Charlie,
One of the problems is that many of the towns that Amtrak stops at
have few if any rental car agencies. If they have one, it may be part
of a car dealership. Thanks to GM and Dodge's policy change last
year, small town dealerships are fewer and farther between. However,
if you plan ahead, there is sometimes an alternative. If you arrange
ahead, many rental agencies will bring the car to you at the station.
Last year, we traveled to Seattle on the Empire Builder and reserved
a car with the downtown (not airport) Avis dealership. When we
arrived at King Street depot, we called them and they arrived to pick
us up within 10 minutes. We were then taken to their office where we
completed paper work and drove off in our assigned vehicle. When we
returned two weeks later, we turned the car in and they took us to
the train station. Their office was closer to the depot than some
airport airport car rental agencies are! I am sure that if there is
a rental car service in your destination town, you can easily make
reservations and arrangements online if they have website and by
phone, if not. Most if not all, particularly in smaller towns, will
be happy to pick you up at the train station.
To give proper credit to Amtrak, they do offer a hotel and rental car
reservation option on their website, amtrak.com. They will also make
reservations for dinner, sightseeing, theater and other special
events through their website. Per the a following from their website,
it says they have rental car and hotels available at or within one
mile of 70 major train stations.
"Convenient One-Stop Shopping for Rail, Hotel, Cars and More
Tired of clicking all over the web to make your travel arrangements?
You're in luck ? Amtrak offers customers one-stop shopping for all
your travel needs. Choose from a variety of options based on your
route and destination, including thousands of hotel properties and
car rentals at or within one mile of 70 major train stations. Many
destinations even offer show tickets, sightseeing tours, dinner
reservations and other special events."
Keep in mind, airlines don't owe rental car agencies either. The car
rental companies choose where they want to be and they choose where
people most frequently rent cars. Like Amtrak, airlines will provide
access to rental car agencies on their websites, but you can often do
better by yourself online. The fact that the downtown rental car
agencies in Boston were closed in the late evening seems like a
rental car agency issue, not Amtrak. You would have the same problem
at most airports with a late arrival, including the big ones. I would
be surprised if you could rent a car at Boston Logan or Chicago
O'hare after midnight and I am sure you will have difficulty at
Midway in the late hours. Most agencies close their desks after the
last scheduled flight and earlier if they have no reservations. If
you didn't make an advanced reservation, there may have been no cars
available even if they have a desk at the station. I have had that
happen at airports so I always make advanced reservations. Knowing
your late arrival, they might have been willing to have someone
available.
I am sure that if there was a high demand for rental cars at train
stations, the rental car companies would have desks in the depot. In
addition, because the depots are downtown where parking is at a
premium, just finding places to have cars stored available for rental
would be difficult and, I am sure, expensive.
Bill Barber
Gravois Mills, MO
On Feb 12, 2010, at 3:29 AM, CBQ@yahoogroups.com wrote:
> Re: What Amtrak could learn from CB&Q
> Posted by: "cvlk" cvlk@comcast.net n_cbqguy
> Thu Feb 11, 2010 12:18 pm (PST)
>
>
>
> I wanted to rent a car on a trip to Boston on the Lake Shore Limited.
> Not only did I find that AMTRAK doesn't have any rental offices in
> their stations, but to rent a car upon arrival (ten in the evening
> if everything is going well, which it almost never does) you have
> to get a cab to go to Logan Airport because all the rental offices
> in Boston are closed at that hour.
> Stupid, stupid, stupid.
> Charlie Vlk
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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