Not too long ago, if I remember correctly, a forum participant asked whether Amtrak sends customer satisfaction surveys to its customers. In my case, at least, the answer is yes.
Earlier this week I rode the Texas Eagle from Temple, TX to Dallas, TX and return. I had a roomette going and coming. I got a survey today, which I completed and sent in. What difference, if any, it makes is unknown.
In a nutshell, I was satisfied with the accommodations and staff. My room, the toilets, etc. were squeaky clean, everything worked, and the car attendants were spot on.
The lunch meals in the dining car, which are included in the first-class fare, were awful.
No. 22 was 40 minutes late arriving Dallas. No. 21 was two hours late into Temple.
In addition to completing the customer satisfaction survey, I sent a letter to Mr. Harris, Amtrakâs President, with more details. Whether he will pay any attention to it is problematic.
I get these surveys sent to me regularly. I always carefully and truthfully fill them out, return them, and then never hear a thing (or expect to, really) back. Believe me, Amtrak knows about their awful food and the resulting waste as most of it goes into the (open! yuk!) trash containers in the âdiningâ car. Conclusion: Amtrak really doesnât care too much about my (our?) opinion.
But I keep filling out the survey. At least Amtrak asks; I donât think Iâve ever received such a survey from any airline about my experience.
I get one every time I fly. I also get one every time I take a cruise, its usually in my inbox before I get home on disembarkation day, and I live less than 2 hours from port.
I too get a customer satisfaction survey every time I return from a cruise. I have completed 62 of them. I have never received a satisfaction survey from an airline.
If I have a major compliment or suggestion for improvement, I write a letter to the CEO of the company detailing my view(s).
I suspect the results of most customer surveys are tabulated by marketing or customer service. The executives only see a summary of the results. A letter probably is read by the CEOâs PA. Whether the CEO sees it is problematic.
Many years ago I wrote a letter to Amtrakâs CEO regarding a minor switching issue for the Texas Eagle in Dallas. I got a reply from Stephen Gardner, who if I remember correctly, was Amtrakâs Chief Operating Officer at the time. The issue was addressed satisfactorily.
They review them internally I am pretty sure. They mentioned they had the initial Mardi Gras service riders complete a survey. In addition they had various people on the platforms at the destination stops asking where travelers were going and why they road the train. Last they checked with local hotels and eating establishments and asked about any noticeable increase in business. This was mostly groups related to the Southern Rail Commission doing this but they provided the feedback to Amtrak. Amtrak itself conducted a ridership survey and reported results on the conference call I sat in on.
I am pretty confident they have heard complaints about flexible dining. However, where people fail when complaining is suggesting alternatives that Amtrak might try that they have in use elsewhere. So for example, as we discussed earlier in these forums, I think it was Dave that mentioned the kosher meals were a better quality. So Amtrak might not have connected that dot and it might help if someone let them know of that. Same deal with passing on that the Kiosk service on the Accela might be something to try in the Long Distance passenger area.
At McGregor No. 21 was approximately two hours late. To get around a freight train that was headed toward Fort Worth, it had to backup to reposition itself to get around the freight train. The distance was less than 1/4 of a mile if that.
Would the engineer and/or conductor have to get permission to back the train? Who would grant it?
In my letter to Mr. Harris I offered two recommendations.
Drop the dining cars on the Texas Eagle and City of New Orleans, at least, and upgrade the offerings in the Sightseer Lounge car.
Since No. 21 was running approximately two hours late, I bought a cheese tray and cheeseburger in the lounge car. They were far superior to the slop I had for lunch in the dining car.
Contact HEB about contracting for Meal Simples, which are HEBâs ready to heat meals that can be heated in a microwave or similar device. They have a wide variety that are delicious. I have them three or four times a week.
Approximately 85 percent of Texas Eagle and City of New Orleans riders are in coach class. They would not miss the dining car. Moreover, a significant percentage of first class passenger would not miss them, especially if they could still get a hot entre served in their room. Even a first time rider probably recognizes a Soup Kitchen meal when it is put before them.
Agree on the Dining Car, they have so screwed it up now. Used to be you would be introduced to strangers and sit at the same table but with the last update they seat your party by itselfâŚwhat fun is that?
Agree on the Amtrak Black Angus burger in the Cafe Car. I donât know if they still do this but it used to be $5-6 in the Cafe Car but with chips it was like $15 in the dining car (lol). Not many passengers noticed that. Amtrak might have fixed that by now.
I have an HEB near me and honestly I feel like I am getting ripped off there, portions are smaller and prices are higher. Though I really like the HEB Central Market concept in Plano. Great food store though more expensive. Their Deli is pretty decent. So I would go with a box lunch from HEB Central Market then just a regular HEB. HEB has good quality though and I have never been sold crap food via HEB. OTOH Kroger, Tom Thumb, and the other larger chain stores are horrible. Most of the grocery stores in Wisconsin are terrible as well. Feel fortunate with the wider selection in Texas. Not sure if you have been in the Midwest but grocery store wise small, limited selection, deli not very fresh. Even my Brother from Arizona thinks so, we compared notes. Best Box Lunch ever: Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta. Anyhow, I think Dave had a good idea there with local places along the rails doing Box Lunches.
