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Senator Makes Amtrak Hire Ticket Agents Because 30% of West Virginia Lacks Internet

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

McGruber writes:

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

    by Runaway1956 (2926) on Sunday June 10 2018, @04:47PM (#691131) Homepage 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.

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  • (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.

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