Amtrak is going backward — by forcing its customers to | READER COMMENTARY

The recent editorial, “Marylanders need government to get the little things right” (March 8), has it exactly backward. Amtrak should not be applauded for forcing passengers to face backward if they prefer to face forward. Government “efficiency” is actually customer misery. The decision to halve recycling pickups was driven by the same need: Make it easier for the government, with nothing but contempt for the “little people” — the public.

As an adult who commutes to New York City several times a month, I can assure you that riding backward is neither fun nor comfortable, nor has it been enjoyable since I was 9 years old riding in the back of a station wagon. I pay Amtrak rates because I am looking for the most comfortable way to commute. But riding backward does not meet that requirement.

I understand that government wants to make its own life easier. Hence cuts to recycling pickups and Amtrak seats that make people suffer from motion sickness. Whatever happened to the concept of public service?

I have received numerous emails and texts from  Amtrak trumpeting this change. But it does not change the fact that sitting backward is not a comfortable way to have adults travel. And however they package it, this decision remains a cost and service-cutting measure, not a decision for customer service or comfort.

— Isaiah Cox, Baltimore

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