METRA plan to add Cafe Cars

Trains Magazine Transit
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Lots of restraint here on my part with not posting additional comment: :smiley:

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Cafe car?

Hey, bring back the bar car.

I used to ride the Metra Rock Island commuter train to downtown Chicago and back. I would often jump on the rear car as it was departing LaSalle Street Station and then walk forward to the front car. That required passing through the bar car, a smoky, rowdy, noisy car if there ever was one.

Rich

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Of course the best was the private club car (alcohol) on the CNW Milwaukee Division. Most of the members lived in Lake Forest.

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Typical North Shore guys. A private club car?

On the Rock, the bar car was open to one and all.

Rich

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I noticed that the thread poster incorrectly put Metra in all caps. One wonders about the motivation? I realize Metra is not terribly popular with Chicagoans, but snide negatives from out-of-towners?

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There was a private car service on the EL (ex-Lackawanna) where I believe the patrons covered all the above-the-rail expenses. Ross Rowland told an interesting story about them.

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There was no replacement when new equipment was bought for the 25 KV electrification, just as the old LIRR bar cars were purposely not kept when the trains were upgraded ‘at public expense’…

… and all these years I’ve thought METRA was all caps too!

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I doubt that any more than you thought it was the ERIE.

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I like the idea. Looks like a cool cafe car. I’d use it.

Would bring good buzz and newer younger riders to the train.

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Yeah, not a bad idea. Gives one more options. The rider experience will be improved.

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If sufficient surcharge is made to cover labor and other costs. The old CNW private cars had a pretty hefty fee.

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I think that would be a penny wise, pound foolish move. Idea is to attract riders who would otherwise not ride. Charging a hefty fee means no revenue at all from new riders.

Congress in their infinite wisdom criticizes Amtrak diner car losses. What they fail to realize is that a lot of customers then just don’t ride at all.

In retail businesses we called it loss leaders. Someone government types don’t understand that.

Not knocking government. They’re good at government. But business smarts no. By definition really . If they had biz smarts they’d be in business.

Likewise biz types usually don’t excel in government. Bloomberg is one contra example I can think of.

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In what way was putting Metra in all caps a snide comment? It might be incorrect, but so many cities have all uppercase acronyms for their transit systems, it seems like it was just a minor (very minor) error.

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The CBS link of the OP was spelled correctly so no excuses. The OP has had some problem with Metra and its “lunch bucket/pail” riders for years.

See his comment: “Lots of restraint here on my part with not posting additional comment.”

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Retail is very different from a government subsidized service. All the riders should be treated equally. Some should not get special treatment for nothing. The CNW private parlor car riders paid a monthly surcharge plus a membership fee. As they were mostly from Lake Forest and Winnetka, they didn’t expect the other commuters to subsidize their special bar etc. services.

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Amtrak doesn’t need free food for sleeping car passengers who are already heavily subsidized and already largely fill those cars 100%. Is there evidence even, from a survey, that sleeping car passengers ridership would be statistically lower if the food were not provided? Other posters have said that coach passengers do not patronize the dining cars in very large numbers since they ride shorter distances typically.

Grocery and discount stores use the term “loss leaders” but it was not used in better department stores like Fields. I imagine most “government types” are familiar with the term. In the mental health field, government Medicare employees were actually better at providing services than most employees of the private insurance companies. United Health was the worst as I recall

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I thought you were referring to the Metra cafe cars. The private CNW cars paid the standard charge all private cars paid. Plus they also had to pay the applicable commute fares. Sounds fair to me. Concept dates back to Pullman fees when Pullmans were private cars, not railroad owned.

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[Wiki] Prior to 2022, Car 553 operated twice daily on the Union Pacific North Line between Chicago and Kenosha, Wisconsin. The car operated as part of an agreement between club members and the Union Pacific Railroad (which operates Metra trains on the UP North Line).While in the past, membership had been restricted exclusively to wealthy “North Shore” families, membership was subsequently open to anyone. The membership price varied depending on the boarding station, but ranged from $550 to $850 per calendar quarter. Now in storage in Elburn.

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Well a survey of one (me) says no diner no train. Now I don’t care if the cost is included in the ticket or separate but I’m not bagging my meals on a train. That goes for me for short haul in coach too during meal hours.

I’d welcome to hear what others think.

As for Fields I’d like to refer you to economicstrategy.org. They have a paper on Fields retail strategy. Here is a nice quote about how they used “loss leaders”.

“Ready-to-wear hats, notions, and women’s cotton underwear were advertised at prices that “were unquestionably the lowest in Chicago.” Such goods acted as nineteenth-century “loss leaders,” drawing customers from all classes into the store, broadening the potential appeal of the Field’s brand, and increasing the store’s conversion rate—the percentage of people walking through the store who made a purchase.”

I can’t think of any retailer that doesn’t use loss leaders. It’s how successful businesses are run. It’s called a “sale”.

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I simply said Fields did not use the term, loss leader, but that is what they were. Accurately we still had a decent markup. I don’t know about in the 19th C, but when I was there in the buying staff in the 1970s, we would have been shot if caught using that term. “Special Purchase” “Extraordinary Value” etc. were our terms in advertising.

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Nice info.

There was also a private car (or two, I can’t remember) on the CNW Northwest line. I’d see them when I commuted from Des Plaines. I once walked into the cars just to see them. They were cool and invited me to stay but I didn’t. I just wanted to see the insides. Now I wish I had stayed. Although maybe they were looking for new members!

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