8 Empire Builder Seattle, WA (SEA)
4:40 pm

Leavenworth, WA (LWA)
8:00 pm
3h 20m

-===-

With three possible return trips:

1) 7 Empire Builder Leavenworth, WA (LWA)
6:08 am

11-OCT-09 Seattle, WA
(SEA)

4h 17m

2) Leavenworth, WA – Bus Stop (LEV)
9:55 am

Seattle, WA (SEA)
1:05 pm

3h 10m

3) Leavenworth, WA – Bus Stop (LEV)
1:10 pm

Seattle, WA (SEA)
4:45 pm

3h 35m

You’re comparing apples to oranges, since one takes airline flights for their ability to cover long distances quickly, although I would consider being shoe-horned into an airline seat for more than 3 hours a ‘marathon journey’

“Add in the cumulative delay for freight traffic in that shared corridor and those who do go Amtrak vow never to do so again. I know I did after a 22 hour trip from Seattle to Oakland was 5 hours late.”

You should compare train travel to driving the same route, well at least the same point to point destinations.

Granted the train takes a bit longer than driving in many cases (your Seattle – Oakland trip is approximately a 14 hour drive (I added meal and bathroom breaks)), but nothing bad happens if you drift off to sleep, read, text message (assuming nearby cell towers), etc. during the journey.

Jim

You can always take the afternoon bus (contracted by Amtrak), back to Everett or Seattle. (It doesn’t stop in Edmonds, though).

Unless you hate the bus.

Jim

Try this website: http://www.aaasouth.com/auto_cost_calculator.asp

I plugged in numbers that fit for my 84 4×4 S10. I only mention that it’s a 4×4, because those vehicles tend to not fall off the books completely like other generic cars I’ve owned. (i.e. NO trade-in value)

I put in numbers that fit my spending (and savings on labor costs) with this vehicle.

I can get the per-mile cost down to about 20 cents per mile. That is competitive with the cost of a R/T Amtrak ticket for one person.
You are correct, when you carry more people in your vehicle, the cost of driving vs. the cost of train tickets becomes a wash. Generally, four people per car is about where it’s better to drive, unless you’re the one always driving, I suppose. (using .50 mile)

However, the costs for my example above are for a vehicle that I would call… austere.

If your vehicle doesn’t have zero value after $200k, to keep the ‘residual value’ high, your maintenance costs go way up, because you have to perform major repairs to keep it in ‘like new’ condition.

And be thankful when you drive over the passes that the roads aren’t privately owned. You are driving on highly subsidized roadways. And no, the gas tax you pay (per mile=.02) along with all the other users don’t come close to paying for the building of (amortizing the cost over the lifespan of the highways), and the maintenance (especially during the winter) of those roads.

Jim

Isn’t there considerable ridership and profit to be gained from scheduling around weekend trips between Seattle/Spokane. Besides week day depatures could be scheduled for daytime viewing of the mountains.

Passengers boarding the Empire Builder in Seattle for Seattle are enduring a marathon journey that very few airline passengers would ever consider. Add in the cumulative delay for freight traffic in that shared corridor and those who do go Amtrak vow never to do so again. I know I did after a 22 hour trip from Seattle to Oakland was 5 hours late.

i love transit but unless I could give up our family’s one car it just does not pencil out. Also once you get there we always go hiking… need a car for that.

Having been a gearhead all my life, (and saving big bucks because I can do most all the work myself,) I frankly don’t know why the cost of driving goes over peoples heads!?

AAA currently puts the per mile cost at somewhere around 58 cents.

Lets make it real simple, 50 cents per mile is the cost of driving.
Plain and simple.

Leavenworth is about 120 miles away from Seattle.

Total round trip cost would be $120.00 if you drive your car.

Mr Welch (below) can bring his wife and daughter along ‘for no extra cost’ because he’s already spending $120.00 round trip to drive himself.

I still don’t get how people miss that.

Jim

In this specific case, I could be wrong, but I believe the desire is for the trip through the Montana Rockies to be during daylight hours, for reasons that should be obvious.

There are many of us willing to leave the car at home for a weekend trip to Vancouver, Portland or Spokane. But to get a suitable number of passengers to make that leap Amtrak needs to meet 2 out of 3 conditions: reasonable departure times; reliable on time performance; and ticket cost commensurate with the liberation from driving duty balanced with perceived loss of independence and convenience. So far only the recent addtional train to Vancouver comes close to filling that bill.

Obviously driving a car instead of taking the train has potential advantages like side trips, but trains have advantages as well. For example, it’s easier to enjoy the scenery on a train. Pick whichever works for you, but Amtrak is not ripping you off.