FY2021 Figures Show How Much Ridership, Revenue Amtrak has Lost in the Pandemic

Amtrak’s fiscal year ended on Sept. 30 and information on how the passenger carrier performed during the COVID-19 pandemic is starting to trickle in and show the scope of how much revenue and ridership it lost.

The pandemic overlapped two fiscal years to date, 2020 and 2021. Amtrak’s fiscal year extends from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30.

In FY 2021, ticket revenue and ridership were both down 63 percent compared with FY 2019, the last “normal” year Amtrak had before the onset of the pandemic.

In FY 2021 Amtrak generated $882.8 million compared with FY 2019 mark of $2.3 billion.

Ridership in FY 2021 was 12.8 million passengers compared with 32.8 million in FY 2019.

All three of Amtrak’s services – long distance, Northeast Corridor and state-supported corridor services – lost revenue and ridership in FY 2021.

In response to the pandemic, Amtrak reduced service by offering fewer trains. Although no long-distance trains were suspended, all but the Auto Train operated on tri-weekly or quad-weekly schedules.

On a percentage basis, the long-distance trains lost the least amount of revenue with compared with FY 2019. The percentage loss was 33 percent.

State supported trains revenue fell by 61 percent while in NEC services fell by 74 percent.

Ridership on a percentage basis fell 51 percent in FY 2021 compared with FY 2019. The corresponding  percentage declines for state services and the NEC were 64 percent and 65 percent respectively.

Revenue for long distance trains for the past three fiscal years has been 330.7 million, 308.2 million and $494.6 million.

For state services it was 209.3 million, $281.7 million and 538.1 million. For the NEC the corresponding numbers are 882.8 million, 1,241.6 billion and $2.354.3 billion.

Ridership of long distance trains by fiscal year from 2021 to 2019 was 2,238.0 million, 2,689.5 million and 4,554.8 million.

For state service the ridership numbers for the same period are 5,519.9 million, 8,004.3 million and 15,438.8 million.

For the NEC the ridership numbers were 4,408.8 million, 6,417.5 million and 12,526.6 million.

It should be noted that FY 2020 straddled the pre-pandemic and pandemic eras.

Among the long distance trains, the Auto Train managed to earn more in FY 2021 (85.7 million) compared with FY 2019 (76.7 million).

One reason given for that was the fact that the Auto Train continued to operate daily between fall 2020 and late spring 2021 and high rental car prices in Florida triggered by a shortage of rental vehicles encouraged traveling to take their own vehicles on the Auto Train.

The Auto Train, though, had reduced capacity just as did other long distance trains.

Although most state corridor services that were suspended during the pandemic have been restored, corridor trains that extend in Canada are still not operating across the border due to pandemic-related travel restrictions.

This includes the New York-Montreal Adirondack, the New York-Toronto Maple Leaf and the Seattle-Vancouver Cascades. These continue operate within the United States.

Tags: Amtrak, Amtrak finances, Amtrak financial results, Amtrak ridership