Amtrak Asks 2 People Who Use Wheelchairs To Pay $25,000 For A Ride

[mahatmakanejeeves]

This can't be right. Hat tip, Trainorders:

Passenger Trains > $25,000 for 2 pax in wheelchairs to ride Amtrak CHI-BNL
Date: 01/18/20 08:32
$25,000 for 2 pax in wheelchairs to ride Amtrak CHI-BNL
Author: Lurch_in_ABQ

https://www.npr.org/2020/01/17/797355136/amtrak-asks-two-people-in-wheelchairs-to-pay-25-000-for-a-ride

"Amtrak Asks 2 People Who Use Wheelchairs To Pay $25,000 For A Ride"
"It costs just $16 to buy a one-way ticket on the Amtrak train from Chicago to Bloomington, Ill., unless you're the two people who use wheelchairs and tried to buy tickets recently. They were told their tickets will cost not $16 — but $25,000....."

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Quote ]
Date: 01/18/20 08:39
Re: $25,000 for 2 pax in wheelchairs to ride Amtrak CHI-BNL
Author: joemvcnj

https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?4,4940598

Passenger Trains > Amtrak in hot water charging 25k for passage
Pages: [ 1 ][ 2 ] [ Next ]Current Page:1 of 2
Date: 01/17/20 16:36
Amtrak in hot water charging 25k for passage
Author: amtrakbill

From NPR


Amtrak Asks Two People Who Use Wheelchairs To Pay $25,000 For A Ride
January 17, 20206:18 PM ET
By: Joe Shapiro


A member of the station staff pushes a portable wheelchair lift along the platform at an Amtrak station in DeLand, Fla. The company says its policies for having to adjust or remove seats has changed.
Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
It costs just $16 to buy a one-way ticket on the Amtrak train from Chicago to Bloomington, Ill., unless you're the two people who use wheelchairs and tried to buy tickets recently. They were told their tickets will cost not $16 — but $25,000.
....

INVESTIGATIONS
Amtrak Asks 2 People Who Use Wheelchairs To Pay $25,000 For A Ride
January 17, 20206:18 PM ET

JOSEPH SHAPIRO

Updated at 11:32 p.m. ET

It costs just $16 to buy a one-way ticket on the Amtrak train from Chicago to Bloomington, Ill., unless you're the two people who use wheelchairs and tried to buy tickets recently. They were told their tickets will cost not $16 — but $25,000.

When Adam Ballard saw what Amtrak wanted to charge, he couldn't believe it.

"I thought it was a mistake. That's the price of a car," Ballard says. "How can that be possible? I was sure it was a mistake. But I've seen it in writing. So I know it's not."

Ballard works for a disability service and advocacy center in Chicago called Access Living. He is its housing and transportation policy analyst, and a group from his office is headed to Bloomington next Wednesday for a work retreat.

There are 10 of them, and five — including Ballard — use wheelchairs. Their train has three cars. Each car has one space for a wheelchair. That makes three spaces for five people in wheelchairs. In the past, when Access Living gave advance notice that it was sending a large group, Amtrak took out more seats to fit more wheelchairs. Once, it took out seats in the dining car and charged a few hundred dollars extra.

"I use a power wheelchair. It is standard size for a power chair, but it's larger than most manual chairs. So I take up a little extra space," Ballard says. "But always in the past, no matter what kind of assortment of people and devices we had together for our group, it was never a problem to get everybody on board."

But not this time.

On Dec. 30, an Amtrak agent for group sales based in Philadelphia wrote: "I received a cost regarding the removal of seats and I've been advised this will be over $25 K. Would you like for me to proceed with the request?"

Someone from the group wrote back: "Am I reading this correctly?"

The answer came back on Jan. 2. "The cost is correct," the agent wrote, citing a new policy for taking out those seats. The agent explained that it's expensive to take out extra seats and that it means taking a car out of service.

"With removal of seats, it can be quite costly," the agent wrote. "In previous years, the removal of seats from the coach cars incurred fees that Amtrak absorbed ... We understand and appreciate your loyalty with Amtrak. Going forward, we cannot continue to absorb these fees. These polices have changed nationwide as of 2019."
....

[Demovictory9]

1. shocking

[vsrazdem]

2. I don't understand why they don't have to have accommodations for this. Isn't that what the

Disability Act was for?

[Girard442]

3. Expect more of this in the era of Trump.

In their eyes, disabled people are defectives who shouldn't be inconveniencing the Aryans...errr...normal people.

[virgogal]

4. So there are no disabled Aryans? Hmmm!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. Amtrak caves on $25,000 charge for wheelchair group

Passenger Trains > Amtrak caves on $25,000 charge for wheelchair group
Date: 01/20/20 20:19
Amtrak caves on $25,000 charge for wheelchair group
Author: GenePoon

Amtrak backs away from $25G ticket price for 2 riders in wheelchairs
By Louis Casiano | Fox News

Amid mounting pressure over its charging $25,000 to two wheelchair users for a one-way train ride that normally costs a few dollars, Amtrak reportedly said Monday it can find space to accommodate the customers for the regular price.

The solution came after criticism of the train operator from disability-rights advocates and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill, NPR reported.

Two riders, who use power wheelchairs and are members of Chicago-based disability advocacy group Access Living, planned to take a train ride from Chicago to Bloomington, Ill., for a statewide conference. Tickets for the two-hour trip normally cost $16.

However, an Amtrak group sales agent told the pair were told they would need to pay $25,000 to reconfigure a train car to make space for them. The group objected to the extra charge. Access Living has 10 staff members going to the conference, five of whom use wheelchairs. The train heading to Bloomington has three cars with a space in each for wheelchair users, NPR reported.

"With the removal of seats, it can be quite costly," a sales agent wrote to the group. "In previous years the removal of seats from the coach cars incurred fees that Amtrak absorbed. ... We understand and appreciate your loyalty with Amtrak. Going forward, we cannot continue to absorb these fees. These policies have changed nationwide as of 2019."

On Monday, after mounting pressure, Amtrak said the group can take the train at no additional cost. Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran who uses prosthetic legs and a wheelchair, criticized the high ticket prices. She said she would request with company CEO Richard Anderson to discuss eliminating Amtrak's "nationwide policy of refusing to absorb any costs associated with reconfiguring a railcar to accommodate a group of wheelchair users."

In a series of Sunday tweets, she said the American with Disabilities Act "has been the law of the land for 30 years. Yet in 2020, @Amtrak believes it would be an unreasonable burden to remove architectural barriers that would enable a group with five wheelchair users to travel together," she posted.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/amtrak-backs-away-25g-ticket-riders-in-wheelchairs