Amtrak carried 101.1 percent as many passenger-miles in October 2023 as in the same month of 2019, according to Amtrak’s monthly performance report. This is the second time in three months that Amtrak carried more than 100 percent of pre-COVID numbers. I’m not sure why it fell to less than 90 percent in September, but August and October numbers suggest that the state-owned company has mostly recovered from the pandemic.
See last week’s post for a review of transit and air travel. October highway data are not yet available but will be posted here when it comes out.
Amtrak divides its trains into the Northeast Corridor, long-distance trains, and state-supported trains mostly operate within a state or between two states. Of these, the Boston-Washington trains are doing best, carrying 11.3 percent more riders than in 2019, and long-distance trains are next at 4.2 percent. However, the state-supported trains carried just 92.5 percent as many riders as in 2019.
Amtrak is planning to spend billions of dollars to add more state-supported trains, such as by adding more trains between Chicago and the Twin Cities. The slow recovery of such trains suggests that this spending is misplaced. Of course, considering that Amtrak carries less than 0.1 percent of all passenger travel in the U.S., any government spending on the carrier is misplaced.
Amtrak’s recovery may not be earnest private citizens. I bet if someone dug into Amtrak’s ticket sales they would find a surplus of tickets purchased by states, counties, and cities to subsidize the transportation of the “undesirables” that can’t otherwise fly and greyhound taking too long. A friend rode Amtrak about a year ago, OKC to PDX by way of LA, and it was overwhelmingly tweakers. Perhaps if some researcher did a random sample of passengers who have a criminal history.
Could tweakers and convicts make up 20%-30% of Amtrak riders? Yes. Judging by dropping off and picking up my friend at Union Station in Portland, it was closer to 50%. I’m not sure if that number has changed since the great flu of 2020.
Great read.
I do hasten to remind the Author and all readers (especially HI residents) we must STOP referring to the terrible damage endured from 2020 on as being the responsibility of “Covid”; it is not.
GOVERNMENT has been the clear incompetence and source of ALL our strive and struggle. Corona didn’t close schools, businesses, churches, while keeping abortion clinics and bars open; government did that. The same government that you’ve entrusted with taxes and your freedoms. They lied to you and horribly betrayed your trust. It is time for ALL OF US to OWN that truth.
COVID is actually jealous of Gov Ige and Dr. Mengele Green. The 2 of them have destroyed FAR more than Corona could ever have dreamed or imagined.
We have a responsibility to our society to INTERRUPT ANYONE who refers to this scenario as caused by COVID. This lie must be stopped (lest it shall be repeated).