Back to the Texas Eagle, flexible dining sucks and has to go in my view. I think next year will be a big Amtrak travel year for me, probably will do more than one LD trip.
On No. 21 back to Temple, I was seated in the dining car with a man from San Antonio. We were the only riders in the car except for two bored looking attendants. He was a delight. Turns out he too was an accountant; he had worked for HEB for more than 40 years. We chatted up a storm. One of the pleasures I derive from traveling on Amtrak, as well as cruise ships, is the opportunity to meet new and different people.
Festival Foods in Wisconsin is a good operation. They use high low pricing model. Theyâve just sold to Schnucks from St.Louis though so might deteriorate. Woodmanâs is another good chain. They use everyday discount model. Theyâre not geared to service departments to keep prices low. Otherwise itâs the Krogerising of America. Crummy. Having grown up in the grocery business itâs sad to see.
Not really. Pretty much on the introverted side of things.
And we donât have real coffee shops here. Itâs either starbies, Dunkin, or places run by trust fund babies that open up at 8am (and close at 2pm) that charge $8 for crap coffee. We went from having not much to generic chain stuff when the population exploded. I think we have one of each of the restaurants you mentioned in a 30 minute drive from here?
We did have a couple local versions of those when I was a kid, but they all pretty much closed up last 20 years - usually when the old man retires and the kid doesnât want to take over.
If I knew anything about restaurants - I would love to open an actual real honest coffee shop. But I donât so I probably wonât.
I think youâre looking at the cost of serving and cleanup in the dining car on a âfully allocatedâ basis (remember charging the Florida stations a pro-rata amount for snow removal?) if that is so, thereâs nothing to âfixâ.
The question then becomes, as PJS1 effectively noted, whether microwave/turboconvection prep of preassembled meals, served cafe-style or taken to rooms or seats, would replace full diners.
Have not encountered them but roughly HEB Central Market is like Sendiks in SE Wisconsin (Metro Milwaukee area) but Central Market is exponentially larger, the deli counter for just the meats / fresh seafood is a massive aisle with service people on both sides. Back to Wisconsin Roundyâs Foods took over Pick N Save and other food operations in Wisconsin. Remember Kohls foods run by former Sen Herb Kohl (Kohls Dept Stores). Grew up on Kohls Foods, then Sentry, then Pick N Save (all not very good). Short time we used Graschâs in Elm Grove (gone now), they were one of the last family run grocery stores from the settler / immigrant era. Speaking of which and tying this back into Railroads. Elm Grove was kind of a Farmers Mill settlement on the Milwaukee Road, those large grain silos of Reinders Bros (not sure if still same name), used to be a customer of the railroad. Brookfield a little further up the line was a rail junction and also there was a large lumber mill there next to the tracks (apartments now), Hotel / Saloon catty corner from where the Depot used to be and across from that and along the tracks used to be an old Ice House, they would cut up ice blocks from the now filled in lake next to River Road. In my child hood the Ice House became a small railroad transfer warehouse, sawmill slowly shrunk to nothing. Brookfield and Elm Grove were both rail junctions and supplied freight traffic to the Milwaukee road. Now there is nothing and the tracks just flow through both. Brookfield also famous for being one of the hideouts of Al Capone. Google Earth Search for Capone Ct you can still see the large house situated to view the main road. Also famous for the wife of Charles Engles of Little House on the Prairie fame (only a historical marker thereâŚthey bulldozed the farm and it is now a subdivision full of Nimbyâs).
Thatâs why Iâm not in the coffee shop business. Although a lot of local shops are what i refer to as âcoffee hobbiesâ. Opening at 8 am is a huge red flag.
And I was fine not being social looooong before smart phones. So itâs not a new concept.
Well on the first point, I disagree. When you do a cost allocation from a business to consumer point of view. It should be far less automaton than above. Smaller cost allocation for the burger, larger potentially for a nicer meal.
The issue with the separate dining car overall via the Amtrak implementation goes back to when Amtrak first started. It viewed itself not as a carry-on of what the private railroads did but as a modern new concept of a passenger train service for the people. And so they over simplified a lot of the revenue capture structure. Instead of multiple classes of coach, we ended up with one. Instead of multiple classes of sleeper, we ended up with two (three if you include the Family room). I donât know what they all cut from the dining car or what railroad they tried to emulate there. However, note the highest price itemâŚreally is not that expensive nor is something the average person would consider a special item (outside of the title). Even so, the dining car will never make money on Amtrak given the low ridership on each train combined with the menu, is never going to cover the operating cost of the seperate car. Only options there are to make the car multi-function or eliminate it altogether. I think it would have been cool if Amtrak used the dining car for other revenue generating purposes outside of meal serving but I think that is asking too much of the crew. Better option is to just drop it.
On the second point, I am not sure all the coach passengers have the proper skills to heat anything. So I think you would still need an Amtrak employee to do the heating there.
