Amtrak Will Now Show You How Full a Train Is to Help With Social Distancing
It's a nice little tool that will help you make informed decisions.
The travel industry has taken a hit during the pandemic. A whole lot of travel companies are trying hard to convince you to travel again. While CDC guidelines suggest it's not a great idea to travel during a pandemic, especially in shared spaces like planes or buses, many people are choosing to travel again.
Almost any way you choose to travel will come with mask requirements and efforts at social distancing along the way, even when it's not easy. Amtrak has taken a big step toward ensuring that social distancing guidelines are observed (and that you're comfortable with the environment the company is providing). Amtrak has launched capacity monitoring, letting you know how full the train will be to help you decide if you want to get tickets or hold up to find a train that isn't quite so full.
When you book through the Amtrak site or mobile app, you can see a percentage-based look at how full the train is at the moment. That percentage is based on the already reduced capacity Amtrak sells. It cut the number of available seats to allow for physical distancing. The percentage will be displayed in real-time as people purchase tickets.
"Prioritizing health and safety, we continue to provide customers with new, innovative measures that promote physical distancing and contactless travel," Amtrak President and CEO Bill Flynn said. “We have studied, analyzed, and made improvements to the Amtrak travel experience -- from beginning to end -- for the safety and health of our workforce and travelers.”
The tool is not magically going to make things safe, but it's one step toward safer travels if you choose to do so while the pandemic continues to spread throughout the US.
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