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Report: Amtrak's Growing But Bleeding Money On Long Trips
Vice President Biden is hardly alone on the rails these days. When the sequester sparked the return of Amtrak Joe (as a senator, Biden famously made about 8,000 trips between Delaware to D.C. on the train), it coincided with a report from the Brookings Institution that says Amtrak ridership is up 55 percent in the last 15 years.
The report from the venerable left-leaning think tank (accompanied by this interactive map of each route's ridership and revenue) includes another rosy number: 31 million people now take Amtrak each year, an all-time high, it says. More than 80 percent of riders travel on routes of 400 miles or less. Longer routes are bleeding money, according the report, to the tune of $614 million in 2011.
The report, issued March 1, created a flurry of positive tweets and articles about Amtrak repeating the Institution's message: "American passenger rail is in the midst of a renaissance."
But the Cato Institute, another think tank, quickly chimed in with a different train of thought and theories. Its reality check noted quite a few downers:
-1997 marked the "bottom of a trough in Amtrak ridership," so it's easy for today's numbers to look impressive. Compare them to 1991 instead and the growth is 8 percent, not 55 percent. Air travel, by comparison, grew 68 percent in the same period.
-Population has grown 25 percent since 1991, so more riders might not reflect a growing preference for Amtrak.
-Amtrak ridership may be up, but intercity train travel is still so miniscule - accounting for just .36 percent of total intercity travel on all modes of transportation - that it's nearly irrelevant.
-Bus travel between cities is growing faster than train travel.
-Amtrak twists its numbers. By categorizing maintenance as a capital expense instead of an operating expense, the organization can claim that its operating costs are half of what they really are. Cato says none of Amtrak's lines are profitable when maintenance is taken into account.
-Amtrak counts its substantial state subsidies as revenue.
Sounds like average Joes still aren't as excited about Amtrak as Biden is.
[Photo credit: Flicker user Russell Sekeet]
Filed under: North America, Transportation, News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Chuck Hatler Mar 14th 2013 11:51PM
There is another conclusion to be drawn from the Brookings analysis of Amtrak numbers.
Where we as a society, and governments, have invested money in Amtrak, routes, equipment, stations, etc., and provided a higher level of service to passengers, the people have responded, and they are riding Amtrak.
Imagine that! Build it and they will ride!
Will Amtrak ever be subsidy-free? Not likely. Will it fill a part in the transportation needs of our country? Yes, it will.
James Lesses Mar 19th 2013 7:37PM
In 2010 I embarked on a road trip from New York City to New Orleans using Greyhound Buses, and despite the many horror stories online, had an incident free trip. In 2012 I boarded Amtrak trains for trips between Washington D.C. and Savannah, GA, and again for a second trip between New Orleans and Tucson, AZ. I was amazed at how cheap the Amtrak tickets were in comparison to the bus ticket prices. Needless to say there was not comparison between riding buses on long trips and riding the trains. On my next visit to America, I again hope to make extended journeys across the country, and I can assure you I will be using Amtrak as much as possible. Amtrak - one of the hidden gems of long distance travel.
James Lesses Mar 20th 2013 4:11AM
In 2010 I embarked on a road trip from New York City to New Orleans using Greyhound Buses, and despite the many horror stories online, had an incident free trip. In 2012 I boarded Amtrak trains for trips between Washington D.C. and Savannah, GA, and again for a second trip between New Orleans and Tucson, AZ. I was amazed at how cheap the Amtrak tickets were in comparison to the bus ticket prices. Needless to say there was not comparison between riding buses on long trips and riding the trains. On my next visit to America, I again hope to make extended journeys across the country, and I can assure you I will be using Amtrak as much as possible. Amtrak - one of the hidden gems of long distance travel.