(Providence Business News published the following story by Mike Colias on its website on July 28.)
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The reduced fares that Amtrak introduced this past spring have helped boost ridership on the Acela Express train between Boston and New York.
Amtrak recently reported that ridership increased 13 percent in the weeks following a new $99, one-way fare between the two cities, introduced April 28. The peak fare had been $127.
The one-way, peak fare between Providence and New York now is $95, compared with $111 before the fare reduction.
Amtrak also reported a 34 percent surge in the number of Boston-to-New York passengers opting for an upgrade to the train’s first-class service. The company capped the peak up-grade price at $50, down from $68.
Amtrak has no plans to raise the fares, a company spokesman said.
“In an environment of reduced travel budgets, many businesspeople have found that Acela Express is … the way to travel between major Northeast cities,” said Barbara J. Richardson, Amtrak’s vice president of marketing and sales, in a press release last month.
Amtrak cut the fares in an effort to reverse flagging ridership during the spring, which coincided with a slowdown in business travel during the war in Iraq, spokesman Dan Stessel said last week.
In the five weeks leading up to the late-April fare reduction, ridership on the high-speed service had been off 15 percent from the same period in 2002.
“The goal is to make Acela more attractive to our core customer base, but more importantly, to broaden our existing customer base,” Stessel said.
Amtrak’s ridership data also shows that a growing number of Northeast travelers, primarily businesspeople, are opting to take the train rather than flying.
In fiscal year 2002 (ended Sept. 30), Amtrak accounted for 69 percent of trips (224,000) between Providence and New York, compared to 31 percent (100,000) who flew in and out of LaGuardia, JFK or Newark airports. In 2001, Amtrak’s market share on that route was 53 percent vs. 47 percent for the airlines, Stessel said.
Meanwhile, a U.S. House subcommittee earlier this month approved a budget measure that would slash Amtrak’s funding 45 percent for fiscal year 2004.
The Appropriations Committee’s transportation and treasury subcommittee approved a reduction from Amtrak’s $1.05 billion this year to a proposed $580 million for fiscal 2004, which begins Oct. 1. The full committee hasn’t set a vote on the plan.
But Stessel downplayed the prospect of Amtrak’s fiscal 2004 budget being cut.”I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it at this point,” he said. “The transportation piece of the appropriations bill will go to the full committee, where Amtrak supporters are likely to have that amount raised.”
Indeed, 219 House members signed a June 25 letter to members of the Appropriations Committee, expressing support for the full $1.8 billion that Amtrak has requested for 2004.
The lawmakers’ letter praised the efforts of Amtrak President and CEO David Gunn, who was appointed in May 2002. The letter says Gunn has reorganized the railroad, streamlined its work force and discontinued unprofitable lines during his short time at the helm of the publicly funded train system.
Amtrak’s request for a 66 percent budget increase would allow it to make a number of infrastructure improvements in the Northeast corridor – particularly in Connecticut, Stessel said.