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posted by janrinok on Sunday June 10 2018, @08:55AM   Printer-friendly
from the sensible dept.

Joe Manchin, the senior Senator from West Virginia, has inserted language in the FY19 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies appropriations bill that will force Amtrak to employ at least one ticketing agent in every state that it serves.

His reasoning? "Amtrak has told me that most of their sales are now online, but West Virginians buy far more tickets at the Charleston station than most places around the country. That's not surprising, as nearly 30% of West Virginia is without internet access, and mobile broadband access is also difficult in my state's rugged, mountainous terrain, making online ticket sales difficult."

Source: https://www.manchin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/manchin-secures-language-to-ensure-amtrak-ticket-agent-in-west-virginia


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by dltaylor on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:15AM (9 children)

    by dltaylor (4693) on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:15AM (#691056)

    He should force the scamming telecoms to quit padding their bottom lines and build out the rural lines for which they have been collecting money. 30 years in prison for the execs and Boards of Directors for fraud sounds about right.

    • (Score: 4, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:48AM (8 children)

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:48AM (#691062) Journal

      Agreed. But, there is a mitigating circumstance in W. Va. It actually costs to build there. There's an old joke, "If West Virginia were steamrolled flat, it would be as big as Texas!" So, the joke is something of an exaggeration, but still, it's tough to get into some of those little valleys, and the backsides of mountains where people live.

      Mountain states provide some excuse for the telcos. Of course, they need no excuse to bypass one county in a plains state, while building up in all surrounding counties.

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by coolgopher on Sunday June 10 2018, @10:17AM (2 children)

        by coolgopher (1157) on Sunday June 10 2018, @10:17AM (#691068)

        Telstra still manages to service* all of Australia. Yeah, it costs them, but they do it (because they're forced to).

        *) Commence commentary about use of "Telstra" and "service" in the same sentence.

        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday June 10 2018, @08:58PM

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Sunday June 10 2018, @08:58PM (#691181)

          New Zealand is a country with parts that are more mountanous than almost anywhere, and is also very sparsely settled, but we have also forced our national telecoms intrastructure provider to roll out links to all the places people live.

          They also make a lot of money from it, so there's not really that excuse either.

        • (Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Monday June 11 2018, @04:48AM

          by fido_dogstoyevsky (131) <axehandleNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Monday June 11 2018, @04:48AM (#691287)

          Telstra still manages to service* all of Australia. Yeah, it costs them, but they do it (because they're forced to).

          *) Commence commentary about use of "Telstra" and "service" in the same sentence.

          Perfectly acceptable as long as you include the phrase "in an agricultural sense"...

          --
          It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 10 2018, @03:01PM (3 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 10 2018, @03:01PM (#691104)

        That's still no excuse for it. This is the 21st century, and cable companies started out by dealing with situations like that where people were living without the ability to get TV broadcasts.

        Yes, it is expensive, but it's hardly insurmountable, just place a tower on most of those ridges and run lines from there. It's not like in other parts of the country where you need to have actual environmental studies conducted prior to construction.

        What's more, this is exactly the kind of thing that the UTF is supposed to be used on. Perhaps if those folks in those areas had access to the internet, they'd realize why it is that they're being forgotten and be able to more readily speak up for themselves.

        • (Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Sunday June 10 2018, @04:44PM

          by SomeGuy (5632) on Sunday June 10 2018, @04:44PM (#691130)

          Spoken like a true consumertard, hypnotized by all of the marketing, so blinded you never see the disadvantage of cost, and so pinheaded that you believe everyone should do everything the exact same way as you.

          Every piece of technology has a cost. Both up front and long term. Design, manufacutring, testing, planning, installation, maintenance, support, repair, upgrades, replacement, and so on.

          There is always a certain cost-benefit ratio.

          Some are quite obvious. Given availability and price of computer chips, it would be nuts to pay a staff of 50 people to process 100,000 financial transactions a month with pen an paper.

          But would you spend millions of dollars on software development costs, server costs, and so on to automate some process that involves 3 paper forms a year, processed by one person in just a few minutes? I hope not, but some gung-ho clueless PHBs would love to do that, just because some advertising says they should. (Lets go absolutely paperless because paper doesn't grow on trees...)

