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A sitting duck is lying down.
The Del Monte Club Car
Thompson is speculated by pundits to be looking at the Exit sign as well, but HHS too is is higher on the "pecking order" than Trans. It would be more profitable to become a lobbyist; isn't that what most of them do anyway?. "The only thing worse than a defeated politician is a broke politician" was a quote attributed to one here in Illinois who conveniently "expired" before he saw the wrong side of the "clink'.
Snow alreadys holds one of the "Big Three' (State, Def, Treas), and there is simply no history that Trans is much other than either a "political reward' (Pena' delivered Colorado to Clinton in '92 - he gets 'rewardeth") or some vain statement of "bipartisanship' (the incumbent).
I'll stand corrected if need be, but the only SecTrans in my recollection that brought any transportation credentials to the chair was Alan J Boyd (LBJ).
There is always a possibility that Gerald Grinstein may be looking for an "out" from the no-win CEO spot at Delta, but his railroad experience with BN was "uh, not exactly' advocating the cause of passenger rail.
Let us not forget that transportation simply means to most of those who "line up at that public building on that Tuesday in November" the "buggy or truckster".
We have to correspond with the Congress and make Amtrak a priority. don't let your Congress member think that "nobody takes the train," or "nobody cares about Amtrak," or, even worse, fall for the myths regarding Amtrak. Having written that, however, I strongly suspect that Amtrak's future grows more & more cloudy as time passes on.
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Over 20,000 miles aboard Amtrak trains.
"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one corner of the Earth all one's lifetime." - Mark Twain.
quote:
Originally posted by CG96:
We have to correspond with the Congress and make Amtrak a priority. don't let your Congress member think that "nobody takes the train," or "nobody cares about Amtrak," or, even worse, fall for the myths regarding Amtrak. Having written that, however, I strongly suspect that Amtrak's future grows more & more cloudy as time passes on.
Problem is we've all done that repeatedly, and nothing changes. While there are advocates in Congress, there is absolutely no leadership on this issue. An agressive visionary at the head of USDOT could provide that role.
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A sitting duck is lying down.
The Del Monte Club Car
quote:
Originally posted by Mr. Toy:
nothing changes.
Re the funding: I think the budget busting Iraq War is going to create a lot of trouble not just for Amtrak but for many other things down the line. But you are right, we have yet to hear how the new Congressional members will come down on different issues. My guess is that it will depend on the state they are from. However, won't the retirement of Fritz Hollings, the ranking Democrat on the transportation committee and a fairly big Amtrak supporter, be a blow?
quote:
Originally posted by Pojon:
Will the Republican victory in the White House,in the senate and in congress help to destroy Amtrak's future funding and needs?
Let me know what you think. We have to watch out for Senator McCain who I like but who I despise at the same time for his anti-Amtrak stance.
Republicans take the train too!!!! With that in mind, what Amtrak needs is a good PR campaign. We took the train for the first time last spring, and the interest from people around us was suprising. Many people who had never considered the train, have looked into it for the future. Most folks had no idea what the train offers and were surprised how close it was to drive times. I have thought since then, Amtrak could use a good information campaign. By promoting themselves, maybe Amtrak could move away from reliance on funding. Then who is elected would not matter...republican or democrat.
[This message has been edited by canoe86 (edited 11-07-2004).]
quote:
Originally posted by canoe86:
Amtrak could use a good information campaign.
That much is certain. Amtrak does advertise on radio, in Parade magazine, and elsewhere. But what is needed is a public information campaign. In my travels, and in visits to my local train station, I find the vast majority of train travelers, even those who travel regularly, have no clue about the perilous situation Amtrak is in.
I think the rail advocacy organizations, such as NARP, are really failing in this regard. NARP could rapidly boost its membership if it just made its existence known to existing Amtrak customers. NARP's efforts in this regard are mostly limited to having members voluntarily download flyers to photocopy (at their own expense) and distribute, a hit and miss proposition. NARP has no organized literature distribution program.
NARP's media presence is limited to occasional appearances by Ross Capon on a few northeastern NPR stations.
But let's be clear, greater public involvement will help, and greater awareness will help boost sales, but it won't eliminate the need for public funding.
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A sitting duck is lying down.
