Mr. BWI

Hi all,

New job will have me on the NEC 3 or 4 times a week likely. I have responsibilities in New York and Wilmington DE and home base is a 20 minute drive from BWI Maryland.
The company will pay for Acela to NYC when I need to go, but I am on the hook for Wilmington.
While I can drive to Wilmington, Amtrak is my preferred route due to potential for productivity. Train is a 20 minute drive + two stop NE Regional 1h5m ride + 10 minute walk each way. The full drive would be 1.45 - 2 hours each way, round trip 190 miles of fuel wear and tear, and a non-inconsequential $20 of round trip tolls.

Advance purchase for the Wilmington route runs $32 each way, and the 10 ride multi is $454 ($45.40 per trip). I have an irregular schedule that will be hard to predict, at least at first.

My thought is to get mult-ticket 10 trip, and attempt to buy savers for dates I am confident I will be in DE; especially for the morning commute. I will be able to be confident of my morning train much more that I will be able to be confident of my evening train, so I may just buy the savers for the morning.

Obviously the name of the game is to grab as many discounts and AGR points from company sponsored NYC travel and other sources so that I can fund as much of the out of pocket commuting travel as possible. I just signed up for the AGR World MC (20,000 point bonus), and switched my home electric provider to NRG (10,000 point bonus).

I have read some of the great threads here. Thanks for all the info. Especially enjoy the Philly - NYC out of pocket commuters and their tips.

First question I am unclear on, is the AAA or NARP 10% discount applicable to multi-ride tickets?

Anything else I am missing?

musicalbox

Unfortunately no for AAA. I don't know about NARP.

I really wish the 10-trips were a happy medium between Saver and Flexible, instead of just a few dollars off Flexible. I'd buy them a lot more instead of constantly buying Savers way in advance, but no one at Amtrak asked me.

diburning

However, there is an upside to Amtrak's policies. Unlike airlines, speculative bookings are not prohibited, and the generous cancellation policy allows you to take advantage of it.

You can book saver tickets for every day of the week in the future, and if you know that you won't be traveling that day, you can cancel the ticket in exchange for a voucher for the amount paid for no fee as long as the ticket is cancelled before departure. Save them, and then apply them the next time you book your next batch of saver tickets.

3Cforme

That would be a solution with merit if the savings were big and the value of the OP's time were small.

Often1

Given that the Acela now stops at BWI less frequently and time difference BWI-NYP on the Regional between Acela and Regional is only 20 minutes, but the price can be substantial, is there any chance that you can work out a proposal to your employer which includes overnighting at Wilmington as appropriate?

If you cost out the week with two RT's on the Acela and turn that into segments with 2 overnights at Wilmington on the Regional, you may come very close, especially if you can cut a deal with some place near your office in Wilmington (I gather that you can walk from the station, so the hotel has to be close too).

Unless you have other family or social commitments which mean that you want to be back home from NYC only to leave for Delaware the next AM, you may find less wear & tear this way too.