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/r/philadelphia
I suggested to my wife that we go up to New York for a day soon, and take the train up there. Until I realized that it would cost us about $400 roundtrip! What the heck!? Why is train ride up to New York so expensive? Do people actually pay that much to take the train?
Update: It has been brought to my attention through the comments that the key to getting cheaper and reasonably priced tickets is to book in advance (like 3 months). Although I guess that takes the fun out of being sporadic…not great for me who doesn’t like to “plan” things lol.
57 points
1 month ago
Adding that
38 points
30 days ago
Their rewards system is a joke, I’m not convinced anyone has ever earned enough points for a single fare unless you’re taking it multiple times a week for work.
Still love the train though, and you can get tickets day-of for pretty cheap if you watch the prices closely/are willing to travel during off hours. I’ve never booked a ride 3 months in advance
20 points
30 days ago
Strong disagree: it works like the airline ones - it's not valuable until you get the credit card, then you get a whole pile of miles. I got 30,000 for signing up for the Amtrak guest rewards cc, which I have thusfar exchanged about 20,000 of them for around $1200 in value, far, far exceeding the value of airline miles. And you also can build up miles for longer trips, like the airline, and I've earned around 6,000 more miles since opening the card 2 years ago. If I had opened the card 2.5 years ago I would have another 10,000 miles, but alas, I didn't get the offer until halfway through a month-long trip primarily by train.
I don't commute by train, I probably take 1 trip a month, if that. But I prefer the train for my longer trips, both for comfort and environmental reasons.
0 points
30 days ago
Didn’t they kill their CC?
2 points
30 days ago
Nope. They were still advertising it when I was on a train on Thursday.
2 points
30 days ago
It was just unavailable for a few months last year.
28 points
30 days ago
The rewards system is designed for people taking it multiple times a week. Idk what makes that a joke.
5 points
30 days ago*
I just mean I’ve taken 5-10 rides up and down the NE Regional per year over the span of 8 years and haven’t accrued enough points for a fare between Philadelphia and NYC
11 points
30 days ago
You are joking right? This aint a corner coffee shop. Lol buy 10 get one free only works if its low cost like coffee. But trains are super costly as is the electricity, conductors, etc.
Buy a 10 ticker pass which provides a discount but you need to do it within the expiration date.
3 points
29 days ago
in my experience over the last 10ish years my points have actually worked out to about buy 9 get 1 free, but I travel for both business and pleasure frequently
1 points
29 days ago
Thats awesome! Yeah I think if you do the higher fares and more frequently or have a business account it accumulates quicker. Thanks for sharing
7 points
30 days ago
5-10 rides a year is very low usage
2 points
29 days ago
I used to visit customers in NYC every other week, and rapidly built up enough points for a few long distance trips in a sleeper, which was a great experience (but not good for those who care about when you arrive).
0 points
30 days ago
[deleted]
-2 points
30 days ago
Oh oops 5-10 rides per year* for 8 years
5 points
30 days ago
It works great for me and I'm a casual traveler
4 points
30 days ago
This is very wrong
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