Amtrak Tracking for My Commute Between New York City and Philadelphia

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Amtrak revenue up 12% in 2006 fiscal year, ridership down 1.6%

The article Amtrak struggles to compete on cost on delawareonline.com gives some Amtrak stats:

"Ticket revenues in Amtrak's busy Northeast corridor -- from Washington to Boston -- jumped 12 percent in the 2006 fiscal year to $1.37 billion. But ridership actually dropped 1.6 percent, in part because of reduced commuter discounts. The commuter discounts were decreased from 70 percent to 50 percent off the full fare, said Karina Romero, Amtrak spokeswoman."

I have been seeing stories that are reporting the same info. The conclusions are that ridership is down due to fewer 'Smart Pass' commuters; revenue up due to higher ticket prices across the board.

I haven't seen any stories that have done an analysis of the commuter 'Smart Pass' pricing and usage. I think Smart Pass cost is too high and pricing it appropriately (lower) will increase both ridership and revenue. But with revenue up would Amtrak be motivated to do such an analysis? Likely not.