Amtrak carried 90.9 percent as many passenger-miles in April 2023 as in the same month in 2019, according to the company’s monthly performance report posted yesterday. This was only the second time Amtrak exceeded 90 percent since the pandemic began.
April ridership was strongest in the Northeast Corridor, where Amtrak carried 93.9 percent as many riders as in the same month of 2019. Long-distance trains were next at 88.9 percent. State-supported trains were weakest at 84.5 percent.
Amtrak didn’t severely cut fares to obtain this level of ridership as total ticket revenues were 5.1 percent greater than in 2019. However, over the same time period inflation (measured by the consumer price index) was 18.7 percent, so Amtrak failed to raise fares to keep up with inflation. Amtrak’s operating costs grew by 11.9 percent between April 2019 and April 2023, so the state-owned company’s losses are growing.
The infrastructure bill gave Amtrak $66 billion—$13.2 billion/year over the 5-year life of the bill. For 10-11 million riders annually… for 22 million average trips.
What does 66 Billion get you…. you can buy 100,000 Rolls Royces and enough gas to drive each one 100,000 miles….