I was looking at some CTDOT schedules the other day, and noticed that there is a surprising amount of cross-fare honoring with Amtrak
on the Hartford Line and on
the Shore Line East. How did this come about and would there be any possibility of similar cross-honoring on Northeast Regional, Lake Shore Limited and Downeaster service?
It's because of the AMTK
Springfield Shuttles. Hartford Line does not yet have much of a schedule north of Hartford to Springfield, so ConnDOT (which has always subsidized the
Shuttles) is temporarily chucking more money out for ticketing parity until their homegrown schedule grows to fill the gaps. It is wholly temporary and not a model for cross-ticketing elsewhere because they're paying a pretty premium to eat the difference in pricing for the interim.
Would have the greatest impact on Providence Line riders, especially during the PM rush, when there are a few gaps in the MBTA schedule caused by Amtrak taking those "slots". Cross-honoring would give those riders more flexibility and of course would reduce crowding on the Commuter Rail trains. With a bit of clever scheduling and fare management, you could potentially even scoop up a few South Attleboro riders (and Pawtucket/Central Falls, once it opens) who could express to Providence and then double back northbound on a Commuter Rail train, and still be arrive as soon or sooner than they would on an MBTA train. If/when Amtrak starts serving TF Green, the same benefits would apply there as well.
Since the NE Regionals are a large profit center for Amtrak, this is not an advisable move since the T would get dinged for huge overages paying the ticketing difference. And that difference is MUCH larger on a Regional than it is on a little
Springfield Shuttle. RER is what will level the Providence Line schedule much more equitably.
There would be benefit for Amtrak as well, though, especially in the morning, when there's one train that runs from Providence to Boston during commuting hours -- but it's an overnighter from Washington, and often is delayed, which makes it much less appealing for commuters who need reliability. Cross-honoring would give would-be Amtrak pass holders more reason to purchase, since they'd get the speed and comfort of the Amtrak on good days, and workable alternatives on the T on bad days (without having to double pay as they do now).
Again, Amtrak is likely to have nil interest in this because they're already making money hand-over-fist on the Regionals. The extra customer service overhead of cross-honoring on their tickets isn't worth the negligible revenue gains when they're already sold out so often they've got a backlog of much bigger revenue gains to tame on their own turf (e.g. next-gen coach fleet letting them run longer trains with more seats, south-of-NY upgrades speeding things up and allowing schedule backfill, etc.). With what seats they've got, MBTA commuters filling the empties heading to Providence means they have to waitlist more folks Providence-New Haven who might not make the buy if the seat availability can't to 100% accuracy be accounted for by Providence. If they have to regularly use the waitlist to guarantee they don't get stuck being oversold, then that's going to limit how much they can raise prices in the future. Amtrak would much rather be able to raise prices reflecting
whole-Corridor demand rather than have to hold up because they got caught in a trap spot-plugging seats at the behest of an individual commuter agency. They're a multibillion dollar corporation with shareholders; it's their fiduciary responsibility to think bigger than that.
For that reason they're never going to offer up themselves as an exploitable local resource down to the very last breadcrumb. Price-managing the whole NEC is going to heavily override any chances at tiny-scale cross-leveraging...because at their scope that
is their best deal.
The Lake Shore Limited runs through Worcester outside of commuting hours, but the Downeaster could supplement service at Haverhill with its 7am southbound departure, and 5:48pm and 7:02pm northbound arrivals. That 7am departure in particular would plug an existing 55-minute gap in the Commuter Rail's schedule there. The problem with the Downeaster, as I understand it, is that it's already overcrowded. Maaaaaaybe cross-honoring would encourage some Exeter commuters to drive to Haverhill and Newburyport on some days, to have the extra flexibility of the MBTA schedule while maintaining the option for express direct service to Exeter, but I doubt it would relieve the influx of Haverhill commuters from the Commuter Rail.
Unlike the
Springfield Shuttles underwritten by ConnDOT, the
Downeaster is sponsored by NNEPRA, not MassDOT which is only a third-wheel appendage on the whole operation. NHDOT doesn't even subsidize it at all, so federal subsidy gets gerrymandered to handle the NH stops increasing NNEPRA's overall burden for operating the corridor. That route is fundamentally NOT in the business of backstopping MBTA service at all, and NNEPRA would rightfully howl if MassDOT tried to insert itself there. Haverhill probably wouldn't be a stop at all on that route except that it acts as a timing mechanism to clear freights off the single-track switch in Plaistow for traffic management's sake.
All of the above basically assumes that commuters on both railroads are using monthly passes, as opposed to single- or multi-ride tickets.
Amtrak has monthlies, but it also has its own airline-like Guest Rewards with points that can pay back to trip tix. There isn't a level of parity in Amtrak's ticketing structure that translates down to commuter land without leaving problematic remainders behind.
