Sometimes I really hate Amtrak

[plutherus]

The thing is, I really like taking the train. I'd much rather spend 8 hours to get somewhere on the train than an hour and a half to do the same trip on an airplane.
But it really shouldn't take 8 hours just to get to freaking Portland!

I went up to Portland on Tuesday afternoon to go see BatBoy, the Musical, which amritarosa had gotten me tickets for. I'd been looking forward to seeing this play since I first heard it was in the works a couple of months ago. Bought train tickets online, got the train that was supposed to be there at 2:30 in the afternoon.
It pulled into the station in Eugene at 3:30. Only three hours late. Oh, well, I thought, that will still give me 2-1/2 hours after it arrives to get to the theater. No problem.
Hah.
After sitting in the station for half an hour (OK, that wasn't entirely Amtrak's fault. Seems there was a drug dealer on board who the Eugene police were trying to arrest. He was harassing other passengers. The guy behind me said the guy had asked him three times during the trip from Sacramento if he wanted to buy anything. He kept telling him to get lost. Finally enough people complained that the police came out in Eugene to arrest the guy, who ran and locked himself in the bathroom on the train. What the hell was he hoping to accomplish? Did he think that the police would eventually get bored and leave him alone? OK, as much as I'm opposed to making a crime out of something as common as drug use, and I think in general society's reaction to drug dealers is way over the top, in this case I would have been all for just shooting the idiot through the door. I'm perfectly happy sticking a paper towel in the bullet holes if I need privacy. (Of course, it seems strange that the conductor can't just open those doors in case of an emergency, but that's another story).
OK, but even with that bit of drama, I still would have had two hours to get from the train station to the play.
Except that the train stopped three more times on the way up, once for an hour (this is during what should be a two-hour-long trip, here!) They never did tell us why they stopped, of course. "We will have a brief stop now to let another train go by" They could have fucking gone to Portland while they were waiting for the other train to go by, dammit!
Finally, at 8:00 (an hour into the play), they decide they need to stop in Portland, just over the bridge. About five minutes from the station, they come to a complete stop for half an hour. After 20 minutes, I went down, found the attendant, and asked if they could just open the doors and let me out there. I could have walked to the theater faster at that point, and was perfectly willing to do so.
They couldn't, of course, open the doors.
Or provide any estimate of when or if the train would ever fucking move again.
Dammit.
The train finally got to the station, and I caught a cab (the only cab, which I had to race a couple to. Fortunately, they had checked baggage, so they were too slow) and got to the theater half an hour before BatBoy ended.. They let me in to the director's booth to watch the last bit of it.
So, the last half hour of BatBoy was really good, and I highly recommend it.
Dammit.
Wasn't a total loss, though, as I did get to hang out with amritarosa and T. (and T. graciously volunteered to redesign the GWoB web site for us to make it faster...stronger...better. Yay!)
And, I got to Powell's the next day, and bought some reading material for the train on the way back down.
Which was only three hours late.

Comments

[starroses.livejournal.com]

The train, while less smelly and much more pleasant than Greyhound, is horribly unreliable. It has been six hours late pulling into Eugene. I have waited three hours in Portland for them to finally decide to put us all on buses and ship us to Eugene that way. It was only the joy I get from the train that had me persist. I often felt that noone in Portland understood the sacrifices I went through to reach them.

On another note: while the trains on this coast are much more reliable than back home - they are also less fun, less nice and more like buses. I still don't mind the trip to NJ or CT though I think I would if it was a bus.