EFFICIENT SEPARATION. Amtrak's East Coast fare structure is supposed to keep the unwashed off the Acela. It's been working, to the disgust of one of the unwashed.

The Boston Globe reports today that Amtrak is cutting Acela fares in the Northeast by up to 25 percent. What they neglect to mention though is that the federally subsidized transcontinental crawler remains the most overpriced and organizationally offensive way to hop up and down the coastline.

No doubt I’m a broke complainer who has for years made it a priority to bitch about the cost of Amtrak; I only use it occasionally to make traveling uncomfortable for businesspeople who think riders should be on library behavior regardless of whether they’re in designated quiet cars.

But for a company that relies on federal funding, I find their practices to be indefensibly prejudicial. Considering how commuter trains between Boston and New York take less than one hour longer than Acela trips, the only real difference is the price tag. It’s simple segregation; those who have enough means don’t have to shoulder up with middle class barbarians.

The news in this morning’s Globe article is infuriating; only now that companies are cutting back has Amtrak lowered rates. Furthermore, they’re only dropping prices on Acela trains, which normal folks don’t use anyway (and which, as Senator John Kerry argues, are a huge rip-off since infrastructure is in such poor repair that trains only reach maximum speeds for a few miles.)

The Acela is a notable example of a rolling gated community on Amtrak. It's not the only one. On my Western trips, I have encountered numerous people going Pullman, including some families of modest means with small children, who are doing so to avoid the barbarians in coach.

Whether that's yet another reason for the lower education to inculcate the Habits of Effective People is left to the reader.