St. Louis to KC Friday 11-20-09
kaseymoe
313 - the afternoon westbound River Runner. Boarding is out of the
new Gateway Station - a combined Greyhound/Amtrak facility and
boarding was delayed a few minutes - about 10 down leaving the
station. I'd guess around 30 on board at departure and about that
many more joined us at the Kirkwood stop - more and more an important
loading/unloading stop for the River Runner.
We continued to gain pax at each stop and the whole trip across the
state worked as a local route should work - we gained some and lost
some - people truly ware using Amtrak for transportation. The Friday
afternoon train is probably one of the heavier loaded trains of the
week and overall we gained pax - never approach full capacity but by
the end the new boards were looking for open pairs ofr seats and in
some cases had to double up with the continuing pax. A good sign for
ridership.
Saw something never befor witnessed or known of. A young woman boarded
at Sedalia I believe it was and the Conductor told her the fare then
she started to write a check. He stopped her and said no checks - cash
or credit card but no checks. Apparently she didn't have enough cash
and no credit card so the Conductor then said Amtrak could bill her
later - never knew that was a option - did you? He took down all her
inf: name address, phone and saidit would be turned into their
accounting office in San Antonio and she'd get a bill in 2 to 3
weeks. I thought to mjyself this has pretty big possibilities for
abuse but I guess it's last resort for those who board with no way
to pay. A lot of the pax were paying cash - that too was different.
The Conductor and Asst. Conductor were apparently new to the route and
possibly new to Amtrak. To be kind - lets just say they didn't have
many answers to the questions within my earshot. Some were pretty
basic quetions - friendly and tried to be helpful but not the best
informed crew i've run across.
We stayed down about 10 to 15 minuted and pulled into Union Station
around 9 40 vs the sked 9 30. Everything worked - the 120 volt
outlets at each seat are very popular with lots of laptops and DVD
players in evidence. I had my GPS with me from my eastboutnd trucking
trip and stuck it to the window and could watch train speed - 70 to 71
mph for the most part on the straightaways.
Good trip - microwaved Veggieburger for food and one of the cheaper
sandwich offerings. Pretty good meal - they need a way to do the meat
or veggie pattie apart from the bun. Sixty seconds in the microwave
pretty much turns any breaded item into a chewy mass of tasteless
white stuff. I may ask next time if the attendant will warm just the
patty and leave the bread aside. It'd make for a better meal. That's a
quibble.
i was suprised how many opt for Business Class -looked like most of
that section was occupied. I don't see paying extra for it but some do
and more power to 'em
Good trip. The best way to cross the state - my Senior fare was $22
booked 2 days ahead. Can't beat that either. Even Megabus would have
been higher - $25 for their STL-KCY fare.
Dick Williams
Kansas City MO