The title may sound kind of silly, but its a pretty serious question. As a broke college student, who has friends at schools all over the place that I am seemingly constantly visiting, I try to look for the cheapest way to travel. I could afford to drive, but its slow, tiring and tedious plus I hate racking up the miles on my car (18 Months old with over 30K miles on it, don't ask how I accomplished that).
Common sense tells me if flying is a bit more than I want to spend, and I wouldn't subject myself to a bus ride, trains must be the solution? Wrong. Oh so very wrong. I imagined the trains had to be cheaper than planes. They are slower, less costly to run, and I always thought the industry was struggling. It may be, but prices sure don't reflect that.
A flight from Boston to Baltimore (one I make pretty regularly), is much much cheaper than taking a train the same distance. It shocks me still that a company can charge more money for a mode of transportation that is 5 times slower. The only advantages I see to train travel are that I don't have those to ten minute "Electronic Blackouts" like on planes, and I can walk around whenever I want to.
I know I am rambling a bit, but the only reasonable explanation I can come up with is that Amtrak has the best marketers in the world. I don't know if thats true, but its the only real answer I can come up with to explain what keeps an industry, that charges more money for what I believe most people would agree is an inferior service, running.
Any other ideas??
Hmmm... good question!
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Amtrak has the best marketers in the world, because as a consumer, I never even think about taking a train when I travel. In my opinion, they should launch a new campaign focusing on the eco-consciousness of taking mass transportation. But...I've seen no evidence of this. That's about the only reason I would take a train, so they should work to create awareness of that.
I'm not sure if I agree that they're over-priced, though...I think your comparison of train and airfare to Baltimore is a rare case, because it's definitely cheaper to take a train to places closer like Boston. Maybe just because Baltimore is farther away? Being farther, it probably isn't logical for you anyway, because it's so much slower and you'd lose a lot of time you could be hanging out with your friends!
Going from Burlington is a kind of different case, its a smaller airport, and there is no direct flight to Boston. If going from one major city/airport to another, I've found generally that going via train is more expensive. If its a regular, routine flight versus taking a train, the train is generally more expensive
ReplyDeletePersonally I travel a good amount between Burlington, Boston, NY city and Marthas Vineyard and besides a car I mostly travel by bus or plane. The train is always a last option for me too because it is too slow and costly. The bus although pretty uncomfortable is by far the cheapest, especially the Feng wah line if your really want to save. If its the difference of a couple hundred dollars for a few more hours I will probably take the cheaper way unless of course time is a factor.
ReplyDeleteI used to take the Train between school and NJ which was an 11 hour trip and about twice as expensive as driving. After being in Italy for a semester where traveling by train all over europe is the cheapest,most efficient way to travel, its dissapointing not finding the same here in a country that is so "technologically advanced". I think it would certainly be a great point of focus for creating more jobs by rebulding that part of our infrustructure. I have only seen a few ads for amtrack, they do travel to alot of great places but not at the right price or speed.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of people are intimidated or scared to fly. Many drive I assume to be in control of their own destiny. The only trains that I've taken are the metro lines that go into NYC. I can see why those are successful because driving in the city is a nightmare, parking is even more of a nightmare, and most people like to drink in the city and don't want to drive intoxicated. In relation to your argument I feel like people who take long train rides are people who don't have a car.
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