          So you want these people in west Virgina to pay a huge pile of cash a month either directly or in taxes to pay for all of this? If they are living out in the middle of nowhere, they probably aren't rich to start with. Now if you have the exact numbers and can show the costs are really low enough, then get back with us.

          Personally, I hate it when the *only* way to do something truly important is either "on the web" or requires a retarded toy cell phone. Any exception at all, and there is absolutely no one to talk to! (If you can't get to our web then go to our web site and print out the PDF form... duuuh)

          Oh, and BTW, increasingly people are living quite nicely without TV these days.

        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday June 10 2018, @04:47PM (1 child)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 10 2018, @04:47PM (#691131) Journal

          Agreed. The phone companies service just about all parts of W.Va. There may be a couple little crossroads, where a small collection of hillbillies just never saw the point in having a telephone. Doubtful, today, but possible. But, the telcos have lines basically everywhere. Anyplace serviced with electricity and telephone, it's possible to run fiber. Expensive, sure, but no more expensive now, than running those telephone lines were back in the first half of the 20th century.

          • (Score: 2) by Arik on Sunday June 10 2018, @06:36PM

            by Arik (4543) on Sunday June 10 2018, @06:36PM (#691152) Journal
            Most of the state should have fiber, there was a federal subsidy for several years and as long as one person on a loop wanted fiber the feds would pay the phone company to install it.

            This covered the whole region if not rural USA entirely, I don't really know WVA specifically but something sounds fishy here.

            --
            If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
      • (Score: 2) by frojack on Monday June 11 2018, @12:14AM

        by frojack (1554) on Monday June 11 2018, @12:14AM (#691225) Journal

        Isn't that why we have all been paying into a federal fund on our phone bill for decades?
        Then they pirated that off for Schools.
        Then for budget balances etc.

        This is broken windows theory all over again.

        Saddling Amtrak with a boat load of employees forever (while wailing about how inefficient Amtrak is) won't fix anything. It certainly won't fix the internet.

        If you can get a road there, you can get a fiber optic cable there. Its literally that easy. Make the State highway department trench in the cables and let the municipality contract for town cell towers. And pay for it from that universal access fund.

        --
        No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:37AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:37AM (#691059)

    This isn't forcing Amtrak hire anyone. He's trying to stop Amtrak from eliminate the one ticket agent in Charleston, WV "until they can agree on the fundamental facts about how ticket sale and daily ridership are calculated."

    Clickbait headlines are clickbait.

    • (Score: 2) by frojack on Monday June 11 2018, @12:25AM (1 child)

      by frojack (1554) on Monday June 11 2018, @12:25AM (#691227) Journal

      Bullshit.

      A bill that will force Amtrak to employ at least one ticketing agent in every state that it serves.

      Now what good is one ticketing agent in a state, when you have to GO there to talk to them, possibly weeks ahead of your actual trip.

      Why can't they just Call Julie [amtrak.com] like everybody else in the country?

      You go to the station and show them your bar code on your phone, or your ticket from the Kiosk [amtrak.com] by just entering the pin code Julie gave you.

      Surely the people in West "By God" Virginia have telephones and credit cards and don't need an actual person the help them use either.

      --
      No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 11 2018, @02:08AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 11 2018, @02:08AM (#691260)

        Calm yourself before you have a stroke. Whether you like it or not any service run by the government needs to be able to take cash payments at the point of sale. Just because you want the government and the banking industry to be able to track each and every transaction doesn't mean the rest of us have to give up using cash.

        Also, take a look on the back of any denomination of US paper currency. There's a promise there that they must keep.

  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:47AM (16 children)

    - The Station.

    One can also reserve seats at the station then pay for them later.

    I don't fly between Portland and California anymore, I take Amtrack. It totally rocks.

    But before you leave for the train, drop by a deli then order a few different kinds of sandwiches to go. This because their snack bar is usurously expensive and the portions very, very small. I bought a pack of instant oatmeal because I was quite hungry, but when I tore the lid off to see it was less than half full I was completely overcome with grief.

    Amtrack has WiFi and 110VAC POWER SOCKTS!!!111!OMGKITTENS!!! at every seat.

    There's lots of room to stretch out your legs. The seats are wider. Sometimes there are two pairs of seats facing each other with a table in the middle.

    No X-Rays. No Metal Detectors. No TSA Body Cavity Searches.

