Originally Posted by USFlyerUS
There's more to travel than speed. The hassles of dealing with flying these days makes Amtrak so much more appealing. Plus, if you're going downtown to downtown, Amtrak saves a lot of time. Cabs to the airport, sitting in traffic, etc. is horrible during rush hour in any of the Shuttle cities. And, btw, like the Shuttle really is anymore reliable ontime-wise than Acela. Half the Shuttle flights I take are routinely 30-45 mins late at a minimum. Or, we're sitting at LGA for an hour, circling over PA, etc., all in a cramped seat. And, let's remember DCA-LGA you cannot stand up for any reason.
First of all, your post was that NOTHING (your emphasis) beats Amtrak. My less hyperbolic statement is that while Amtrak has its advanges, it is not quicker than flying and is plagued by its own problems, namely that Amtrak trains rarely operate on time. The Acela between Boston and NY habitually runs 15 minutes late, and the regional trains are even worse.
Second, it looks as though we are analyzing the shuttle vs. Amtrak on different route. My primary route is BOS-LGA, and it looks like your is DCA-LGA, which does make the time analysis different (although I think flying still is quicker).
Third, the shuttle is exponentially more reliable than the Acela. If half the shuttles you take are 30-45 minutes late, you have incredibly bad luck. I have already flown 25 shuttle segments this year (mostly on US, some on DL), and my on-time percentage easily exceeds 90% (and this is wintertime travel!).
Finally, in my analysis, I factor in travel time to and from the airport or the train station, as the case may be. The shuttle still beats the train for me by at least an hour. Yes, the train runs downtown to downtown, but you still need to factor in time to get to and from the train station.