Significant Savings Possible
Through August
on
AMTRAK NYC Commuting
when Purchased by
6-Person Groups
by March 31st
Pay 20% to 30% less than monthly
pass prices with “group commuting” tickets.
90% Discounts Available on Many Tickets Purchased
at Group Rates.
$1,000 to $1,500 Five-Month
Savings from Philadelphia
$1,200 to $1,800 Five-Month
Savings from Wilmington
$750 Five-Month Savings from Cornwells Heights
This $4.20 ticket from Philadelphia to New York is REAL.
And yes, it’s
for a prime weekday commuting train, the 180.
What’s the
Catch?
1)
Purchases
must be made in 6-person groups riding the same trains each day.
2)
Purchases
must be made by this Friday, March 31st, 2006.
3)
Petty
financial details, especially regarding trade-in credit for unused tickets.
For further explanations,
details, and group organizing materials, please visit www.savecornwellsheights.com
Q & A
Who is promoting this, and why?
Rick
Booth (rick@savecornwellsheights.com)
of the Cornwells Heights commuting community is doing this. I was instrumental in saving the CWH station
from Amtrak’s stated intent to abandon it last September, and ever since then,
I’ve also been battling last September’s other rail monster, the huge, improper
70% commuter fare increase ($4,500/year at a single stroke on 9/9/05 for
Philadelphians) which is also devastating the ridership of my CWH station. Once upon a time, government protected the
working people of America from price-gouging railroad monopolies. Yet PHL-to-NYP monthly passes are now priced
higher than comparable Amtrak trip full fares virtually anywhere outside the
Northeast Corridor. Now Congress and
Amtrak have become the evil robber barons – milking job riders for all they’ve
got, way beyond marginal costs – and they desperately need to be stopped. What is the point of handing a $1.3 billion
annual subsidy to a railroad if it acts like this?
So what does buying cheap Amtrak tickets have to do with
stopping Amtrak’s commuter abuse?
In
their haste to kill off low-profit commuter traffic on the Northeast Corridor,
Amtrak and a Senate Appropriations Committee staffer together designed a very
stupid law into Amtrak’s federal funding for this year. After March 1, 2006, Amtrak is to receive no
federal support on any route on which its lowest fare is less than half of its
“peak” fare. This was supposed give
last year’s 70% commuter fare increase announcement the force of law. Yet Amtrak has chosen to ignore the law in
at least three other fare areas: specials (violations discontinued circa 3/14),
kids, and groups. Buying cheap group
tickets en masse and priced far below half fare clearly triggers
Amtrak’s support cutoff clause on the Northeast Corridor. What’s good for the goose is good for the
gander. This issue, if pressed in
Washington, can force Congress to revisit the law’s intent, focus attention on
the commuter cause, and perhaps bring about a pass price rollback.
Does buying cheap group tickets for commuting really
work?
As
far as I can tell, yes, it does. I have
personally bought several group-of-six tickets as far out as August 31st (the
end of the group fare promotion), but the real proof will come when a group of
six actually buys up to 206 6-ticket sets to cover every working day from April
through August. Such a group can
jointly save about $4,000 to $10,000 compared to buying individual monthly
passes and thereby send a significant monetary message to Amtrak. The latest details can be found on www.savecornwellsheights.com.
Do the group fares work on all commuting trains?
No. Only the Regional trains between Washington
and New York City are eligible, not Keystones to/from Harrisburg, not
Metroliner, and not Acela. Regional
train 170 (PHL 6:50 a.m. to NYP 8:10 a.m.) is excluded entirely. There may be limits to the number of group seats
available at the lowest fares on some trains, but even with a one-tier bump-up,
the group fares are still a bargain over monthly passes. What you lose is the flexibility to pick
your train the day you ride it. Unused
tickets may be exchanged for credit against other future ticket purchases. Note that as of April 24th a new Regional
train, number 110, will stop at Wilmington at 5:30 a.m., Philadelphia at 5:52,
and Cornwells Heights at 6:12.
How can we organize ticket-buying groups?
That’s
the tricky part. I can try to help
coordinate as much as I can via e-mail (rick@savecornwellsheights.com)
and cell phone (215-837-6557) for anyone who would like some help with
this. Call any time. If any 30th Street commuters
would like my help in organizing, answering questions, and pulling off a group,
I would be glad to hang out at 30th Street Station (near the Angel
of Resurrection statue in the main concourse so I can be easily found) from
about 7 o’clock on after my train 193 gets in.
