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Metro-North seeks car rental partnership
It made my trip Glacier National park much better when we picked up a rental car in Cut Bank, MT. That car was waiting in the parking lot with the keys in it. The trip to the Grand Canyon was easy the Hertz rep was waiting.
Great Idea! Amtrak would be more convenient if rental cars were available at or very near more stations. It would also help if Amtrak’s web site included information on rental car and/or connecting transit availability.
What a great marketing idea for a commuter railroad. Getting in and out of NYC can be grueling by car. But if you can get out by 30 to 60 miles you’ve cut out over half the aggravation and congestion! For MNRR this would be good for those heading to New England, Upstate New York and Canada. I don’t know if this would be in effect on West of Hudson lines (operated for them by NJT), but getting to a place like Harriman to get go north on the Thruway or west on Rt 17 to upstate or ride to Port Jervis to head into the Pocono Mts takes a lot of the burden of driving away.
Enterprise is located with in 15 miles of 94% of Amtrak stops now, Most will pick you up if arriving during business hours.
For years I have a always said the same thing train stations /car rentals = alot more riders
Landon, I can’t agree with you more. Amtrak would gain more riders if car rentals would be available to the passenger at stations. Just like Jim Phares stated, the Flagstaff Depot, a major stop for the Southwest does have a Hertz representative at the depot plus key drops for other agencies adjacent to the station as well.
How about a similar deal with Metra in Chicagoland? MTA in Boston? Every metro area with commuter rail? It could only help.
Another Amtrak station with a car rental close by is Galesburg, Illinois. Enterprise is located right next to the depot, very convenient. I’ve taken the Southwest Chief from Albuquerque to go rail fanning in the midwest, and the easy access to a car rental is why I make Galesburg my preferred stop.
It must be a great idea. Everybody agreed!
In and around Boston, most if not all of the MBTA subway and surface trolley stops are at or very near ZipCar locations. But most computer rail stations do not have rental car co-location.
I got off of the Texas Eagle in Temple, Texas and got a rental car from Hertz for the days I visited the city for a Santa Fe Historical& modeling Soc. convention. My scheduled departure was for a Sunday. Hertz wouldn’t make arrangement where I could drop of the car so I had to reschedule the following day. Thank goodness Amtrak accommodated me so I could still get a sleeper at the last minute. As for Hertz, they suck.