonium.
*wheeze*
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
This is easily the funniest thing I've seen posted on this board.
Brightline was a nice idea but it became pretty clear that they didn't have the resilience needed to withstand the pandemic. They've been shut down for the better part of a year now. Amtrak, while losing a LOT of money, was able to chug along (no pun intended) throughout.
Contracting Amtrak operations out to private operators is a complete farce. It's not like they're going to get better terms from the freight operators, run more services, or even have a higher quality of life on board. It's just not gonna happen. Metra has enough problems right now and even they contract out, with services that travel over UP and BNSF lines being operated by those respective carriers. The rolling stock is Metra, but the crews are UP or BNSF. I don't know much about the East Coast commuter operators, but I don't know if they'd want to take this on either.
You wanna solve Amtrak's problems? Here's how:
-ADEQUATE FUNDING: Amtrak needs to have consistent, stable funding in order to operate at the highest possible level. This can be achieved in the form of a trust of sorts. This funding needs to cover actual food/beverage service, not the cheap stuff we've seen, plus equipment maintenance/repair/overhaul as well as capital for starting new services and fleet renewal at fixed intervals. (Say every 2-5 years for new services and 15 for fleet renewal).
-CULTURE CHANGE: It is no secret that Amtrak's culture isn't exactly one of service. We've all heard the horror stories of employees being rude to passengers. It is up to Amtrak to change the culture of their OBS personnel and turn that particular workforce into a happier group of people. Get the unions involved in this, too.
-REBRANDING: I don't mean moving away from the Amtrak name, but rather fixing the current brand. Amtrak would do well to recruit some folks from Delta to help with the "brand experience" from the moment they enter the origin station to the moment they leave the terminating station. Organized boarding processes, clean, happy, and knowledgable customer service employees, etc. Amtrak needs help to get their brand experience and major station operations together.
-EXPANSION, EXPANSION, EXPANSION: The mission of Amtrak, according to Tony Coscia, is to serve the American public, NOT MAKE A PROFIT. To that end, Amtrak needs to start new services and be able to enforce OTP rules.
Private operators are only going to end up giving us an Americanized version of what's happening in the UK: pandamonium.