QuickTrack machines coming to non-Amtrak MARC stations

From the MTA:

Attention All MARC Commuters:

Amtrak Quicktrak Ticket Vending Machines (TVMs) are currently being installed at most MARC train stations on the Brunswick, Camden, and Penn Lines. Odenton, Camden, and Brunswick Stations will have TVMs installed, and will continue to be staffed. Installation is expected to be completed by the end of March.

Installation of the TVMs will provide increased access for ticket purchases during business hours, both morning and evening.

AMTRAK Stations on the Penn Line (Penn Station, BWI Marshall Station, New Carrollton Station, and Union Station) will still have ticket agents as well as TVMs. The Amtrak stations, as well as the remaining MARC stations, will continue to accept your Transit Benefits.

TVMs will accept debit and major credit cards only to purchase daily, weekly, or monthly tickets. Cash or vouchers of any kind cannot be used. For passengers who have SmartBenefits Vouchers, we recommend using Commuter Direct.com for electronic ticket purchases using the SmartBenefits program. Visit www.commuterdirect.com for more information about the SmartBenefits programs.

Following installation of the TVMs, ticket agents will be available for a limited time to answer questions and offer assistance if necessary.

Thank you riding MARC Train Service.

I'm ASSUMING (and it would be cool if this were correct) that one would be able to purchase or pick up Amtrak tickets at MARC stations (like Odenton).

HokieNav wrote:
I'm ASSUMING (and it would be cool if this were correct) that one would be able to purchase or pick up Amtrak tickets at MARC stations (like Odenton).

Yeah, I got the e-mail as well (two in fact). There are currently three MARC stations (all on the Brunswick Line, and excluding Union Station) that have QuickTrak TVM's: Frederick-Monocacy, Silver Spring (only recently due to the closure of the temporary sales trailer to construct the Sarbanes Metro/MARC transit Center), and Kensington. All three stations are unstaffed, but have station buildings with waiting rooms. The stations that will get the TVM's will only be the ones with secure waiting rooms, which already are staffed, so it seems like a waste of money to me considering the times. Despite the MTA's claims to the contrary,I have a feeling that the station managers (CSX employees on the Brunswick and Camden Lines, don't know about the Penn) will be fired eventually, especially in this time of drastic cutbacks, and cost reductions. Or maybe I'm misreading it, and they do intend to fire all the managers except at the stations mentioned (Camden, Brunswick, and Odenton).

About being able to pick up Amtrak tickets, I'm not sure at all, primarily because I've never used a TVM at a MARC station, and I don't know if they're "networked" like they are at Amtrak stations since MARC trains aren't reserved. Plus MARC may not update the Amtrak train info on the MARC machines. I know at Union Station when you purchase a ticket (a MARC one anyways) that it has to have Union Station as the origin. If the same rule does apply to Amtrak tickets then you couldn't purchase, for example, a BWI-NYP ticket at Odenton. However last summer I took NJ Transit from New York to Trenton, where I transferred to SEPTA to get to Philly, but I picked up my PHL-WAS Amtrak ticket at Trenton. So, my best guess is that it would be more likely that you'd be able to pick up tickets rather than to be purchase them at the MARC QuickTraks. Nearly all Amtrak stations in the Northeast have QuickTrak machines so you could just purchase the ticket at the station of departure or get it online and pick it up.

I believe that the station managers at the non-Amtrak staions (like Odenton) are MTA employees (they're always wearing MTA polo shirts and the like) and if I were a betting man, I'd say that they're going to be removed (based on the statement "AMTRAK Stations on the Penn Line (Penn Station, BWI Marshall Station, New Carrollton Station, and Union Station) will still have ticket agents as well as TVMs" and no mention of the non-Amtrak stations continuing to be staffed).

Picking up tickets would be a "good enough" solution for me, as I do most of my Amtrak booking online, but it would be nice to be able to have the flexibility to pick up tickets in Odenton.

Latest from the MTA:

Following installation of the SSTs, ticket agents will be available for a limited time to answer questions and offer assistance if necessary.

Bye bye, station staff!

HokieNav wrote:Latest from the MTA:

Following installation of the SSTs, ticket agents will be available for a limited time to answer questions and offer assistance if necessary.

