Casino Express

Looks like the ACES train is finally about to start running. This is a privately funded train, organized by a consortium of Atlantic City casinos, and run by New Jersey Transit. Amtrak is in on this too: they're doing the ticketing. An interesting example of public-private partnership, the opposite of the more common one of public agencies contracting for service from a private company. And this is exactly the sort of service that public bus agencies are currently prohibited from providing.

Everyone Loves the Electric (part n)

Amtrak has just posted their ridership and revenue statistics for fiscal 2008, and they're quite detailed and interesting. One thing stands out though: 55% of Amtrak's revenue comes from the Northeast Corridor, which carries 38% of the total ridership. If you do the math, you find that the average Acela customer pays $138, while the average Surfliner customer pays $18. For all that talk of how Amtrak needs to get rid of the NEC, it's still by far their most successful route, and the only one that has attracted large numbers of high-paying customers.