High cost of gas, jet fuel driving people to alternativesBy Kyle Stock
The Post and Courier
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Brad Nettles Glenn Phillips (from left) and his wife, Robin, along with their sons Tyler and Sawyer, board an Amtrak train bound for New York. Phillips said it was cheaper to take the train than to drive. Video
With fuel prices and airfares soaring, more travelers are turning to Amtrak. The nationwide rail service has welcomed 11 percent more passengers this year and close to 80,000 are expected to get on and off its trains in North Charleston. Watch » It's not easy to find the local Amtrak station. The few nearby signs direct travelers down an unkempt road off Rivers Avenue, under an overpass near a day-care center. At the station, the letters spelling out "Charleston" at the end of the platform are sun-bleached and crooked, but the loading dock Monday morning was packed with pastel: a palette of summer vacationers waiting for the "Palmetto," a 10 a.m. train bound for Kingstree, Florence, Dillon and 21 other stops before pulling into Boston's South Station some 22 hours later. Glenn Phillips and his wife and two sons were getting off in New York. The family planned the trip last summer. When they realized they could take the train for the cost of about 90 gallons of gas, the Phillips clan decided to give the car a break. "This is our first time traveling on the train," Phillips said. "It's worked out to our benefit." Burned by red-hot gas prices and steep airline ticket costs, U.S. travelers increasingly are sating their wanderlust the old-fashioned way, by jumping on a passenger train. Some 14.3 million people boarded an Amtrak train from October through April, 10.6 percent more than in the same period a year earlier, according to the National Railroad Passenger Corp., the federal organization that runs Amtrak. Some of the outfit's biggest increases have been posted along the Interstate 95 corridor, where the silver coaches fork from the interstate smog and swing through the Lowcountry haze to North Charleston. The Silver Meteor, which stops here while zipping between New York and Miami, has welcomed 7.4 percent more passengers this year. The Palmetto, which connects New York and Savannah, has carried 12.5 percent more riders. If the year continues on this pace, some 73,720 people will get on or off an Amtrak train in Charleston this year, roughly twice as many as American Airlines will fly in and out of the Holy City airport. Michael Taylor is handling some of the biggest crowds seen at the North Charleston stations since he took over as manager 22 years ago. "This station has always been busy, but we've definitely had a lot of people coming through recently," Taylor said. "It's a combination of things: gas prices, more expensive plane tickets, the hassle of going to the airport." 
Wade Spees Passengers walk to their cars from a park-and-ride bus at the Kmart parking lot at Bowman Road and Johnnie Dodds Boulevard in Mount Pleasant. The stop is one of eight the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority bus makes. The average gallon of regular gas nationally was selling for $4.02 Monday, 30 percent higher than a year ago, according to AAA. And fuel prices are pushing airfares into a steep climb. Most airlines are now pouring almost half of their outlays into jet fuel, while Amtrak is forking over about 9 percent of its budget for the diesel and electricity it uses to run its engines. That is one of the main reasons Amtrak's average ticket price was only $59 in March. The same economics are driving demand for the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority which carried 20 percent more bus riders in the first five months of the year. The train, however, is not trouble-free. Despite renovations and ambitious marketing campaigns, Amtrak still is not a money-making venture. Last year, it fell $1.2 billion below break-even, a shortfall covered by federal appropriations. And most of the time, Amtrak runs on tracks owned by big freight outfits such as CSX Corp. As a result, it has to keep its speed in check and often is forced onto spurs by passing caravans of coal and cargo haulers. In the past six months, almost 30 percent of Amtrak trains were delayed. The northbound Palmetto, however, was on time Monday morning. Taylor, the Amtrak veteran, helped usher 65 people aboard and made sure that Rhonda Phillips got her luggage. Phillips, a Charleston resident, was just coming back from a $40 jaunt to Savannah. "It's definitely more economical," Phillips said. "I've got a car. It's sitting at home right now." Reach Kyle Stock at kstock@postandcourier.com or 937-5763. |
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Comments
This article has 9 comment(s)
Posted by a_set_love on June 10, 2008 at 8:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"If the year continues on this pace, some 73,720 people will get on or off an Amtrak train in Charleston this year, roughly twice as many as American Airlines will fly in and out of the Holy City airport."
