(The following article by Larry King was posted on the Philadelphia Inquirer website on October 3.)
PHILADELPHIA — Starting Tuesday, Amtrak riders across the country will be paying 5 percent to 7 percent more to ride the national commuter railroad’s trains.
The general fare increase, averaging $3 to $4 a ticket, was announced Wednesday.
A standard one-way ticket on a regional train from Philadelphia to New York – currently $61 for peak hours, $53 for off-peak travel – would increase by 5 percent. The faster Acela Express trains, currently $102 for a trip to New York, would increase by 7 percent.
For commuters who buy monthly passes, an even steeper series of increases awaits.
On Oct. 16, the discount on monthly passes – currently about 70 percent in Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor – will be cut to about 60 percent. In February, the discount will be cut again, this time to 50 percent.
For those who travel between Philadelphia and New York, the price of a monthly pass will rise from $633 to $821 on Oct. 16, and to $1,008 in February.
Amtrak had planned to impose the increases last month, but held off after passengers and legislators protested. No changes were made in the increases, except to raise the monthly pass fees more slowly.
The national railroad said it needed the rate hike to offset rising fuel costs and other expenses.
Commuter advocates found the timing of the announcement ironic, given President Bush’s remarks the day before urging more use of mass transit to conserve fuel. In the past, the President has sought to eliminate Amtrak’s $1.2 billion federal subsidy entirely.
“You’ve got President Bush out there encouraging people to ride mass transit,” said Ross Capon, executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, an advocacy group for public transit riders. “But it has yet to be seen if that urging will play out in the form of funding.