Amtrak’s State

Supported Business Line

Suzanne Fike, Business Controller, State Supported Services

2

The State Supported Corridors Business

Line• Responsible for Operating Agreements

with eighteen states partners representing 29 short distance routes across the United States.

• Record FY 2013 ridership of 15.4M• Five routes had ridership of 1M+

– Pacific Surfliner (2.6M)– Capitol Corridor (1.7M)– Keystone Corridor (1.4M)– San Joaquin (1.1M)– Empire Service (1.0M)

• Five other routes had ridership in the 500K-1M range– Cascades (845K)– Hiawatha Service (838K)– Newport News Northeast Regional segment

(623K)– Lincoln Service (597K)– Downeaster Service (541K)

State

Maine Indiana

Massachusetts

Michigan

Connecticut Oklahoma

Vermont Texas

New York Wisconsin

Pennsylvania Washington

North Carolina

Oregon

Virginia California

Illinois CCJPA

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Amtrak State-supported services

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

0

2,000,000

4,000,000

6,000,000

8,000,000

10,000,000

12,000,000

14,000,000

16,000,000

18,000,000

Ethan Allen VermonterAlbany-Niagara Falls-Toronto DowneasterNew Haven-Springfield KeystoneEmpire Chicago-St. LouisHiawatha WolverineIllini Illinois ZephyrHeartland Flyer Lake Country Ltd.Pacific Surfliner CascadesCapitol Corridor San JoaquinAdirondack Blue WaterWashington-Lynchburg Washington-Newport NewsHoosier State Kansas City-St. LouisPennsylvanian Pere MarquetteCarolinian PiedmontSpecial trains Washington-Norfolk

Fiscal Year

Rid

ers

• Section 403(b) of the 1970 Rail Passenger Service Act authorized partnerships to operate trains:– Amtrak ran the service– State could “pick up the

tab” for costs associated with the service

– Allowed addition of service without incurring additional Federal subsidies

• First “403(b)” train inaugurated within months

• Almost 100% ridership growth over the past decade

Amtrak State-supported Service Ridership, 1998-2013

4

The Amtrak System, 2014

5

The Amtrak system – state-supported services and the

NEC

The national system is more than just connectivity – it supports sizeable resource, experience and knowledge bases

6

Areas of responsibility

NortheastCaroline Mael

SouthJay McArthur

MidwestBruce Hillblom

WestJeff Snowden

(acting)

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PRIIA 209 Implementation Issues

• Equipment Capital Working Group – established in SEP 2013 to build a straightforward work plan that will

be used to develop a 5-year Capital Investment Program (CIP).– The CIP for Amtrak Equipment Deployed in state supported services is

drafted and being prepared for presentation to the Next Generation Equipment Board.

• Operating Cost Working Group– Need to establish clear definition of route cost versus support fee to

allow for proper placement of costs within these two categories.

• Performance Standards Working Group– Not required by PRIIA– One size does not fit all– Language has been drafted/data based standards have been identified

and can be implemented in FY15 Operating Agreements.

Main focus for the past year has been to implement and resolve outstanding issues identified during the annual negations of FY2014 Operating Agreements

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Feasibility Studies for State Partners

• California Coast Daylight• Illinois

– Trans Illinois• Rail Option• Thru-way Bus Option

– Additional Frequencies (Carbondale)– Implementation of New Services (Moline and Quad City)

• CREATE Project – Improve congestion CHI Terminal– Amtrak participates on the Management Committee

• Indiana Gateway

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2013 Partner Satisfaction Survey

• 64 of 150 surveys returned and included 22 pages of significant issues or concerns including:– On-Time Performance– Transparency, accuracy and timeliness of information and/or

invoices• We were not prepared for 209 invoice implementation. • We are working to provide the States with support

documentation/information that meets State requirements but does not violate Amtrak’s confidentiality clauses. (Host RR and Fuel)

• Established quarterly reconciliations• Standardized Reporting

– Over 250 reports were being provided to State Partners in OCT 2013 from a variety of sources.

– March 2014 States began receiving standardized reports developed from a single data and delivered by a single point of contact

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2013 Partner Satisfaction Survey

(continued)• Inconsistent Customer Service

– Over the past year Amtrak has been developing a comprehensive Customer Service training program.

– Beginning in the spring of FY2015 Amtrak will launch this training to every employee

– Front line supervision will be trained first so that positive behavior can be reinforced as the program is rolled out to all crafts including mechanical.

• Marketing – Better Communication of Marketing Campaigns/Initiatives– State Marketing Advisory Council concept was introduce to all

State partners in July 2014 and will be implemented this fall.– Web based marketing tool that will allow States to customize

templates with local branding for route marketing.

• October/November 2014 annual Partner Satisfaction Survey – Additional smaller survey for annual operating agreement

negotiation process

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Timely Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Coming in FY15• CSI/eCSI

– OCT 2014 replace CSI with eCSI– Amtrak has fielded CSI and eCSI in parallel during FY14 to

understand our options, costs and benefits– 18,500 Monthly CSI surveys were mailed out compared to

56,000 eCSI emailed.– Time from trip to survey for CSI was 2 to 6 weeks while eCSI

was 3 to 9 days.– CSI respondents are heavily weighted to older travelers (77%

are over 55)– Based on ridership profiles the age distribution for eCSI is

much closer to Amtrak customer.– As expected, overall satisfaction scores for eCSI were lower

(77%) than CSI (82%)

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Benefits of replacing mailed CSI survey

• Shorter time between trip and survey receipt: email significantly reduces the average number of days between the trip and when the customer receives the survey.

• Respondents more representative of Amtrak customer: Age profile of customers responding to surveys offered through email more accurately represent our ridership profiles.

• Reduce turn-around time: Email significantly reduces the time between the month of travel and completion of the report for that month.

• Additional research possible: An email methodology provides a tool for additional, unrelated market research that is inexpensive and that can be implemented quickly.

FY15: replace CSI mail methodology with eCSI email

methodology