Amtrak surveying customers for adjusted sleeper service classes/levels
Got an interesting phone call tonight. At first, I thought it was one of those annoying telemarketers, but then the person said he was calling from SRBI doing a survey on behalf of Amtrak. So when he asked if I had a moment, I said yes (I usually don’t participate in these things, but normally they never ask about things that I’m interested in). So he asked me a couple questions regarding a trip I did last November and then he said there was an extended survey regarding revised interior designs, etc., would I be interested to do that. I said sure (and I didn’t say that because they promised to pay $5 to do it). So he gave me the link to the website with the survey and I went ahead and did it. It turned out to be rather interesting.
The survey was about proposed revisions of Amtrak’s service classes - today, we basically have Coach, Economy Sleeper (Roomette) and Deluxe Sleeper (Bedroom). They had various outlines of new service classes to further subdivide the Roomette and Bedroom types - and then there were questions about relative pricing of each.
Anyway, here are the service categories that they asked about - now I’m not sure how serious they are about introducing this, but they are at least doing market research about it.
Proposed new service classes:
- Coach
- Basic Roomette
- Enhanced Roomette
- Basic Bedroom
- Enhanced Bedroom
- Luxury Bedroom
I’ve linked the classes above to pictures that they had on their site (those may not be available on that site for a very long time, so go and look at them now…) - those have photos and more descriptions about the various new service levels.
Posted in: Uncategorized | April 27, 2007 10:05 pm
3 Comments »
Christopher Parker, on April 30, 2007 @ 12:07 pm
This is very interesting. Implied is the purchase of new Colorado Railcar ultra-domes for the luxury bedrooms. At least that’s what the graphics are of.
I think there definitely is a market for slumber-coach service, which it seems like Amtrak is going for in it’s “economy” bedroom and roomette. My opinion is that it would make more sense to go with the small slumbercoach model, allowing the lowest fare possible for a private room and horizontal bed.
In fact I even think there is a market for “coachette”’s on the European model. Students and twentysomethings - and me - would happily pay just a little more to sleep horizontally and wouldn’t mind sharing a room with strangers. Sure that might not fit the typical American taste, but it would fit enough people to justify some service. I think, actually, that it would be wildly popular with the student set, and they are big travelers.
jnik, on May 5, 2007 @ 10:45 pm
I’m glad SOMEONE at Amtrak at least has ideas; I wonder how this will be done without buying or renting additional equipment.
It seems like a decent idea. The current Amtrak experience is a step above Greyhound, and people who are willing to pay for more ambience should be able to enjoy it. I’d like to have a Grand Luxe type ride for a night or two without spending a week on that train.
And should an “Enhanced Coach” class be considered?
David Gunn, on May 16, 2007 @ 11:31 am
Amtrak is full of people with ideas; the issue is there’s no money to pursue them.
RSS-Comment-Feed | TrackBack URI