    And you can leave your damn shoes _on_.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:51AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:51AM (#691063)

      WTF? You've got some kind of foot or shoe fetish?

    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:55AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:55AM (#691065)

      And you can leave your damn shoes _on_.

      I don't fly to US and I can leave my shoes on too.

      Amtrack has WiFi and 110VAC POWER SOCKTS!!!111!OMGKITTENS!!! at every seat.

      So do modern planes.

    • (Score: 2) by linuxrocks123 on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:57AM (1 child)

      by linuxrocks123 (2557) on Sunday June 10 2018, @09:57AM (#691066) Journal

      Amtrak tickets are dramatically cheaper at the station.

      I never knew that, I rode Amtrak for many years, and I have a friend who used to work at Amtrak whom I think would have told me about a price difference in online versus station sales if he knew about it. Can you elaborate on this and provide some examples?

    • (Score: 2) by zocalo on Sunday June 10 2018, @10:33AM (6 children)

      by zocalo (302) on Sunday June 10 2018, @10:33AM (#691070)
      I travel quite a bit and prefer to use public transportwhen I can, especially when I first arrive in a country, as I find it helps me get that initial connection with the local culture, etc. and I was pleasantly surprised by Amtrak after all the negative press I'd heard. Sure, it's not up there with the state-of-the-art Japanese and Chinese bullet trains, or some of the flagship European lines, but at least on the routes I've used roughly on a par with the majority of typical modern European intercity express services.

      I probably wouldn't use it to go coast to coast, assuming that's even possible, but for a hop across a few states or so it's much more comfortable than flying, there's more to see out the window, no hassle with TSA/airport security, and you get back the extra time spent getting between car park and gate, so quite possibly comparable on total time taken too. It's also much more civilized when in a group if you can sit around a table facing each other, rather than have to keep looking sideway to chat. We played a board game on my last trip, although you do need to choose wisely as any pieces can - and probably will - slide around a bit on some of the tighter curves! Sure, the on-board food is expensive, but that's no different from in-flight food, and you also have far more options for bringing your own snacks along.
      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
      • (Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday June 10 2018, @11:32AM (3 children)

        I looked into going from Portland to New York City a while back. I'd go to Seattle, change trains then to Denver, then to Chicago then to NYC.

        Or something like that I don't clearly recall.

        The Coast Starlight goes from Seattle to LA with bus service to and from many other cities. That's right: Amtrack has a huge fleet of buses but with the complication that any bus tickets have to include at least one train ticket.

        At one time Amtrack when from Vancouver BC to San Diego - all train, no buses. From Vancouver BC you can go all the way to Toronto and from there to Montreal and Halifax, from San Diego there are trains all over Mexico.

        --
        Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
        • (Score: 2) by zocalo on Sunday June 10 2018, @03:27PM (2 children)

          by zocalo (302) on Sunday June 10 2018, @03:27PM (#691112)
          Pretty much what I'd figured. I like the idea of train over airlines for shorter journeys, and especially for particularly scenic routes and/or routes with a bit of history, but coast-to-coast by train is perhaps a bit much, even if a reasonable route that doesn't involve changing trains does exist. Ultimately you're going to be spending a lot longer travelling by train than flying, and it's highly likely that a lot of that is going to be pretty monotonous on some of the available East-West routes, so unless that part is overnight (another advantage of trains; I find the motion make it much easier to sleep), I think I'll let my luggage take it's chances with the TSA.
          --
          UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
          • (Score: 2) by frojack on Monday June 11 2018, @12:35AM (1 child)

            by frojack (1554) on Monday June 11 2018, @12:35AM (#691230) Journal

            I like the idea of train over airlines for shorter journeys, and especially for particularly scenic routes and/or routes with a bit of history, but coast-to-coast by train is perhaps a bit much,

            Its a vacation. A very enjoyable one. You should try it sometime.

            City to City routes work on the east coast where everything is cheek by jowl, but you don't try to go from Denver to LA and then compare it to an airline by price or time. Its a train!!

            King Street Station in Seattle to Portland Oregon? 27 Bucks.

