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Senator Makes Amtrak Hire Ticket Agents Because 30 Percent of His State Lacks Internet (senate.gov)
McGruber writes: Joe Manchin, the senior Senator from West Virginia, has inserted language in the FY19 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies appropriations bill that will force Amtrak to employ at least one ticketing agent in every state that it serves.
His reasoning? "Amtrak has told me that most of their sales are now online, but West Virginians buy far more tickets at the Charleston station than most places around the country. That's not surprising, as nearly 30% of West Virginia is without internet access, and mobile broadband access is also difficult in my state's rugged, mountainous terrain, making online ticket sales difficult." Manchin continued: "Our population includes many working class families and elderly residents who are less likely to have a credit card or another means to purchase tickets remotely, but rely heavily on the train as an alternative to driving or flying. Although Matt Crouch's job was terminated today, once the bill is passed by the House and Senate and signed by the President, Amtrak will have to reinstate a position in the state and I will do everything over the next few months to make sure that happens."
His reasoning? "Amtrak has told me that most of their sales are now online, but West Virginians buy far more tickets at the Charleston station than most places around the country. That's not surprising, as nearly 30% of West Virginia is without internet access, and mobile broadband access is also difficult in my state's rugged, mountainous terrain, making online ticket sales difficult." Manchin continued: "Our population includes many working class families and elderly residents who are less likely to have a credit card or another means to purchase tickets remotely, but rely heavily on the train as an alternative to driving or flying. Although Matt Crouch's job was terminated today, once the bill is passed by the House and Senate and signed by the President, Amtrak will have to reinstate a position in the state and I will do everything over the next few months to make sure that happens."
Yes, having no Internet access is a bad deal for Virginians, but maybe the state representative should be doing something about that instead of bitching to Amtrak.
Why not increase Internet access? Encourage more fiber to be laid down by companies etc.
This guy is just backwards.
If people can order burgers at a McDonalds POS terminal they can certainly buy train tickets from them as well.
I'd argue that the ability to buy tickets for cash is a good enough reason to have ticket agents. And also the ability to make certain changes to trips in progress that aren't always possible online.
"Ignoring root causes how"? Is the state government just supposed to start printing money and issue cash Universal Basic Income (UBI) to all its residents which will of course eliminate the economic feasibility issues related to laying fiber optic cable in a rock bed / over a mountain range ?
If Amtrak is expected to make a profit, or at least survive on its own, then it must have the ability to allocate resources as needed, including not devoting resources to markets that aren't profitable.
However if Amtrak is expected to serve markets that aren't going to be sustainable, make it a public utility supported by public (ie, tax) money.
If Google can put wifi in Indian stations how about in US stations?
The National Radio Quiet Zone covers a large part of West Virginia. The "lack of Internet" is by design, though I guess wired Internet is still possible. No WiFi, satellite Internet, or cell service allowed to protect radio telescopes from interference.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Didn't even know they had train stations where you can't buy a ticket.
One. Per state.
Is it just me, or is that totally reasonable?
Like the trains or not, I would think it was weird if you couldn't just walk into the Charleston station and buy a ticket from a human.
That's not even a blip compared to the "$330M for National Guard minor construction projects" in the same press release, or the "$4.1 billion for the Airport Improvement Program".
commuter rail still has the hole punch
... provide internet to 30% of the goddam state?
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
There are parts of Americab without internet? How unworthy of USA. Adam orth would not be proud cause local ISPs coverage is bad.
Thought they would be less anti-business than Seattle.
The commuter and light rail trains that I've been on had vending machines at the stations.
It might be easier for people to get tickets if they were available at at United States Post offices and postal stations. Folks would need to plan their travel plans in advance because post offices aren't open 24/7, but even most small tows have postal service outlets.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
Where the ticketing agents get $120,000 / year to sit on their asses and ignore you?
Once SpaceX gets its Starlink internet service up and running, everywhere in the US should have access to good internet. The FCC approved them launching a constellation of over 4,000 LEO satellites by 2024, which then will be followed by about 7,000 satellites in even lower orbits. SpaceX has already put the first test satellites into orbit. Though as others have mentioned, dealing with the Radio Quiet Zone regulations might be a problem. The nice thing about LEO satellites is that it fixes the latency issues you see with current geosynchronous satellite internet service; they expect ping times in the 20-40 ms range. And the shear number of satellites will mean adequate bandwidth.
and not just because they're not 'tech savvy'. Age Related Cognitive Decline is a thing.
I don't like Joe Manchin one bit. He just sold us all out to Wall Street (along with a bunch of other Dems ) by repealing Dodd-Frank (in pieces so nobody would notice). Thanks to him and his right wing / pro corp ilk we're gonna have a major crash in about 4-6 years (just in time for a Democrat to take the Whitehouse and the blame). I hate the guy, but this seems reasonable.
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That's not surprising, as nearly 30% of West Virginia is without internet access ...
I really wonder how many people in Bangladesh have no internet access. In absolute numbers it might be more than in West Virginia, but percentage wise
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
the stupid useless govermint cant even run a basic train statuon without attacking conservatives. defund it now.
Since when was the internet the only means of long-distance communication ? For the purpose of purchasing a ticket, a phone is a perfectly reasonable thing to use.
What makes the senator think that availability of the internet will suddenly address W. Virginians' apparent aversity to using credit cards ?
Nullius in verba
How about proposing a bill making Amtrak serve all states, too? Amtrak Thruway Motorcoach service doesn't count. Nobody wants to ride a bus for any long distance.
Kriston
Invest in it. Hard to do so under libertarian economy? The vector of progress is from libertarianism of Somalia towards 90% tax brackets "which US never ever ever had" (oh, wait).
