(Bloomberg News circulated the following story by Chris Dolmetsch on March 3, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Amtrak, the national passenger railroad company that cut fares on its high-speed Acela last month, may lower ticket prices on other trains as ridership drops, Chief Executive Officer Joseph Boardman said.
Passengers are switching to the slower, cheaper regional trains from the Acela, and the railroad is examining whether to reduce fares on all of its routes, said Boardman, 60, a former New York state transportation commissioner who replaced Alex Kummant in November.
“We’ve seen a shifting to some extent from the Acela to the regionals because of the lower cost, and part of that shift we know is because the business climate itself is down,” Boardman said yesterday in an interview at Amtrak headquarters in Washington’s Union Station.
Amtrak, which set an annual ridership record for the sixth straight year in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, said passenger loads began falling in November as the economy worsened and gas prices dropped. Projections show passenger loads were down 1.6 percent through February for the fiscal year to date, including an 8.4 percent decline on the Northeast Corridor linking Boston and Washington.
Amtrak lowered some fares on the high-speed line by as much as 25 percent last month to attract leisure travelers after ridership fell 14 percent in January.
Tickets for a trip from New York to Washington on the Acela range from $99 to $221 for a business-class ticket, with a first-class upgrade available for an additional $100, while the fare for the same trip on a Northeast Regional train ranges from $72 to $139.
Long Distance
The railroad isn’t seeing a similar drop on its long- distance trains, Boardman said. Projections show passenger loads on those routes are up 6.1 percent for the fiscal year to date, with a 3.5 percent increase in February, Amtrak spokesman Cliff Black said.
“We’re continuing to see growth in long-distance ridership, which is interesting,” Boardman said. “We wondered if people had already made their plans and were just carrying out their plans. We’re not entirely sure what that means yet. We’re hoping we don’t see a drop-off as the year goes on, but we don’t have that answer yet.”
Projections show February ridership fell 6.9 percent compared with the same month in 2008, with a 13 percent decrease on the Northeast Corridor, Black said. The drop can be partially attributed to an extra day in the month in 2008 because of leap year, Black said.
Boardman was named chief of Amtrak after serving for two- and-a-half years as the head of the Federal Railroad Administration.