            --
            No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
            • (Score: 2) by zocalo on Monday June 11 2018, @07:03AM

              by zocalo (302) on Monday June 11 2018, @07:03AM (#691305)
              I thought I'd implied that I already have - and a few cruises like Hurtigruten's route up the coast of Norway - but they've all generally been extremely scenic pretty much throughout. I've spent a fair bit of time in the interior of the US, covering over a dozen states from border to border by road and rail, and while there are some very beautiful/interesting bits, much of it is now just the (mostly) flat remains of prairie buried under the infrastructure of producing food and energy. A few hours with not much to see in order to get from A-to-B is one thing, several days of it with only the occassional highlight - or a quick look around a city before getting back on board - is something else. There are some train routes in the US I would consider for a vacation, or part of one, - I've traversed the Rockies by train (Denver to SLC) and MDC's Portland to California route should be spectacular, for instance - but a jaunt across the prairie just isn't going to be near the top of the list.
              --
              UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
      • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 10 2018, @03:06PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 10 2018, @03:06PM (#691106)

        It really depends where you're going. The biggest problems with Amtrak are that it's underfunded and has to lease tracks from the freight companies. For shorter trips, it's not so bad, but I took it one time from Seattle to the midwest and we were nearly a day late by the time we got there because Amtrak doesn't have spare train engines that they can take out of service for things like winterizing. We got stuck in Havre more or less all night due to freezing conditions.

        Other countries, are set up differently, I know that in China specifically, train travel is still a normal way of traveling between cities and the government spends a lot of time and money keeping it that way.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 11 2018, @09:32AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 11 2018, @09:32AM (#691327)

          I know that in China specifically, train travel is still a normal way of traveling between cities and the government spends a lot of time and money keeping it that way.

          Keeping it that way? You say it like the Chinese Government is trying to force people to use trains.

          The fact is there are no better options for China. So it's better to spend time and money improving the best option. Go see how many people in China travel for the Lunar New Year and then try to think of alternative travel methods that will be better for the longer distance routes.

          More people using the roads for long distances is not a good idea in China: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_National_Highway_110_traffic_jam [wikipedia.org]

          And they're among the worst drivers in the world.

    • (Score: 2) by fritsd on Sunday June 10 2018, @11:54AM (4 children)

      by fritsd (4586) on Sunday June 10 2018, @11:54AM (#691078) Journal

      In Europe, it's considered rude to put your feet on the seats opposite, unless you take your shoes _off_. It can happen that a conductor orders you to take your feet off the seat, otherwise. Same with napping across two seats next to each other.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday June 10 2018, @01:31PM (3 children)

        In all the airports in the US, the Transportation Safety Administration makes every passenger remove their shoes then pass them through an X-Ray.

        This because just one potential suicide bomber was stopped from lighting the fuse to his shoe bomb by the passenger next to him. There has _never_ been so much as an attempted shoe bombing in the many many years since that incident!

        What I find the most irritating is having to remove my belt. I'm a fat boy so I always buy fat boy's pants. But if those pants aren't belted and slide down just a few centimetres, they will fall down all the way to my ankles. That means I have to hold them up by at least one hand; when I get through the metal detector I have to retrieve all my stuff with just one free hand.

        I too take my shoes off when I put my feet up on the opposite seat.

        --
        Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
        • (Score: 2) by Whoever on Sunday June 10 2018, @03:19PM (2 children)

          by Whoever (4524) on Sunday June 10 2018, @03:19PM (#691109) Journal

          In all the airports in the US, the Transportation Safety Administration makes every passenger remove their shoes then pass them through an X-Ray.

          Not true. If you have TSA Pre, or you use Clear or some other service, you can get through without taking your shoes off. You don't think the TSA wants to piss off the wealthy and powerful people, do you?

          • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Sunday June 10 2018, @03:35PM

            by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Sunday June 10 2018, @03:35PM (#691116) Journal

            You don't think the TSA wants to piss off the wealthy and powerful people, do you?

            All part of keeping them safely within the security theater, citizen.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 10 2018, @07:00PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 10 2018, @07:00PM (#691156)

            That's what I thought, until the day I flew after helping my dad load a bag of fertilizer the night before. That set off the chemical detector. I had to take my belt off and get patted down. This required holding my arms straight out. This was right after a successful weight loss program and before I bought new pants.

            The _only_ reason I was in TSA-ville is that my dad had a medical emergency and I didn't want to wait three days to get there. Every other time I've taken Amtrak and been glad of it. It's like getting into a slightly strange hotel in one city and checking out of it in another.

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