MARC Amtrak cross honor

Its interesting that they had 3 separate person insist they can't honor it...

I know even in the Amtrak Service Standards Booklet that's now online, it even mentions the MARC:

10. Commuter Agency – MARC (Maryland Rail Commuter
Service)
MARC passengers can use weekly tickets, monthly
tickets or a MARC Transit Link Card (TLC) on
Amtrak trains shown in the current MARC
timetable. (The TLC is an enhanced MARC monthly
ticket that allows the use of most WMATA services,
(Washington Metrorail and Metrobus systems)
a) Travel is restricted to the points indicated by the
footnotes in the timetable.
b) Only tickets in Figures 8-15 through 8-21 will be
honored.
c) MARC monthly, weekly and TLC ticket holders
may ride select Amtrak Reserved Northeast
Regional trains that operate Monday through
Friday on days that MARC runs service (this is
inclusive of holidays).
8-30 Train Service Accounting Proceduresd) No additional step up fee is required.
e) On weekends, monthly, weekly and TLC tickets
are good on certain Amtrak reserved Northeast
Regional trains for no additional charge.
f) Monthly, weekly and TLC tickets are NOT valid
on any premium service (Acela Express), certain
reserved Northeast Regional trains or any long
distance trains.
g) One-way ticket are NOT ACCEPTED on regular
(non-commuter) Amtrak trains.
h) Every Amtrak ticket that is not lifted must be
entered on the “Record of Tickets Honored But
Not Lifted” (NRPC 157).

Sorry about your troubles.
As someone who has ridden the Amtrak/MARC cross-honor trains since 2009 - both the weekday and weekend ones - I can assure you this is a very rare occurence. Once I had to remind an A85 conductor that I was allowed to ride, but only to Baltimore. It's not a very popular one for obvious reasons...there's practically no reverse commute market; if you work in Aberdeen, you have to have a car and will probably drive there.

That being said, the 137 is a wierd one. At first I thought it was new to the schedule, but then I found my old 2011 schedule. It's there too. It's odd because the rest of the weekday Amtrak trains are for getting to/from Aberdeen. (and Edgewood & Perryville in the case of the popular 151) I'm not sure why they have a SB Amtrak from Baltimore to DC when there's a MARC train a little later, except to act as a kind of express service. That would be the only one I haven't ridden, because I certainly haven't had an occasion to head into DC at that time. I bet the conductor just doesn't get many people taking advantage of it.

Obviously with MARC weekend service coming, Amtrak will have to revisit their cross-honoring policies; I hope those of us in NE MD can keep taking certain Amtrak trains all the way to DC. It's a miniscule market anyhow, I've hardly seen more than one or two other riders using their MARC on the weekends...those trains pick up quite a few regular passengers, though. (I think I've noticed more and more non-MARC passengers using Aberdeen station in the past couple years, vs. 2009 when I started)

I meant to post about this earlier. First of all, that OSA you posted is long expired. OSAs are only in effect until new service standards manuals or tariffs are published and a few of them have come out since this was published. So, the notice means very little.

The problem is apparent miscommunication . The tariff and current manual doesn't allow for travel on 137 between BAL-WAS even though the MARC schedule does. This is because MARC had altered their schedule a few years back. As such, everyone that can see the Amtrak information that is in currently effect reasonably states that the tickets are not in valid.

This is being remedied. I'm not sure where Agent Skelly plucked his posting from, but there is an updated manual and tarrif (updated on the 24th-coincidence{?}) that goes into effect on the 30th which CLEARLY states 137 is added to the list of trains for travel between BAL-WAS in its entirety.

This is a little too late for you, but your experience probably has helped some one straighten it out.

The only thing that confuses me is your seemingly conflicting statements. In your summary, you noted:

desvondevon wrote: I know sometimes scheduling and fares are complicated, but when a passenger produces a document saying they are allowed on the train, then they shouldn't be dismissed and treated like a criminal (which I felt tonight, the Conductor booming that my ticket was not valid to all in the coach), but given the benefit of any doubt. Staff should then follow up with management to clarify what is right and wrong, and get them to change any marketing material if it is wrong.

However, you previously noted:

desvondevon wrote: Sadly the conductor was arrogant enough not to even look at the timetable I showed him, and continued to state my ticket was not valid. He however called somebody on a phone, who I then spoke to and they said it was "absolutely not valid". Also his supervisor on the train said it was not valid, and she said that this fact was specifically announced at Baltimore before boarding (something I disputed, as I am sure they said it was open to MARX weekly and monthly MARC pass holders).

It seems as if the crew member not only asked another crew member, they also called someone on the phone for clarification and then allowed you to speak to them as well. I'd hardly call that being dismissive.

ThirdRail7 wrote: I'm not sure where Agent Skelly plucked his posting from, but there is an updated manual and tarrif (updated on the 24th-coincidence{?}) that goes into effect on the 30th which CLEARLY states 137 is added to the list of trains for travel between BAL-WAS in its entirety.

I got it here: http://www.governmentattic.org/4docs/Am ... l_2011.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; but I forgot to note it was from 2011.