Originally Posted by PHLviaUS
The Amtrak funding bill for FY 2006 prohibits federal subsidy of routes where Amtrak offers discount fares of greater than 50% off the regular fare. The stated purpose (whether you believe it or not) is to prevent Amtrak from bolstering ridership on struggling routes by virtually giving away trips at little or no cost. Special web discounts sometimes were as much as 90% off. Now the limit is 50%.
Perhaps the biggest problem with this provision, beyond the mico-managing of Amtrak, is that it does not take into consideration state supported services. Services that already make up most, if not all, losses that Amtrak would otherwise have incurred by running the service.
This bill could force Amtrak California and the Downeaster to raise the prices of their commuter passes, which in most cases fall below the 50% threshold. Again, since Amtrak is incurring no losses on those runs, the states should have some input into the fares being charged.
We keep getting all of this nonsense out of Washington about how the states should help to keep Amtrak running, yet Washington then turns around and penalizes the few states that are actually helping Amtrak.
