by dt_rt40
I thought of asking this under the "best agency" thread, but it's really only tangentially related. I've ridden commuter trains in SE England and, as far as I know, most of them have always had 1st & 2nd class service. For example, today in 2013, if you want a monthly ticket from Reigate, Surrey, to London, you can get a monthly 2nd for about $380 and a monthly first for $560. These figures seem high, but, generally speaking, almost everything is more expensive in the UK/Europe. Reigate to London is about 20 miles or Garden City to Penn Station, the monthly fare for which is "only" $242. My question: has any North American commuter rail agency had first & second class service, ever? Public or private, although they are obviously all public now. BTW not counting private "commuter club cars" which are obviously a different beast entirely. For example I wonder, surely when the Penn RR was operating commuter trains from say Princeton or New Brunswick to NYC, there was a first class option? My very broad definition of a commuter service would be: indefinite, unreserved ticketing available - either something like a 10 trip ticket or a monthly one - AND - is in widespread trade/use. Amtrak, I believe, will sell you a monthly or multi-trip ticket from Philly to NYC, even on Acela, but presumably they cost a fortune and only a very few people buy them. Thus we certainly wouldn't call Amtrak, whether regional or Acela, a first-class commuter service, though if you really want the option, it's there along a handful of corridors. (always wondered if Amtrak cut Senator Biden a deal) BTW when I ride a regional from Aberdeen to DC using my MARC monthly, it certainly seems at the time like the best commuter train service in the country to me. (snigger snigger)
(NB that the size of NYC's commuter rail network reaches out further than the equivalent in the UK; from Montauk to NYC is 115 miles. That would be roughly Bristol to London, which was obviously never considered a commuter-only corridor there. And btw, yes, I did search for prior threads on this...maybe not hard enough...but I didn't find anything. Montauk to NYC must surely be one of the world's longest true commuter-only train corridors. It seems like any similar route in Europe or Asia would also have supra-regional trains with classed service.)
(NB that the size of NYC's commuter rail network reaches out further than the equivalent in the UK; from Montauk to NYC is 115 miles. That would be roughly Bristol to London, which was obviously never considered a commuter-only corridor there. And btw, yes, I did search for prior threads on this...maybe not hard enough...but I didn't find anything. Montauk to NYC must surely be one of the world's longest true commuter-only train corridors. It seems like any similar route in Europe or Asia would also have supra-regional trains with classed service.)