I only check e-mail after I get home, so call my cell if you’re
interested in a same day get-together.
It is possible that a new group fare will materialize on April 1st,
but the existing group fare, a great bargain, is set to expire Friday night.
What is the easiest way to do a group ticket buy?
Step
1: Get six commuters who tend to travel on similar schedules together,
preferably at 30th Street Station one evening this week (Wed., Thu.,
or Fri.).
Step
2: Decide how many complete months of tickets the group would like to buy,
anywhere from 1 to 5.
Step
3: Use the schedule/fare worksheet at the end of this document to decide which
trains to buy tickets for. Some days
you may want to skip, especially if everyone vacations at the same time. Up to 206 individual purchases (about 35
each if split equally) of 6 tickets could be involved.
Step
4: Decide who will buy the tickets. The
best option is probably to have each group member make one sixth of the ticket
purchases. The schedule/fare worksheet
has a round robin suggested buying scheme built in.
Step
5: Make sure everyone doing ticket purchases in the group has a legitimate AAA
ID number. Anyone who doesn’t have AAA
can get an ID number over the phone in a matter of minutes (even without owning
a car!) by calling 1-800-MEMBERS and paying $74 (or $69 if you haggle) on a
credit card.
Step
6: Make sure everyone purchasing has a credit card with enough credit to
complete his/her assigned purchases (about $800 per month of purchases, about
$4,000 for five months).
Step
7: Make the purchases online, preferably right at the station. Always request tickets for 6 riders on the
same train, and list the first two riders as qualifying for a AAA
discount. Use discount code H545 (the
group discount) and confirm that the price for six tickets is appropriately
discounted. Some discounts may
disappear over time, so be careful to check the price. Confirm dates, price, and correctly
filled-in names before purchasing as the tickets are non-refundable (but can be
traded in toward other Amtrak ticket purchases). The first two tickets will be issued at full fare minus the AAA
discount (10%), and the remaining four will be issued at 90% off.
Step
8: Use a Quik-Trak machine to get the individual tickets. This part does not have to be done by the
end of Friday as the purchase has already been made, but it would probably be
convenient to collect and redistribute all tickets as soon as possible.
Step
9: Meet and swap tickets so that everyone has the complete commuting supply of
tickets in their own name.
Step 10: Agree to meet again shortly after the tickets run out for a “buy back” session wherein any unused tickets should be “bought back” for cash value from the holder by the original purchaser. The original purchaser (i.e. credit card holder) is the only one who can redeem the tickets he/she purchased for credit on future Amtrak ticket purchases.
Step 11: Remember that in the event of a major malfunction where a month gets only, say, half-purchased for some unexpected reason, tickets can be traded in toward other tickets (i.e monthly passes), so the money is not really lost. (Please confirm this with Amtrak independently as I’m only going on what Amtrak tells me at this point.)
Step
12: PLEASE come to clear financial understandings before
trying to do this so as to avoid loss of friendships over money matters.
Good
luck!
-- Rick Booth
Schedule/Fare Worksheet
Morning Trains
--------------
WIL PHL CWH
NYP
Train 190
4:50 5:15 6:40
Train 110
5:30 5:52 6:12 7:17
Train 180
6:58 7:20 7:39 8:43
Train 130
8:00 8:22 9:45
Evening Trains
------------------
NYP CWH PHL
WIL
Train 193
5:39 6:40 6:57 7:20
Train 137
6:20 7:42 8:05
Train 187
7:35 8:53 9:18
High (H) and Low (L) group
per-person fare settings, plus *=SEPTA/NJT
---------------------------------------------------------------------
WIL PHL CWH
H $24.20 $20.53 $17.97
L $18.33 $15.40 $13.57
*
$23.50 $18.50 $14.50
Passenger A is __________________.
Passenger B is __________________.
Passenger C is __________________.
Passenger D is __________________.
Passenger E is __________________.
Passenger F is __________________.
Apparent Ticket Availability as of 3/29/06 1:00 a.m.