The Del Monte Club Car
[This message has been edited by Mr. Toy (edited 11-08-2004).]
quote:
Originally posted by Mr. Toy:
That much is certain. Amtrak does advertise on radio, in Parade magazine, and elsewhere. But what is needed is a public information campaign. In my travels, and in visits to my local train station, I find the vast majority of train travelers, even those who travel regularly, have no clue about the perilous situation Amtrak is in.I think the rail advocacy organizations, such as NARP, are really failing in this regard. NARP could rapidly boost its membership if it just made its existence known to existing Amtrak customers. NARP's efforts in this regard are mostly limited to having members voluntarily download flyers to photocopy (at their own expense) and distribute, a hit and miss proposition. NARP has no organized literature distribution program.
NARP's media presence is limited to occasional appearances by Ross Capon on a few northeastern NPR stations.
But let's be clear, greater public involvement will help, and greater awareness will help boost sales, but it won't eliminate the need for public funding.
Your right on this issue the group i am in charge with in Michigan we have a bullition board in the East Lansing Amtrak Station with all the infomation.we focus on 2 issues we try to advertise Amtrak and also act advocacy group we can call the newspaper and get storys written up they will come out to the station and talk with the passengers this has been a big step for getting the word out about Amtrak people thought the train didn't run anymore but ran across the story in the paper or on TV.I wish other groups like ours could get the media involved but that is a hard step to do.
[This message has been edited by BNSF 1088 (edited 11-09-2004).]
It's a good idea -- more advertising, more riders, more funding, but what good does it do when the "first-time riders" then become "never again" riders based on the experiences outlined above? "'Round and 'round in circles we go; where we stop, NOBODY knows....."
AMTRAK needs better funding FIRST, followed by service improvements (which are largely dependent on contracts with freight railroads), THEN the advertising blitz to get more passengers...
quote:
Originally posted by RRRICH:
AMTRAK needs better funding FIRST, followed by service improvements (which are largely dependent on contracts with freight railroads), THEN the advertising blitz to get more passengers...
I agree to a point. What Amtrak needs first is a better PLAN. A long-term, comprehensive, justifiable plan based on market studies, demographics and growth projections. Then you can ask for funding. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, without a plan, Congress has nothing substantive to fund.
Amtrak does have a five-year plan to bring the system up to a state of good repair, but beyond that Amtrak doesn't have any clearly defined goals such as we have here in California. What does Amtrak envision for its network 10 or 20 years from now? That is the crucial question.
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A sitting duck is lying down.
The Del Monte Club Car
[This message has been edited by Mr. Toy (edited 11-09-2004).]
quote:
Originally posted by RRRICH:
I agree that AMTRAK needs a good public information program; HOWEVER, the good public information program will attract more "first time riders" to the train initially, only to find those same passengers on a 15-hour late Sunset Ltd, a train with a surly crew who is never around to help them, an overnight train without a sleeping car, a train in which none of the toilets work, and missed connections, so what good does the public information program do?It's a good idea -- more advertising, more riders, more funding, but what good does it do when the "first-time riders" then become "never again" riders based on the experiences outlined above? "'Round and 'round in circles we go; where we stop, NOBODY knows....."
AMTRAK needs better funding FIRST, followed by service improvements (which are largely dependent on contracts with freight railroads), THEN the advertising blitz to get more passengers...
I agree to an extent. We took our first trip on The City of New Orleans, overnight , sleeper, and were concerned about delays we had read about etc. It seems the longer the trip, the more opportunity for delays. With that in mind, focus the ads on shorter day trips. That might sound silly for folks on the east coast where riding the train is a bit more normal. In the mid west, taking the train is a not as common.
For instance, being in Michigan, push overnight trips to Chicago via Amtrak. When I have friends guess the price of a round trip ticket, they always guess super high. When they find out the affordability, they are shocked. Just had an Aunt take a trip to Chicago with her sisters based on our experience. Again, if Amtrak would push it, and show the advantages. , ie gas, parking etc. , I think they could increase passengers.
Then, once people have had a nice short trip, then maybe they will consider the longer trips AND be a bit more understanding of how things work.
I finally got around to looking up Mineta's bio. Here it is:
Prior to joining President Bush’s administration as Secretary of Transportation, Mineta served as U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Clinton, becoming the first Asian Pacific American to serve in the cabinet. He is the first Secretary of Transportation to have previously served in a cabinet position.
Thompson would make a great SecTrans. Hope he gets it when/if Mineta leaves.
--Rich K
But I also didn't remember he had risen to Secretary of Commerce under Clinton! I remembered in that post only Ron Brown, killed in the plane crash and replaced by Mickey Kantor, who had been Trade Rep, and then later William Daley moving over into the job. I guess Mineta held it very briefly right at the end, when Daley left I think to work on the Gore campaign in 2000?