Amtrak customers now have another option
for booking rail tickets: mobile devices.
The railroad has
added reservations functionality that is accessible to users of
Internet-ready hand-held devices such as BlackBerries, Treo smart
phones and cell phones.
Amtraks
reservations Web site had to be reformatted for the smaller screens
used on handheld devices.
When you try to
download a Web site, you will get all of the graphics, said Craig
White, Amtraks principal marketing officer, e-commerce
communications. That makes it very difficult to download it and see
what is on the screen.
White said the
mobile service is designed to provide the basics that a traveler on
the go might need to make reservations or check a trains
status.
The thought here is
that the business traveler, those particularly in the Northeast
Corridor, want to find out whether the train is on time or, if they
are running a little late, to change a reservation, he
said.
Simplified
technology
Working with a
company that specializes in adapting content for hand-held devices,
Amtrak essentially boiled its Web site down to three basic
elements: fares and schedules, train status and user
profile.
On Amtrak.com, White said,
users have to scroll down a lot in order to get
information.
What we want to do
is not require the person [using a mobile device] to have to do a
lot of scrolling, White said. Because everything is stripped down,
it makes it very quick and easy for you to see what is
there.
Mobile devices
vary, but the Amtrak Mobile technology recognizes the
differences.
All anyone has to
do is type in Amtrak.com on the device, White said. The technology
reads where the message is coming from, a Treo or BlackBerry or a
Motorola phone. It recognizes the device that is sending the
message, and then sends back the proper format.
Members of Amtraks
frequent-traveler program will find that the service automatically
populates certain information, such as their name and address, on
the reservations screen. Credit card information has to be input
manually.
When passengers
arrive at the station, they use their credit card at an Amtrak
kiosk to print the train ticket.
Amtrak said it
believes that the wireless service will be particularly popular
with business travelers in the Northeast Corridor, where Amtrak
carries approximately 30,000 passengers a day between Washington,
New York and Boston.
Maps added
to Amtrak site
Along with the
mobile functionality, Amtrak also has added an interactive map to
Amtrak.com.
Roger Seitzinger,
Amtraks creative director, marketing and sales promotion, said the
interactive map is a quantum leap from Amtraks traditional printed
route guide.
If I told you to
plan your trip from Los Angeles to Seattle, you would have looked
[at the printed map] and laughed at me, Seitzinger said.
Similarly, basic
information provided on the Web site was rather static.
We can show routes
as text in our booking system and where you are going to get on and
off, but you really cant represent that graphic in you mind,
Seitzinger said, so weve devised a way to show every piece of
Amtrak in the United States in a single interface.
The map, accessible
at Amtrak.com, has a graphical interface that clearly and simply
denotes stations and routes with detailed information.
Agents are scared
to death to sell Amtrak, said Kathleen Gordon, Amtraks senior
director of e-commerce, because some may find the route structures
and train names confusing.
To aid agents and
travelers, the interactive map gives users options for plotting
routes by state or by region, Seitzinger said. That is particularly
helpful in developing coast-to-coast itineraries.
Say you want to go
from Seattle to New York, Seitzinger said. You type it in the
cities and hit go. What [the map will do] is access our booking
engine to get the availability of the actual trains.
The map will then
list all of the various route combinations for the
itinerary.
During a
demonstration, one itinerary had travelers taking the Empire
Builder from L.A. to Chicago, where they could pick up the
Lakeshore Limited to New York.
Travelers also are
able to use the map to zoom in on specific locations along
routes.
The closer you zoom
in on the map, the more you can see the cities along the route. It
really shows visually how people can move around our network,
Seitzinger said.
To
contact reporter Michael Milligan, send e-mail to [email protected].