Do you write? Are you looking
for a free ride? Do you like Amtrak, or can you at least avoid
disparaging it? If so, it wants to hear from you:
Amtrak is excited to announce the official launch of
the #AmtrakResidency program.#AmtrakResidency was designed to allow
creative professionals who are passionate about train travel and
writing to work on their craft in an inspiring environment.
Round-trip train travel will be provided on an Amtrak long-distance
route. Each resident will be given a private sleeper car, equipped
with a desk, a bed and a window to watch the American countryside
roll by for inspiration. Routes will be determined based on
availability.
Amtrak is one of those worst of both worlds public/private
hybrids. Instead of using the power of privatization to improve
services previously offered by government (what happens in
successful public private partnerships), Amtrak is a “for-profit”
corporation that doesn’t actually turn a profit because it gets
annual funding from the federal government and various state
governments who have stepped in any time the feds have tried to
trim funding.
How bad is it at Amtrak? Their 2013 budget and business plan
(pdf)
spun nearly 40 years of operating deficits as a good thing because
the “history of operating deficits demonstrates consistent
improvement over a long period”, when viewed in 2012 U.S. dollars.
In nominal U.S. dollars, operating deficits have remained
relatively constant.
Amtrak has just one profitable division to speak of, the
Northeast Corridor, which runs from Boston to Washington, D.C.
On this route, Amtrak tickets are most expensive. They help
off-set much lower prices in other parts of the U.S., where local
members of Congress tend to lobby Amtrak to keep prices down even
when price hikes might not bring the routes to profitability. And
even in the case of the Northeast Corridor, it’s only “profitable”
excluding the route’s capital costs, for which Amtrak insists
it still needs a government subsidy, as it does for most of its
“business”.
So what’s the wisdom of a “Residency” for a company that’s never
managed to even break even? Amtrak still advertises, and its
support among enough Washington politicians probably ensures it
will continue to be able to bleed money and get away with it. Is
the “Amtrak Residency” a transparent attempt to buy some positive
press from participants? Amtrak skeptics, libertarians, and other
critics of the government appear to need not apply. The official terms of the
program outline that applications cannot “[d]isparage sponsor, its
agencies, any other person or entity affiliated with the Program or
products, services or entities that are competitive with any of the
foregoing.” At an estimated retail value of $900 per “residency,”
it could be cheap but useful propaganda for a company that relies
on money from politicians and not a profitable business model.
Via the Twitter feed of Doug
Stanhope
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