STrRedWolf wrote: ↑Tue Aug 24, 2021 3:21 pm
Agreed. It's why I think Flex Dining is better for those 8-hour hauls. $10 zap meal that's better than a Jimmy Deans Breakfast Sandwich? Sure! Did the Pennsy thrice and every time back from Pittsburgh would transfer at 30th street to go south to BWI. Got lunch there both ways.
I also think using milage doesn't help the case. Boston to DC is 456 miles, but on the NEC is roughly 8 hours if not more, and to get decent grub you got to go on the Acela.
Better food is possible.
How many times do I have to post these statistics before it sinks in?
https://www.railpassengers.org/site/ass ... 453/5a.pdf
NEC Regional
Trips by length, 2019
0- 99 mi 33.9%
100- 199 mi 30.0%
200- 299 mi 33.8%
300- 399 mi 1.6%
400+ mi 0.7%
Less than 1% of NEC riders ride over 400 miles.
More statistics from the same link:
Average trip 156 miles
Total trips 8,824,469
Let's have some fun with some math.
0.7% = 0.007
0.007 x 8,824,469 = 61, 771 trips over 400 miles for an entire year.
61,771 /365 days per year = 169 trips per day over 400 miles.
Let's assume Amtrak easily runs 20 trains, 10 in each direction, every day.
169 trips per day / 20 trains a day = 8.45 passenger per train over 400 miles on NEC regionals.
Some will say I was being slightly unfair calculation for over 400 miles trips. Well, over 300 miles trips are about three times more, so 8.4 trips per train turns into less than 30 passengers per train riding over 300 miles on the NEC Regionals.
At the average speeds around 70 mph, it only takes 4.3 hours to travel 300 miles, and around 6.5 hours to travel 456 miles. That's for around 2% of the total passengers on these trains. The average trip of 156 miles only takes less than 2.25 hours at an average speed of 70 mph. How hungry will most passengers get in less than 2.25 hours?