How Amtrak has been affected by Covid-19
By: Joshua Gibbons
Covid-19 has affected a lot of businesses. Amtrak is no different. Amtrak unlike most businesses has never made a profit. Amtrak has ran off government funding since it was founded. Covid-19 has hurt amtrak quite a bit this year.
Due to the pandemic trains have only 50% capacity which already limits customers on what trains they can take. This ultimately leads to less revenue for the company. Trains that run through the northeast corridor are still making a profit despite the reduction in capacity. Amtrak has always had good ridership numbers on the northeast corridor especially Washington D.C and New York as well as Boston. The rest of their Routes for the most part are at a loss. Long-distance routes have always been a loss but the Hiawatha route which is usually profitable is now making a loss.
In 2019 Amtrak was predicted to turn a profit for the first time in company history in 2020. Which hasn’t happened. In April they lost $677.3 million. This is also around the time where they needed a bailout from the government in order to keep operating and to help the smaller communities to get basic transportation to bigger cities.
From October 2019 to October 2020 they lost a total of $801.1 million. Most of that loss came from this year as fewer people are traveling. This isn't good for Amtrak as they have yet to make a profit in their 49-year existence. Amtrak is already expecting that next year will not be much better because people will be more skeptical about traveling. Also, there would be still Covid-19 effects from this year going into 2021.
Amtrak has been affected by Covid-19 just like a lot of other businesses. They have continued to feel the lack of ridership which is starting to take a toll on their business.
Works Cited
“Amtrak Releases FY 2020 Data.” Railway Age, 24 Nov. 2020, www.railwayage.com/passenger/high-performance/amtrak-releases-fy-2020-data/.
Dong, Chris. “What Is It like to Take Amtrak during the Pandemic?” The Points Guy, The Points Guy, 16 Aug. 2020, thepointsguy.com/news/amtrak-coronavirus-experience/.
Hobson, Jeremy, and Allison Hagan. “Amtrak Could Turn A Profit In 2020 For The 1st Time Ever.” Amtrak Could Turn A Profit In 2020 For The 1st Time Ever | Here & Now, WBUR, 15 Nov. 2019, www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2019/11/15/amtrak-profit-train-ceo-richard-anderson.
Though I found that your piece was well put together I would be curious to see numbers of ridership when the pandemic started and if there was just growth coming back to the limit it can be. As well as this if there was any other possible forms of transportation such as an company like Uber that were either suffering and giving it more business or thriving and taking away business.
ReplyDeleteEspecially since everyone will be very skeptical of public transport in 2021, how have Amtrak tried to attract passengers and what changes have they made along with the 50% capacity?
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