MBCR vs Amtrak

Littleredcaboose wrote:No we are supoosoed to have a intrgrated common carreir railroad system. In the Old days of the multi-line railroads when one had to take two,three or even 4 railroads the Agent looked up the time-table in the Official Guide and almost got someone to there doorstep. Railroads exchanged cars and engines as the Rutland would feed into the NY Central and then the cars might be swithced all the way to Florida

It'd be great if Amtrak and the commuter lines could do something similar. Obviously they won't be switching cars from an MBCR train onto Amtrak, and then onto TriRail, but it'd be nice to have a multi-part, single issuer ticket from Braintree, MA to Boynton Beach, FL. Still, it makes sense for Amtrak not to bother knowing the MBTA's schedules, when the MBTA has a presence in that building.

RDG-LNE wrote:How would you feel if someone came in to your place of employment and asked you questions about a competitor's product? Amtrak's agents are paid by Amtrak to assist Amtrak's passengers. MBCR isn't contributing one cent to the agent's salary so why should Amtrak or its agents perform a service for MBCR for free? Would you answer questions about a competitor's product at your workplace? I'm not trying to be harsh but just because Amtrak at one time was the operator does not forever enjoin them to answer questions about a service they once provided under contract.

Drew

In the sense, as I have read here, that Amtrak lost a paying, and I assume favorable, contract to the private company MBCR to run Boton's commuter trains, then I can see how one could consider Amtrak and MBCR as competitors. I believe that until the contract comes up for renewal, especially if Amtrak has made a mangagement decision that they do not want to pursue recapturing the contract, and unless people riding the trains MBCR's now operating stop riding Amtrak because of that, then they're not competitors, but rather have a symbiotic relationship.
Potential passengers for both systems probably need to make connections from one to the other. If some of these potential passengers get frustrated finding out what time carrier B's train will arrive after they've gotten off of carrier A's train then there's a possibility they won't ride either carrier's train in the future.
So it seems to me that the Amtrak employee who refuses to help because he thinks MBCR's not contributing to his salary is being short sighted.

As to if one should answer questions about a competitor's product at their workplace, I also feel that succesful salespeople probably do answer questions about their competitor's products, and the more knowledgable they are about the competitor's products the more likely they will be able to give an answer that convinces the customer to buy their product instead.

I remember one time at Philly's 30th St station, waiting in line at the Amtrak INFORMATION booth. The person in front of me asked a question about the SEPTA subway, the INFORMATION agent said "I don't give out information about our competitors, AMTRAK has nothing to do with them". He apparently thinks that AMTAK passengers live within walking distance of the station.