Wow, I want to catch a train in the City of Charleston, (the Holy City) where exactly is that station again???
I'm also having trouble finding the airport in the Holy City. I found one on John's Island but American Airlines say they can't fly in there, way too small.
I wonder the reason for the inclusion of the statement by the P&C unless its was a way to try to make Charlestonians feel important.
Having lost most all real importance in the region and the added insult of living under Mr. Rileys domination, maybe they just needed someone to throw them a pretend lifesaver.
Posted by LurkingVariable on June 10, 2008 at 10:41 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Good point a_set!
I bet if there were a murder at the "Holy City Airport" it would suddenly become the "North Charleston Airport - far far away from lovable, safe, historic, downtown Charleston"
Posted by pompusmaximus on June 10, 2008 at 10:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
to the above comment....what?
Anyway, I sure hope they renovate or atleast construct a new train station. The one we have now looks like something out of Bosnia. Trains can carry 1 ton of cargo, 400 miles on just 1 gallon of diesel. The airlines, on the other hand, are dieing.
The train system in America must be revitalized in order to sustain reliable transportation of goods and people.
Posted by a_set_love on June 10, 2008 at 12:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
pompusmaximus - a "NEW" train station is to be constructed in the City of North Charleston near Montague and Dorchester. You can see the "NEW" transportation hub, under construction, from the Mark Clark overpass at Bennet Yards.
This will serve taxi, train and local and long distance bus service, all conviently close to the airport.
Posted by pompusmaximus on June 10, 2008 at 1:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Oh ok good news then. Funny they didn't mention that in the story though.
Posted by a_set_love on June 10, 2008 at 2:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yea I know, we don't understand it either. You know the old saying "Never let the TRUTH get in the way of a good story".
There seems to be a whole lot of pretending coming from the City of Charleston yet no real progress to help make the lowcountry a better place to live.
Posted by wjhamilton3 on June 10, 2008 at 2:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Last summer my son and I finally got to try the French TGV. We enjoy train travel and while we were in Europe we used subways, the RER commuter trains, intercity trains and finally the TGV.
At 200 miles per hour, on laser leveled track, the ground gets eaten up at an incredible rate. You arrive in the middle of Paris (it slows down a lot when it enters the city).
The French have been building their high speed rail system since the 1980s and it's nearly complete now. We got on a TGV in Dijon Ville at 8:15 and arrived in Paris at about 10:30. In the US that would be like being in Charleston at 8:14 and ending up in Richmond at 10:3O. Using the TGV, Paris Metro and RER we covered 500 miles in under 3 hours and got on our Plane at 1:30.
However, we could have taken the TGV directly to the Airport from Dijon, which was the plan. In French the sound for "J" and "G" sound a great deal alike. However platforms "J" and "G" are very different. However we were able to catch another train. In America, we could never have made our flight.
We're a long way from a functional national high speed rail system in the US. We'll need one to compete. It's faster than a plane for most trips under 600 miles.
Posted by letstakeawalk on June 10, 2008 at 11:53 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I've travelled in Europe a little and found the trains to be great transportation, whether it was inter-city or international. I've always longed for a better station in North Chuck, the Charleston area has a great neeed to reclaim its place in locomotive history (Best Friend, 1830, 1st regular service, blah, blah).
But the real story is this hub a_set_love mentions. I'll look for it. Why couldn't the P&C tell us about that? I guess that's why I usually read comments before I read the articles....
Posted by postback on June 13, 2008 at 7:09 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"where exactly is that station again?"
It's described in a little more detail in the previous day's teaser article http://www.charleston.net/news/2008/jun/...
"down an unkempt road off Rivers Avenue and under an overpass between a day-care center and a hobo camp."