Easter blackout dates: April 13, 14, and 17
Memorial Day blackout date: May 26
Morning Evening
--------------- -----------
190 110 180 130 193 137
187
April 3 person A
L H H
H H L
April 4 person B
L L H
H H L
April 5 person C
L L H
H H H
April 6 person D
L L H
H H H
April 7 person E
L L *
* * H
April 10
person F L H
H H H L
April 11
person A L L
H H H L
April 12
person B L L
H H H H
April 13
blackout * *
* * * *
April 14
blackout *
* * * * *
April 17
blackout * *
* * * *
April 18
person C L L
H H H L
April 19
person D L L
H H H H
April 20
person E L L
H H H H
April 21
person F L L
* * * H
April 24
person A L H
L H H L L
April 25
person B L H
L H H H L
April 26
person C L H
L H H H H
April 27
person D L H
L H H H H
April 28
person E L H
L * * * H
May 1 person F
L H L H H
L L
May 2 person A
L H L H H
H L
May 3 person B
L H L H H
H H
May 4 person C
L H L H H
H H
May 5 person D
L H L * *
* H
May 8 person E
L H L H H
L L
May 9 person F
L H L H H
H L
May 10 person A
L H L H H
H H
May 11 person B
L H L H H
H H
May 12 person C
L H L * *
* H
May 15 person D
L H L H H
L L
May 16 person E
L H L H H
H L
May 17 person F
L H L H H
H H
May 18 person A
L H L H H
H H
May 19 person B
L H L * *
* H
May 22 person C
L H L H H
L L
May 23 person D
L H L H H
H L
May 24 person E
L H L H H
H H
May 25 person F
L H L H H
H H
May 26 blackout
* * * * *
* *
May 29 holiday
* * * * *
* *
May 30 person A
L H L H H
H L
May 31 person B
L H L H H
H H
June 1 person C
L H L H H
H H
June 2 person D
L H L * *
* H
June 5 person E
L H L H H
L L
June 6 person F
L H L H
H H L
June 7 person A
L H L H H
H H
June 8 person B
L H L H H
H H
June 9 person C
L H L * *
* H
June 12 person D
L H L H H
L L
June 13 person E
L H L H H
H L
June 14 person F
L H L H H
H H
June 15 person A
L H L H H
H H
June 16 person B
L H L * *
* H
June 19 person C
L H L H H
L L
June 20 person D
L H L H H
H L
June 21 person E
L H L H H
H H
June 22 person F
L H L H H
H H
June 23 person A
L H L * *
* H
June 26 person B
L H L H
H L L
June 27 person C
L H L H H
H L
June 28 person D
L H L H H
H H
June 29 person E
L H L H H
H H
June 30 person F
L H L * *
* H
July 3 ???
L H L H H
L L
July 4 holiday
* * * * *
* *
July 5 person A
L H L H H
H H
July 6 person B
L H L H H
H H
July 7 person C
L H L * *
* H
July 10 person D
L H L H H
L L
July 11 person E
L H L H H
H L
July 12 person F
L H L H H
H H
July 13 person A
L H L H H
H H
July 14 person B
L H L * *
* H
July 17 person C
L H L H H
L L
July 18 person D
L H L H H
H L
July 19 person E
L H L H H
H H
July 20 person F
L H L H H
H H
July 21 person A
L H L * *
* H
July 24 person B
L H L H H
L L
July 25 person C
L H L H H
H L
July 26 person D
L H L H H
H H
July 27 person E
L H L H H
H H
July 28 person F
L H L * *
* H
July 31 person A
L H L H H
L L
Aug 1 person B
L H L H H
H L
Aug 2 person C
L H L H H
H H
Aug 3 person D
L H L H H
H H
Aug 4 person E
L H L * *
* H
Aug 7 person F
L H L H H
L L
Aug 8 person A
L H L H H
H L
Aug 9 person B
L H L H H
H H
Aug 10 person C
L H L H H
H H
Aug 11 person D
L H L * *
* H
Aug 14 person E
L H L H H
L L
Aug 15 person F
L H L H H
H L
Aug 16 person A
L H L H H
H H
Aug 17 person B
L H L H H
H H
Aug 18 person C
L H L * *
* H
Aug 21 person D
L H L H H
L L
Aug 22 person E
L H L H H
H L
Aug 23 person F
L H L H H
H H
Aug 24 person A
L H L H H
H H
Aug 25 person B
L H L * *
* H
Aug 28 person C
L H L H H
L L
Aug 29 person D
L H L H H
H L
Aug 30 person E
L H L H H
H H
Aug 31 person F
L H L H H
H H