Tuesday, June 26, 2007

New York subways packed? No problem--just choose Amtrak!

New York City Transit just released an analysis that paints a grim picture of jam-packed subway trains, maxed-out capacity and mediocre on-time performance.

If only straphangers had a choice. Fortunately, according to one Joe Boardman, they do! In a letter to the Baltimore Sun last week, Mr. Boardman noted:
Nearly 550 million people board trains each year in this country, yet fewer than one in 20 of them chooses Amtrak.
In other words, commuter trains, subways and Amtrak are interchangeable. Choose one, choose the other, doesn't matter. Someone must tell the poor A train riders pronto!

One reads some boneheaded opinions expressed in the letters column of the newspaper. What makes this one stand out? Joe Boardman runs the Federal Railroad Administration.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Perhaps I'm confused with your statement, but how do you possibly believe that New Yorkers can substitute taking the New York Subway with an Amtrak train? There is only one stop in NYC on Amtrak, and that's New York Penn Station.

5:57 PM  
Blogger conductor said...

Exactly the point intended: to point up how foolish it is to lump all rail service into a single category.

6:40 PM  

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