Rode the Acela for the first time yesterday

Yeah and about those targeted ads: kinda sick of the "should congress fight Obama on gun control".

For a forum with moderators who hand out verbal warnings every few minutes about staying away from politics, I find it odd that we should be subject to low-information-voter-targetted ads.

If nothing else, the ommission of the title President, is rude and beneath the intelligence of any thoughtful voter. As much as I disagreed with President Bush,pnI would always address him as such and insist my friends do the same. Presient Bush earned the title and, as a sign of respect for our democratic process that awarded him the title and as a sig nof respect for a man who no doubt wanted what was best for his countrymen, I always used it. The same goes for President Obama, no matter how many ways he finds to make me disagree with him. Two very different men the executive leaders of a great nation, both of whom want what's best and deserve our respect.

My high horse is getting tired this week. I'd best feed and water him.

Back to electic trains and cars! [/quote]

SemperFidelis wrote:Yeah and about those targeted ads: kinda sick of the "should congress fight Obama on gun control".

For a forum with moderators who hand out verbal warnings every few minutes about staying away from politics, I find it odd that we should be subject to low-information-voter-targetted ads.

If nothing else, the ommission of the title President, is rude and beneath the intelligence of any thoughtful voter. As much as I disagreed with President Bush,pnI would always address him as such and insist my friends do the same. Presient Bush earned the title and, as a sign of respect for our democratic process that awarded him the title and as a sig nof respect for a man who no doubt wanted what was best for his countrymen, I always used it. The same goes for President Obama, no matter how many ways he finds to make me disagree with him. Two very different men the executive leaders of a great nation, both of whom want what's best and deserve our respect.

My high horse is getting tired this week. I'd best feed and water him.

Back to electic trains and cars!

[/quote]

Keep in mind the moderators are not the owners. The owner(s) have their own agendas.

I have internet security, a credit union, and on this page an air BnB ad in spanish.

It really all depends on how adds are being targeted, and it could be all of three ways. Some ads are targeted based on the content of the site. Some ads are targeted based on the cookies on your computer, where you've been lately. If I go look at videos of trains on youtube, I get lots of railpass ads. And some ads are individually targeted by way of IP matching, based on some sort of list or microtargeting data

bdawe wrote:I have internet security, a credit union, and on this page an air BnB ad in spanish.

It really all depends on how adds are being targeted, and it could be all of three ways. Some ads are targeted based on the content of the site. Some ads are targeted based on the cookies on your computer, where you've been lately. If I go look at videos of trains on youtube, I get lots of railpass ads. And some ads are individually targeted by way of IP matching, based on some sort of list or microtargeting data

Getting far afield here (and a few years since I had active experience in this field) but yeah, you're basically right. And my impression is whoever is (was?) handling the banner ad management for railroad.net probably was leaving some money on the table and going for the low-hanging fruit. Far too many filler type ads in my experience (or two of the same ad showing on the page).

Now back to Acela....

Can't wait to ride again.

Greg Moore wrote:

bdawe wrote: Now back to Acela....

Had my first ride in Acela First class yesterday -- I decided to burn some guest rewards points before the program change. Traveled from BOS to BAL. Needless to say it was pleasant, a single seat, 'free' drinks, a decemt lunch and in seat service were all a nice change.

Unfortunately the ride was a day after a Via rail trip in Business Class from Montreal to Toronto and I thus found Acela first to be lacking in comparison. I found the quality of lunch to be a wash, both meals were pretty good once allowing for their catered nature. Amtrak won with booze, it was pretty clear I could get as many gin and tonics as I wanted, while on Via the bar cart rolls by once and they don't normally ask if you want a second drink (although you can still get them). Beyond that I thought the VIa product was better in the following ways: 1) Equipment, the renaissance BC car on Via was spiffy, not scruffy and it stayed quite a bit cleaner (including the restrooms). The Renaissance gear also provides 2+1 seating which includes both a tray table and an additional drink table beside single seats and between.the double seats. The Acela car was kinda worn and I found the design to be awkward for food, drinks and trash. 2) Amenities, hot towels, cookies, post lumch chocolate with something being delivered to you a couple times an hour made Acela first seem spartan. 3) Atmosphere, Via felt MUCH more relaxed thanks in large part to reserved seats. There was no jockying for good seats, no issues with stuff in empty seats and many fewer issues with phone etiquate (granted part of this may be attributed to 'Canada'. 4) Service, Via service was thoughtful and professional (although much more programmed and built around regular cart moves down the ailse). While the Acela service was friendly it was also forgetful (I had to request several things twice) and sometimes hard to find. 5) Ride quality, my drink nearly bounced off my tray table several times on Acela, the ride on the corridor was noticably rough as well. The Via corridor (which I believe is maintained by CN) witht he renaissance equipment was impressively smooth. 6) Boarding. The business lounge in Montreal is much more pleasant than any Club Acela (save Philadelphia perhaps) and all BC passengers are preboarded from the lounge. The BOS Club Acela only had preboarding for people who requested a redcap. If you didn't then you are in line with everybody else. Amtraks inconsistency here is annoying. 7) Cost. Both rides were roughly the same length and both departed just before noon on a weekday, both booked seven weeks in advance. At CAD-USD parity Via business was about $130 cheaper than the Acela first cash fare at the time I booked. Adjusting for curret exchange rates the VIa fare was more than $200 cheaper than Acela first -- I am sure I owe a portion of this difference to the Canadian federal government,

Don't get me wrong, Acela first was delightful. I do think there are a few things that Amtrak can do to improve its service. Assigned seats would make a huge difference at zero incremental cost (although I must admit that I am very sensitive to the awkwardness of finding a seat so I may place more emphasis on this than others) as would more professional on board service (somehow Via manages to find very good on board service folks who are all bilingual!). Having said that maybe Acela first is good enough -- it was sold out south of NYP.

Overall it was a great week of riding the rails -- my trip included a roomette on the Crescent (CLT-NYP), a bedroom with shower from Halifax to Montreal (fantastic!) and BC on the Carolinian (BAL-CLT). In my opinion Amtrak on board service has noticeably more pleasant over the past few years so I'll send a hardy 'thanks' to any employees out there.

Bob Roberts wrote: Had my first ride in Acela First class yesterday -- . . . it was pleasant, a single seat, 'free' drinks, a decemt lunch and in seat service were all a nice change.

In my opinion Amtrak on board service has [become] noticeably more pleasant over the past few years so I'll send a hardy 'thanks' to any employees out there.

Let me ask of the Amtrak employees on this board: from the outside, things seem to be going much better with Amtrak -- so has morale improved?

I'm surprised that they didn't at least bring the first class passengers out of the line.

I've sent my mother home from BOS to NYP twice on a first class Acela in the past year. Both times the person on the platform went up and down the line checking tickets and pulling all the first class passengers and bringing them to the first class car directly.

Komarovsky wrote:I'm surprised that they didn't at least bring the first class passengers out of the line.

I've sent my mother home from BOS to NYP twice on a first class Acela in the past year. Both times the person on the platform went up and down the line checking tickets and pulling all the first class passengers and bringing them to the first class car directly.

This may have been an unusual case, the train was a little late to arrive at the platform in BOS so things were a bit disorganized.