Bye bye, station staff!

Yep, just go the email, and as I walked into the station building at Germantown this morning a brand new QuickTrak machine was waiting (the guy was still there though). I knew this was going to happen, sooner or later...

From the MTA:

Attention MARC Commuters; The following MARC stations will no longer be staffed after the close of business on Friday March 6, 2009: Aberdeen, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Laurel, Martin Airport, Perryville, Rockville and Savage. Rockville station will be closed temporarily for renovations. The "Self Serve Ticketing Kiosk" installation is complete and operational. The availability to purchase tickets will increase to both morning and evening hours, during MARC’s hours of operation. You will still be able to purchase a one-way ticket onboard the train with cash and without a penalty fee. MARC regrets any inconvenience this may cause.

I'm surprised that Aberdeen used a MARC ticket agent since it's an Amtrak station (or at least Amtrak stops there). I guess Amtrak passengers would have to use the Quicktrak machines now too.

At Aberdeen, Amtrak passengers always had to use the QuickTrack machine, only MARC tickets were sold by the agent at the station. So in essence the agent really has not been needed, unless someone was looking to buy a ticket with cash.

It's the last day for our ticket agent here at Germantown. He said that after he leaves Germantown, he'll go to Brunswick to work for another month, before the next round of TVM installments (employee firings). They're supposed to put a secon Quiktrak machine in the station at Germantown today. This situation is really a pain since I use student advantage, which the machines don't sell, so I have to go stand in the ever-long line at Union Station to purchase my monthly.

UPDATE: The MTA has announced that Dorsey and Edgewood won't have any station managers starting next week:

Friday March 13,2009 will be the last day for ticket agents at Dorsey and Edgewood stations. The "Self Serve Ticketing Kiosk" installation is complete and operational. The availability to purchase tickets will increase to both morning and evening hours, during MARC’s hours of operation. You will still be able to purchase a one-way ticket onboard the train with cash and without a penalty fee

In related info, I found out from the station manager and reading a page or two of last year's hearing transcripts why MARC cut the popular ten-trip tickets . It's our Penn Line friends who tried to defraud the system, since apparently Penn Line conductors weren't punching the tickets, or the passengers replaced the not-fully-punched circles back into the holes to get extra rides (I've actually heard that they've done the latter on all three lines). Apparently demand for monthly tickets dropped dramatically recently since this scheme to "beat the system" caught on. IMHO I think the MTA should have found a different solution, rather than abolishing the tickets altogether...

Ok, you can pick up Amtrak tickets at MARC stations. I picked up all 3 of mine at Germantown MARC station last week Friday. To tell the truth I wasn't even planning on doing that. I put my check card in the machine to purchase a ine-way MARC ticket to DC, but they brought up my Amtrak itinerary instead, so I just printed all of the tickets there (plus the MARC ticket). Pretty convenient.

After a year of using them, I can say the QuickTrak machines aren't bad at all especially at Germantown, a busy station that had only one manager but now has two machines. The only problems with them are:

a) you can't purchase Student Advantage tickets
b) you can't use cash (although you can on the train)

You forgot:

c) You can't buy a ticket between two stations other than where you're at - that occasionally makes things kind of a pain in the neck.

HokieNav wrote:You forgot:

c) You can't buy a ticket between two stations other than where you're at - that occasionally makes things kind of a pain in the neck.

Oh yeah. Can't believe I forgot that one seeing how I always had to stand in line at Union Station to purchase my College Park-Germantown monthlys.

c) You can't buy a ticket between two stations other than where you're at - that occasionally makes things kind of a pain in the neck.

Yes. This is an incredibly moronic "feature" of their user interface design. Where did Amtrak find their requirements analysis experts? Old lady greeters at Walmart? Would it really be too complicated for people to be able to buy such a ticket?

Also infuriating is the "feature" of their website that prevents you from doing a quicktrack ticket machine pickup when departing from a closed [building] station. Come on Amtrak, let's be optimistic and assume your typical rider has an IQ above 80...pop up a javascript window warning them they will not be able to get the ticket on the day of travel and let them continue with the option if they so desire.