Jeff Moore Wrote:
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> I add- Don't forget that the Federal government
> (through the Department of Transportation/FAA)
> directly subsidizes almost all of these rural and
> otherwise lightly used air routes through the
> Essential Air Service program

Explain Nome and Prudhoe Bay.

Many of the airports that get a 737 don't fly because of passengers, nor EAS subsidies.

Otherwise, you're arguing that the only reason Amtrak travels is because of subsidies. In which case, get your last ride in soon.

Besides, looks like the Portland-Eugene Amtrak Cascades runs will be on the chopping block as Oregon doesn't know where to find $2 billion, and they've already given Amtrak a warning about ridership and subsidies two years ago. Since there are new spending mandates that were passed by voters last year (that did not come with new funding sources), looks like if you want to travel the Valley, you're gonna do it on a Prevost or a MCI - not a Talgo.

And there are MANY other flights, globally, that exist not because of passenger loads, but because of cargo - it's the mix of revenues that sustain it. Amtrak has little to no cargo, so it's dependent upon passenger revenues. People don't want to pay a lot of money to ride Coach in Amtrak (or really any other train), they see it as a bus. And railfans wonder why passenger trains can't make money.