I can remember ordering a copy of the first passenger-only edition of the OG back in 1974. Basically, it included Amtrak and Canadian intercity schedules plus the names and addresses of the various suburban operators but NOT their schedules. It was a bit of a disappointment.
Any type of question about Amtrak’s decision making might be answered with the knowledge that the Board and senior management perhaps are in their positions because of the Dunham/Kruger factor. Somewhat similar to the “Peter Principle” whereby those with extreme self confidence, the ability to be absolutely blind to their lack of knowledge, possessing a remarkable ability to bluff others into letting them into positions of power and a truly amazing skill at getting away with awful decisions without skipping a beat.
Plant and seed companies still send out catalogs in the winter, clothing companies still do the same on a regular basis because it pays off as customers and potential customers view products and images and percentage wise, buy. The national system timetables were a real help in planning rail trips by getting first a holistic view of what would be possible connection-wise and then being able to coordinate with the schedules of those the traveler would visit, see if accommodations were possible at various dates and times for layovers, etc. There are 75 million aging “Boomers” who have the time, the interest in travel to visit new places, grandchildren, etc., and they have the money, like 75% of all disposable income which is a market Amtrak just does not even know exists. Having traveled most Amtrak routes via sleeper here and across Canada with VIA many times, the schedules were a great help with flexibility in planning. There is zero entrepreneurship in the halls of Amtrak senior management.
Yes, there is a place for internet based travel planning/ticketing, just as there is
Here we have another case of putting all your eggs in one basket. Amtrak’s lack of TTs IMO it appears that Amtrak can have every potential passenger to follow into one method of making reservations. That just is not so. Certainly the airlines are not doing that now. However with the insane loads on airplanes will airlines fall into the same trap?
Load factors in the 60s - early 80s ran from 45 - 60% depending on travel season.
Timetables are between the phone books and the new car brochures.
Airlines haven’t had printed schedules for years. The last one that I had was for Northwest.
They probably think people are too stupid or too lazy, or a combination of both, to use an actual timetable. Even one on a website. That people have been conditioned to just put in locations and dates and let the computer do the work.
Jeff
And since you can do that, why waste the time with a timetable?
Not a matter of people being stupid, it’s about is it really needed?
Or going to AAA to get a packet of maps for your trip
[:)]
And the AAA Trip-tik paged maps following your complete journey. Start to Finish.
Sears used to publish what was called the WISH BOOK. My wish book was the OFFICIAL GUIDE.
My recollection is that Amtrak quit printing timetables (even on their website) during the pandemic because the schedules were changing so often, that even an electronic version would quickly become an artifact.
Just about the last timetables left in print are for suburban service (rail and bus) and city transit (usually maps but some timetables for individual routes may be available).
What I remember was that Amtrak first started discussing eliminating expensively-printed paper timetables when ‘photo-quality’ home printers started to become ubiquitous and “nominally” cheap. Those who wanted a paper copy could then easily just print one… and then another if or when the information changed… shifting the cost to the end-user where I agree it ought to belong.
My great objection is that Amtrak is not updating its on-screen timetables, probably in part since phones don’t have printers and aren’t optimized to display timetables legibly. The great problem is that the current ‘user interface’ presumes that passengers already know where they want to get on and off and what date and time they want to travel… so you have to enter those things explicitly to get any information. You could still extract a timetable of sorts, but you have to do an awful lot of work and have no real idea if or when service or schedule changes are made.
It’s okay if there are no printed timetables. But no excuse for no online ones.
Many people want general info about where Amtrak goes, and when.
How hard can this be?
Timetables are different for airlines and trains. It is important for passengers on trains to know that the stop they just had means the next stop is where to get off. I would like to know how many passengers miss or almost miss their stop. Most airplane flights stop at just one airport. Then maybe a connection. Except maybe SW with 3 or 4 stops.
But we have persons on a train that makes multiple stops. Especially LD with 8 - 14 stops over 2+ days.
Just tell the conductor where you want to get off and ask him or her notify you about when you are about to arrive. Try it, it works like a charm.
I saved a few of them and when I am riding a train, I cut out the timetable for that one and take it with me. Stops are usually the same and many times , the schedule is too. Then I put it away when I return in a folder with others. and works quite well. I have no idea why they did away with them, glad I kept a few. I have looked at website and cannot see any schedules on there any longer and not even trains by name.
http://dixielandsoftware.net/Amtrak/status/StatusMaps/
DixielandSoftware site keeps track of the Amtrak network. By clicking on a geographic area you get a representation of the trains operating in that area. Trains operating are shown by their train number with the number being displayed in Green, Yellow or Red. Green is OT to 30 minutes late; Yellow is 30"L to 2’00L, Red is over 2 hours late. Clicking on the train ID will give on the functional ‘timetable’ of the train’s scheduled stops and how it performed at stations it has already passed.
Most of the people grousing about no timetables are the collectors…[:D]