Overmod, I appreciate your detailed response to my kiosk suggestion. You make good points. Re folding, I don’t think it’s necessary; I printed out Amtrak’s PDF from the website (once I found it) for our Virginia trip last week on the NEC on my HP color laser, and just stapled the upper-left corner of the four pages, then folded it to display the columns I wanted. A stapler could be attached to the kiosk. It could also be just b&w, which wouldn’t look as good, but would be cheaper to maintain.
I rather doubt most non-computer travelers are going to think to ‘ask Julie’ about timetables, nor want to make special trips to Staples or somewhere to get them—unless they are train buffs (like me). I do think that mailed timetables would be a nice perk for Amtrak Guest Rewards customers (which I am—free train rides!); maybe even a complete System Timetable with periodic updates.
Here’s another idea: Every Amtrak passenger faces a seat pocket with a magazine in it. I never look at the darned thing, but how about binding in the timetable for the route the magazine is on? This would be pretty easy to do, and probably the ads in the magazines would pay for them. Might actually get people like me to read them!
Overmod referred to “government services”. Now there is an oxymoron if I ever heard one.
You guys are making this way too complicated. If you don’t know how to operate your computer and get the information for your trip online then just ask someone for help. Why make it more complicated than that?
He was referring to the department at a public library that provides government information and documents – tax forms, for instance. There is no oxymoron whatsoever in what the library provides. Be more careful to understand the context before using cliches for comments.
One of the very particular concerns in this issue is that “just ask someone for help” business. If you are elderly and not particularly computer-literate, who do you ask for help you can understand, and by what methods do you go about doing the asking? It’s not as simple as dialing 211 for ‘the hookup’ and asking the agent who answers to get you an Amtrak schedule from Cincinnati to Oakland.
Part of the difficulty ‘so far’ (as far as IxD is concerned) is that there is no one ‘standard’ to use with elderly non-computer-literate people. Just making large groups of such people aware of ‘how to get schedules’ can be difficult, first in making them aware that ‘it can be done’, then facilitating it when they actually start trying to do it and start encountering problems and confusion and delay.
Assuring that different “cohorts” all have simple experiences, almost by definition, requires complex systems and approaches overall. That is part of why the approach needs to be ‘more complicated than that’.
All of this begs the question of who needs a timetable any way? Except of course railfans. The vast majority of people only want to know what time does my train leave and what time does my train arrive? In almost all instances anything else is superfluous.
Airlines have not published timetables for years. How do elderly noncomputer literate passengers get flight information? They call the airline or visit their travel agent. For Amtrak they can call the 800 number or visit a travel agent if they don’t have a relative, friend or neighbor to help them get the information. By insisting that Amtrak maintain its old ways just to satisfy a small need it will never be able to grow.
Trains are different than airplanes. While a plane might make one or maybe even two stops en route, a train will make many. And the scheduled time of each stop is of interest and, sometimes, concern to passengers. If you’re late at Oxnard, and later at Santa Barbara, it’s a good idea to prepare to be late into Salinas and San Jose. As far as it goes, I’m not sure that printed timetables in stations are that important, but something should be available on the trains themselves.
So, we have a couple reasons we would like printed schedules.
the on-board experience, following the route and time keeping
trip planning
We have a few solutions
kiosk printing at station in various forms
third party print and ship for fee
inclusion in seatback magazine
print at home
I’m thinking the only really viable solution is “print at home” (or library, or Staples) and those that can’t do this are just going to have to find a friend, relative or neighbor who can help them out.
I think even having printable pdf schedules is going to be a thing of the past. Think about the cost to maintain them and even then, how often they are outdated before the next issue?
So, what then? How can you easily do trip planning, have station and route info you need and be able to take hard copies with you if you like?
You want trip planning? It’s there. You want train route info, click on the train number. You want station info? Click on the station info button. You want a route map? Click on the map view button.
As for the on-board experience, Amtrak really needs to catch up with the airlines and cruise ship folk, and even some other railroads.
Just about every plane with a seat-back screen will show you route info and your position, speed, etc. Cruise ships have this info on one of the TV channels. Even Southwest airlines will show you this info on your own device via WiFi for free en route.
I rode a couple trains in New Zealand last year. (Both of which I highly recommend!) Both had on board displays with an audio route guide available from a headphone jack. No reason in this age that Amtrak could not do the same - using existing on-board WiFi to start.
Yes, the onboard train status and map via Amtrak Connect (wireless) is much improved. The maps still don’t show names for bodies of water (my wife’s frequent question: what river [or bay, or lake] is that?).
A touchscreen on the seat back with train status, maps, and timetables would be an ideal solution, obviating the need to bring your own wireless devices onboard (though of course many do anyway). But installing these would be a huge expense. Will the new coaches Amtrak has ordered to replace the aging Amfleet cars have them? For the older cars, putting maps and timetables into the seatback magazines would be a boon, IMO.
Given the high percentage of people who have smart phones, tablets, etc., putting touch screens, etc. on seatbacks or anywhere on a train would not be cost effective.
One of the reasons Amtrak may have discontinued videos in the long-distance train lounge cars is because so many of the passengers can play a movie of their choice on their tablet, phone, etc.
I suspect a significant percentage of those who don’t have a tablet, smart phone, PC, etc. are seniors. Not to worry. We will be gone in the not too distant future. And most of the young people, i.e. anyone under 70, have grown up accustomed to these devices.
The personal communication device revolution is just beginning. At some time in the future, hotels, cruise ships, etc. may remove phones from their rooms. Most of their guests will have a smart phone or at least a cell phone. This is largely true even today. For the few that don’t the hotel could rent them a burner for a nominal fee.
I don’t think it should be hard to keep the PDF shedules updated and available. The railroad crews must have their own route timetables, so Amtrak’s PR people can always piggyback on those.
For the future, I think inserting local route, schedules, and maps into the seatback magazines would work best for older cars (and older, less tech-savvy passengers). Seatback touchscreens would be ideal for new cars.
That Bahn website does look very well designed and user-friendly.