Hi. Sometimes a bit of levity is needed, so we should come up with…
“Original ways for Amtrak to get and/or save money”
1)Hold “pledge drives” during times at which the train “stops”…think what PBS does.
2)Arrange for trains to be “fixed” for reality shows…invite the top names. Of course, if “Pimp My Ride” gets involved, they’ll mostly be working on Talgos (because they like Low-riders), outfit them with a loud paintscheme and neon lights attached to the underside, and some kind of “hydraulic bounce” mechanism (you know what I’m talking about). Invite any show and you may get some far out ideas.
3)A different form of “rail-air”…combined Amtrak and air trips, have it all on one ticket, gives illusion that YES, Amtrak DOES go to Hawaii (If you’ve watched “Hotshots: Part Deux”, you’ll probably be laughing now) So you’d have Southwest Chief and Zephyr + flights to Hawaii, Fiji, Tahiti, Texas Eagle + flights to Mexico and South America, Silver Service + flights to the Carribean
Of course, if we could build the rails under them oceans and gulfs…
4)Get the government to make certain types of tickets tax deductable
5)The wrong but makes money department…maybe onboard casinos…or if you really want to both outrage people and rake in money…a legalized “All Aboardello”
6)Have people go door-to-door, encouraging everyone to take Amtrak, preach the values of rail travel…the LDS and Jehova’s witnesses do it, why not Amtrak?
So, can you think of anything else? Anything? No matter how crazy?
LOL! …particularly the fund drive (although, should you use the term “drive” when supporting a train?)
How about “adopt-a-train”? “For mere dollars a day you can support mal-nourished, decrepid, little train that couldn’t” I don’t think Sally Struthers has too much to do these days…
Then sit back and recieve Billions of Dollars in financial aid and reconstruction fund for decades to come…that should plug up any funding problems…
HEY, Whatta ya yelling at me for, it works everywhere else in the world!!!
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Lease out the sides of the cars with advertisment billboards like they do for autos, They actually do this for commuter trains in Europe. Imagine yourself, a hundred miles form any town trackside, and an Amtrack train rolls by with a Billboard for Viagra plastered to it…we could even change the name …to Ad-track !!!
Charge $1 for every time someone posts a Amtrak-must-go or Amtrak-must-be-saved message in a railfan forum. Add a ten-cent surcharge for each use of these phrases:
privatization
public service
national defense
fuel efficiency
guaranteed job
I’m sure many others can be added.
Estimated date this income would cover this year’s farebox shortfall: May 3, 2005.
what is funny, is that as a kid, I had been saying the casino car for a while. if you allowed it just in Nevada, that would pay for the funding for the New Desert Wind, and I bet that you could add a train to Oregon on the WP/now BNSF line Connecting with the Starlight up to Seattle through Keddie. You could then add a whole bunch of Round trips from Reno to Oakland and back, as well as a whole bunch from SLC to RNO and Las Vegas. You would open up the cars as soon as you got into Nevada, and close them off when you leave. For the LD trains, you could just add the cars in SLC west. This would give Amtrak additional revenue, and would be fun for the passangers. Now if the trains go though any Indian Lands, they could open up there as well. Come on Mr. Gunn think outside of the Bun!
Brad
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