I went to a 6800 computer club meeting Monday, 9 December, and was at a Computer History do with Steve Woziniak on Tuesday evening. I got my lawn mowed and things taken care of so I could catch the train out of San Jose at 10 AM Friday 13th. I left home at 8:30 AM and caught the local bus made a change and got to the train station about 9:30 AM as it was just starting to rain.

At the train station I was told that train #11 going South was running 2 hours late. The train was at least 2 hours late when it arrived in San Jose, and it was now raining fairly heavy. About ten miles out of San Jose I went to the Observation car with my GPS, and got it set up. The train was slowed and stopped a few times getting out of San Jose but now was picking up speed, in the rain, and shortly got up to 78+ miles an hour. We never attained anywhere near that speed again.

The train would get up to around 30 to 40 miles per hour then it would slow down and stop. After we had been traveling 1:35 minutes, by my GPS, we had averaged less than 30 miles per hour. It got dark well before we got anywhere near close enough to see the ocean. A great disappointment to many of the passengers. This same slow stop and go pace continued till we were about 30 miles out of San Luis Obispo when the train stopped. The conductor got on the speaker system and announced that: "By Federal Law" the train crew could not work over 12 hours, and we would have to wait until a replacement crew was bussed out to take over the train.

AMTRAK is run by Morons. There is NO excuse for there not having a replacement crew bussed out and on the train before the 12 hour limit was up. Instead, we waited there for about a half hour to get a new crew. AMTRAK tries to blame their problems on Union Pacific, who owns the tracks; but UP had absolutely nothing to do with AMTRAK people not looking at the clock and knowing where their damn train is at. All the upper management of AMTRAK wants to do is cry to the Federal Government for more money to buy fancier equipment. Equipment is NOT the problem. The problem is AMTRAK management, right at the top. ? Am I pissed with AMTRAK? You bet! Read on:

The train is now around 4 hours late, and many of the passengers are trying to make calls to friends who are to pick them up. Many of us, I was told the number was 47, are concerned that we will not catch the eastbound train, #2, out of Los Angeles. We were told by the crew not to worry they could put us on the bus and catch the train that had left Los Angeles two hours earlier. There are only three eastbound trains out of Los Angeles a week and the next one would not be tomorrow! We are still a long way out of Los Angeles.

Before we get to Santa Barbara it is announced that all eastbound passengers should get off at Santa Barbara and busses would be waiting for us. Evidently, this is a pretty standard proceedure; and there were four huge elegant busses waiting. Two for passengers (approximately 47) going east and two for other (?) connecting passengers. We were to catch the train, that we would be two hours late for in Los Angeles, in Ontario. It was a long bus ride, I was tired and don't know really how long it took to get to Ontario; but I was awake when the bus left the freeway and wound through what seemed like back alleys to the Ontario train station. It was dark, late, and no one around; but the busses got parked and a few people got off, when we were told the train had gone on. All passengers were told to get back on the bus. We should catch the train two hours latter in Palm Springs. Two hours more buss ride. But, when I bought my ticket I opted to pay extra to take the train and not take an AMTRAK bus through Bakersfield. I said at the time it was worth the extra $20 to have the extra leg room and be able to get up and walk around on the train. But here I am riding an expensive, tax funded AMTRAK bus anyway.

When we got into Palm Springs, they had held up the east bound train for approximately two hours to wait for us. And of course, no one but the conductor can take the tickets; so we spend another 20 to 30 minutes while he carefully checks tickets for the 47 of us. Did he think the busses had picked up a few hitch-hikers on the way? There was certainly no haste in getting the train rolling. But, of course, he works for AMTRAK.

I ask: Why in hell didn't AMTRAK hold up the train in Ontario, or even notify the bus drivers that there was no point in getting off the freeway and going to the train station? The answer is management incompetence, and an attitude that dates back to the days of Horse drawn Stage Coaches. Don't blame Union Pacific for this screw up. I believe UP is a reasonably run railroad that has simply given up on AMTRAK and hence don't bow and scrape to AMTRAK's incompetence. Over half the passengers had cell phones, I cannot believe there was no way to contact the bus drivers and tell them to not stop in Ontario. AMTRAK!

We got into Yuma two hours late, around 6:30 AM, and there was about 20 people waiting on the platform in Yuma who had been there standing in the cold for at least two hours. There is no train station or even ticket agent in Yuma. The last remains of a train station in Yuma burned down in 1993, and AMTRAK has made no effort even to put up a shade for anyone waiting for a train in Yuma.

I got breakfast in a great little restaurant within walking distance of where AMTRAK dumps you off. I refuse to call it a "train station". After breakfast I called a cab and picked up my van, and drove to the motel. I decided to rest and stay here two nights so I could write this, and letters to Senators Feinstein, and Boxer, as well as Transportation Secretary Norman Maneta urging that all federal funding for AMTRAK be stopped.

AMTRAK is worse than nothing!

In northern Utah for example: Greyhound is the only scheduled transportation from Salt Lake City north to Brigham City, Logan, Smithfield and Preston, ID. The same is true for most rural areas in the United States. Greyhound is the only interstate scheduled, transportation for those who cannot drive. I urge everyone reading this to write to your government officials protesting that AMTRAK is using busses in competition to Greyhound.

If you question or disagree that AMTRAK must be stopped, I invite you to take an overnight train ride. This nation needs buss service a lot more than we need passenger train service.