The senator should go back to his sister-wife and shut his imbecile Republican (? no, actually, believe or not, this imbecile is a Democrat) yapper.
I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
I thought the common wisdom was that the people that don't have Internet in the USA now it's way more that they don't WANT Internet than they can't get it?
that 30% can''t read.'
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Let the free market decide
The free market cannot provide decisions in a heavily subsidized market. Automobile travel is heavily subsidized; thus rail travel is competing with another transportation provider, private autos, that receives a near 50% subsidy.
This article presents an unusually low estimate of the subsidies that autos receive:
Over the last 40 years, gas taxes, tolls, and registration fees have covered only about 60 or 70 percent of roadway expenditures across all levels of U.S. government. The remainder has been paid using property, income, and other taxes not related to transportation. These subsidies for driving reduce its cost and increase driving demand in the United States.
from here: https://www.citylab.com/transp...
This article is much more in line with other articles:
A new report from the Tax Foundation shows 50.7 percent of America’s road spending comes from gas taxes, tolls, and other fees levied on drivers. The other 49.3 percent? Well, that comes from general tax dollars, just like education and health care. The way we spend on roads has nothing to do with the free market, or even how much people use roads.
“Nationwide in 2010, state and local governments raised $37 billion in motor fuel taxes and $12 billion in tolls and non-fuel taxes, but spent $155 billion on highways,” writes the Tax Foundation’s Joseph Henchman. Another $28 billion of that $155 billion comes from revenue from the federal gas tax.
from here: https://usa.streetsblog.org/20...
Most other studies seem to hover around that 50% mark. The point being that "let the free market decide" is a nice quip; but it does not work in markets that do not rely on the free market; but instead rely on heavy subsidies.
Having some way to buy tickets from an agent is important - not only for people with no internet access, but also for the unbanked population. But there is no reason to require that Amtrak employ those agents. In some states, an agency agreement for somebody else to sell the tickets might be a suitable solution, rather than requiring an Amtrak employee who will be idle most of the time. (Some Amtrak locations are served by only two trains per day, one in each direction.) The agent could be a local transit agency, a bus company that also serves the station, or a store located near the train station.
In other words, require that the problem (people can't buy tickets) be solved. Don't require a specific solution (Amtrak employees). Requiring the employees is pork barrel politics.
Yes, let's make our government-subsizied and owned monopoly add on additional costs when they don't want to subsidize it in the first place.
Let's not even talk about the fact Amtrak is one of the more expensive options for long distance travel. Using my upcoming vacation as an example; Amtrak doesn't offer actual train service to Las Vegas...so you have to take the train to L.A. and then spend almost 7 hours on a bus. This is $280 each way and a travel time of 72 hours each way! Meanwhile, $180 gets me on a flight to Las Vegas that has a total travel time (including short layover/plane switch) of just the Amtrak bus segment! Mind you, this is also for just a coach seat on Amtrak; so have fun spending 18 hours riding to Chicago and then 42 hours to LA...in a coach seat.
Amtrak isn't attracting new customers because no one wants to pay that much more for a "lower" level of service; it has nothing to do with the availability of ticket agents. I really have to question doing something for "disadvantaged populations" that's typically a more expensive option too. If someone is that bad off, they're likely to want to really save the pennies and won't consider Amtrak at $300 if they can ride a bus for less money. Greyhound directly to Vegas is about $208 and takes about 60 hours. If I'm "disadvantaged", I'm probably saving the $78 and taking Greyhound and actually get there faster.
The lack of a credit card or other banking isn't what it used to be either. You can get reloadable cards now...they've been a thing for years. There's also the thing of you can still pay cash at the ticket counters of most airlines. You can even usually call ahead to reserve and they'll give you 24 hours to show up and pay. It might cost a little bit more...and you might have some extra screening. But if you don't want that, you can just go back and pay more for the slower, less comfortable option.
There are a few legitimate reasons...but these can be overcome other ways. Why not let a third-party sell the tickets? Go to your local Western Union outlet and purchase them; sell them at the post office; visit a local travel agent and pay them cash to get your tickets.
This just seems like a very shallow act by a politician trying to make it seem like he's "helped" people. He's done something for a few people that we'll all have to pay for. It also seems like a very lazy solution for people who can't be bothered to actually think.
The USA worked quite well for 200 years without ANY internet.
Millions of Americans DO NOT waste their lives pretending they live on a cell phone or on a PC/Mac/tablet hooked to the internet.
Millions of Americans DO NOT have internet service providers, and have NO interest in 99% of the drivel the the internet is built to shovel, so they rarely or even never log on to it.
People who live in big cities with easy fast net access, and who have jobs that are tied to the net, can get to living in a bubble and either never get to know the real world or they forget about it. I am reminded of the young Obamacare worker a few years ago (who was captured on video) who was assigned somewhere in the midwest to help the people there enroll in the new and wonderful Obamacare - and while signing up some old farmer-type person the young man asked for the guy's e-mail address. The older gent said "what's e-mail?" and the young Obamacare guy was dumbstruck - he seemd to have never considered the idea that a person might not only not have e-mail but might not even know what it was. The sad part is that the young worker probabaly concluded that the oldster was a dumb hick and yet that oldster was probably vastly more capable of surviving out in the real world without a massive government and huge corporations providing power, safe food, and safe water.
All of this is not a luddite rant, it's just that people who live their lives with tech and cannot get by without it need to occasionally put the gear down and go camping - re-connect with the planet and real life and ACTUAL people (as opposed to facebook "friends" who may actually be dogs).
I bet if you made every train free, then fired every person involved in selling tickets, Amtrak might be profitable, or at least viewed more favorably by the taxpayers subsidizing the organization.
Ken