So booking a random trip: Wed Mar. 6 to Fri. Mar. 8. For business hours flights (leaving NY at 2 pm, returning at 9AM) I can get UAL for $175 round trip. But that's JFK <-> IAD. But Midtown to JFK is a $50 35 minute cab ride, and Dulles to downtown DC is an $80 40 minute cab ride. Add in an hour at the airport in JFK and half an hour getting out of IAD, you're looking at $305 round trip, and 4 hours for each leg. The Acela Express will get you downtown to downtown for $300 even ($150 each way) in three hours including boarding time/disembark time at each station. The Northeast Regional will get you there for $100 round trip in three and a half hours including boarding/disembark time.
Yep, I was talking about DC, which (from memory) was $279 each way on Acela, but only $140 round trip on Jet Blue into Reagan.
Sounds good to NYC though—I will consider it for sure.
Also, you highlight an interesting deficiency of the Acela: it's only 30 minutes difference in time. On the BOS->DC route it's only a 70 minute advantage on a ~6.5 hour trip. Sort of makes HSR seem unnecessary when compared to "slow" standard regional train service. It's just not that much better.
They need true grade-separated modern HSR on this route. It would be excellent.
I was talking DC to NYC. It can be $250, but there are $150 Acela trains spaced throughout the day. There is a 10 am Acela for $150 that gets you there into DC in time for a late lunch or afternoon meeting. The best part is: you can actually schedule that lunch and count on probably being able to make it.
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So booking a random trip: Wed Mar. 6 to Fri. Mar. 8. For business hours flights (leaving NY at 2 pm, returning at 9AM) I can get UAL for $175 round trip. But that's JFK <-> IAD. But Midtown to JFK is a $50 35 minute cab ride, and Dulles to downtown DC is an $80 40 minute cab ride. Add in an hour at the airport in JFK and half an hour getting out of IAD, you're looking at $305 round trip, and 4 hours for each leg. The Acela Express will get you downtown to downtown for $300 even ($150 each way) in three hours including boarding time/disembark time at each station. The Northeast Regional will get you there for $100 round trip in three and a half hours including boarding/disembark time.
Yep, I was talking about DC, which (from memory) was $279 each way on Acela, but only $140 round trip on Jet Blue into Reagan.
Sounds good to NYC though—I will consider it for sure.
Also, you highlight an interesting deficiency of the Acela: it's only 30 minutes difference in time. On the BOS->DC route it's only a 70 minute advantage on a ~6.5 hour trip. Sort of makes HSR seem unnecessary when compared to "slow" standard regional train service. It's just not that much better.
They need true grade-separated modern HSR on this route. It would be excellent.
I was talking DC to NYC. It can be $250, but there are $150 Acela trains spaced throughout the day. There is a 10 am Acela for $150 that gets you there into DC in time for a late lunch or afternoon meeting. The best part is: you can actually schedule that lunch and count on probably being able to make it.