SHUT THIS DOWN: Surely there's a better way to run Amtrak Union Station operations than to have passengers queueing up 30, 45 minutes ahead of train departures, isn't there? At New York's Penn Station, they solve this by not announcing the departing train's gate until boarding time. Why must DC departers be subject to this nonsense?
[The author is schvitzing, and just finished a two-day CLE, and is particularly aggrieved by the thought of having to stand around right now.]
It is super-annoying, but probably not the most annoying thing about Union Station (that would be the cab stand). If you are taking an Acela, you can probably get away without queuing early and still end up with a decent seat - especially if you are inclined to sit in the quiet car.
ReplyDeleteWas just talking about this. In Baltimore, people don't line up. When the yellow boarding light comes on, they just get out of their seats and orderly walk down to the platform. It's the only way that makes any sense.
ReplyDeleteJust be glad it's not the evening of the well known annual march for a particular political cause that I will not name here. Union Station was packed to the gills, super hot, and really gross, even though this march takes place in late January to coincide with the anniversary of a Supreme Court decision with which the marchers vehemently disagree, and which I also will not name. "Oddly," my train to New York wasn't any more crowded than normal.
ReplyDeleteIs that when the lazy bakers protest the Supreme Court decision that gave them 14 hours off every day?
ReplyDeleteYep. And then all get back on their trains to the south.
ReplyDeleteCan we work on a system that will ensure that my daughter and I won't wind up just a few rows behind four young twenty-somethung douchebags who are trying to relive their college days by acting like raging assholes in as loud a manner possible? Not that that happened to me a week ago on a full train or anything. I'll pay, too. (We should have just gone to the quiet car, but I was trying to be polite to people who might have been annoyed at a 10-year-old occasionally talking during the ride.)
ReplyDeleteEveryone gets a seat. You just have to walk a little further for them when you're later in the line.
ReplyDeleteI've ridden the "first class" section on Acela when traveling with a colleague who insisted on it. Such a waste of money.
Ah, the joys of having a usable Amtrak system.
ReplyDelete/Jealous midwesterner
Wait, you actually like the style of boarding at Penn Station? I can't stand it. Yes, Union Station DC's method isn't best, but at least you know where you'll be boarding. To me (a person who doesn't mind standing in line), that's better than standing inside a dank basement staring at a big board so you can rush over to an escalator...and wait in line.
ReplyDeleteThe key is to suffer through enough Acela trips that you earn elite status, which lets you use the lounge and get first dibs on seats, no lining up required. Of course, that requires at least ten roundtrips a year, which probably is less pleasant than having to stand in line for one.
ReplyDeleteI always wait downstairs (take the steps right next to the big board) for Amtrak at Penn. There are monitors with the gate numbers posted there, as well, and not the crowd/line of the main floor. The only time that didn't work for me was when there was a security threat the day of the Boston Marathon and they had a person guarding the lower-level stair to the gate. Otherwise, it works.
ReplyDeleteThe reason that I wait in the line at Union Station is that I want a seat in the quiet car. I love the quiet car. I'd pay more for it, if needed.
ReplyDeleteI work right next to Union Station and am always baffled by the super long cab lines I see every day. I have to believe that at least 75% of the people in line are headed for destinations easily accessible by foot and/or Metro (and most don't have a ton of luggage with them). I've lived here for 9 years and I think I've taken a cab twice, once due to Metro problems.
ReplyDeleteI think Baltimore is different from NY or DC, because the trains aren't generally originating there. This means that the choice of seats is already heavily circumscribed in Baltimore in a way that it often isn't in NYC or DC. So, in DC or NYC, people might think that getting there quickly could mean the difference between a great seat and a not-great seat (or seats together vs. seats apart), whereas in Baltimore the boarding rider is likely to be at the mercy of chance in either case. (Even when trains aren't originating at NY or DC, far more people leave the train at those cities, so the point still holds at a general level.)
ReplyDeleteYglesias did a whole series of angry posts about this earlier this year (including on the "secret" Penn Station gambit mentioned by Emily), starting with this: http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/07/10/_.html
ReplyDeleteYes! Always wait on the downstairs mezzanine level for Amtrak. It works 9/10 times (the 10th is as Emily described above, when they are doing extra security checks.) You get on the train well before everyone else upstairs.
ReplyDeleteExcept that New Carrolton appears to be the same fare as traveling from DC, and without the amenities if you have time to kill. Hmm.
ReplyDeleteThe New York Penn Station setup leads to a mad rush of people fighting their way to the gate in a hurry. It's terrible. Why would you want to duplicate it?
ReplyDeleteEven if I'm not waiting in line at Union Station until a reasonable time before boarding, I still find the experience far less aggravating than NY Penn Station. (I don't recall how bad 30th St. Station is, because both of the last times I've taken Amtrak from Philadelphia, I've barely just made the train on time, but it seems to be far more civilized than the clustered confusion of Penn Station).
I garbled this in the editing. I'm sure everybody knows that I actually am aware that it was the law that gave them 14 hours off, and the Supreme Court decision took it away.
ReplyDeleteI will note that I used this very trick this afternoon (I'm on a train from NY Penn to Boston right now), and was by far the easiest boarding I've ever had at Penn Station. Part of the problem is at Union Station, even once you're through the gates, you have a fairly lengthy walk to the train, so people are tired and want to get on ASAP. At Penn, once you're down, the train is right there.
ReplyDeleteFunny, I was just thinking how wonderful it was that I could just hop in my car.
ReplyDelete