Traingeek3629 wrote: ↑Sat Aug 24, 2019 7:42 am
That article is bullsh*t. MassLive is bullsh*t. Their journalism has been very poor lately, lots of typos, they need someone to proof-read whatever the 8 YOs working there wrote.
Completely agree! They also have so many tracking services enabled on their site that there's no way I'm disabling my extensions to read the comments.
gregorygrice wrote: ↑Fri Aug 23, 2019 1:45 am
daybeers wrote: ↑Fri Aug 23, 2019 12:37 am
lordsigma12345 wrote: ↑Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:37 pm
Valley Flyer schedule attached. Notice the schedule does not allow for a day trip down to NYC and back on weekends for stations north of Springfield.
What's the point of this new service then, Amtrak? Why is there a 20 minute layover in SPG and how does 499 not have a connecting Amtrak train? Amtrak doesn't provide ticketing for the CTrail trains so how are passengers expected to know that's an option, after a 27 minute layover, that is.
This late announcement of an incomplete schedule makes me think Amtrak doesn't care very much about this new service. If I were one of the Senators behind the project I'd be fuming. How are they supposed to use the marketing grant money if they can't brag about day trips to NYC and the improvements in travel times?
The 20 min layover is padding just in case the train is already late. 499 has no connecting Amtrak train 1, because its a deadhead back to Springfield and 2, CTrail 6411 leaves shortly after it arrives at Springfield. You are allowed to use any Amtrak ticket dated for that day or the next day on any CTrail train AND have the option of purchasing a ticket onboard, so making the connection with CTrail 6411 is not an issue. 6411 also connects with the last westbound Metro North train to GCT.
I understand the 20 minute padding, but that just seems like too much to me. That's 20 minutes that a potential passenger might see and say "well that's silly, I'll just drive instead" especially if their final destination is not NYC. My problem with the ticketing is the CTrail trains don't show up on Amtrak.com or on the timetables, so how are passengers supposed to know the connection with CTrail 6411 even exists?
I do agree with the idea that Massachusetts doesn't really want to fund day trips to NYC, so I understand why that's only an option on the weekdays.
I live in Hartford and was excited to go up to Northampton for the first time in 10 years and see the new line, stations, spend the day exploring the city, and spend some money there (ex. food). However, the schedule makes that impossible if I wanted to just hop on one of the Shuttles instead of planning ahead and paying Vermonter prices. Unless I go on a weekend, I'd still have to spend the night.
I really do wish the Valley Flyer all the best, but based on the schedule, it's certainly not going to capture all the markets it was intended to. Hopefully it will be successful and MassDOT will tweak the schedule accordingly and possibly add more trains in the near future.