Chill on Amtrak travel has ripple effect

Jamer Hunt typically commutes from Center City to a teaching job at the Parsons School for Design in New York City four days a week on a 7:28 or 8:30 a.m. Amtrak train.

After Hunt, 50, learned Tuesday night about the derailment of Amtrak Train 188 at Frankford Junction, he tried to take a bus Wednesday morning, but tickets were sold out. On Wednesday, he worked from home via Skype on his computer to videoconference with a fellow teacher and class of 20 students.

"I was up on the big screen, and talking with the students," said the director of the graduate design program at Parsons as he waited in line for an 8:15 a.m. Megabus on Thursday in University City. "I taught a class and had a one-on-one meeting with a student. It would have been nice to be there in person, but in a pinch it worked just fine."

What is normally a routine commute between Philadelphia and New York became an ordeal Wednesday and Thursday for thousands of people after the Amtrak derailment shut down the rail link. Amtrak said full train service would be restored between Philadelphia and New York by Tuesday.

Meanwhile, US Airways added flights between New York and Washington and between Philadelphia and New York on Wednesday. Megabus and Bolt added buses and were fully booked.

Demand for rental cars for one-way travel to New York exceeded supply, an Enterprise Rent-a-Car representative in Center City said: "It's been difficult to accommodate them all because it was sudden. It was right then and there we needed cars."

Aonghus Martin, 35, a lawyer at Citibank on Greenwich Street in New York, normally catches a 6:13 a.m. SEPTA train at Suburban Station to Trenton, where he takes NJ Transit to New York's Penn Station, then a PATH train to his office near the World Trade Center.

But after the derailment, the SEPTA train line to Trenton was not running. Buses were packed. "I e-mailed my boss that it doesn't look like it's going to happen. I'll work from home," Martin said.

Some travelers, like Adam Kaig, 31, waited at 30th Street Station to take SEPTA to West Trenton, where NJ Transit was operating free shuttle buses to the Trenton Transportation Center five miles away. From there, passengers took NJ Transit into New York.

"I don't know what time I'll get there," said Erin Hogan, a human resources director at Comcast Corp., who travels to New York at least twice a month for work. She normally takes Amtrak but was on a SEPTA train to West Trenton on Thursday.

"I'm supposed to be there by 12 o'clock," said Hogan, 39, of Fairmount. "Now I may have to e-mail people, and I may be late to my meeting. I just hope that everything is on time and goes smoothly."

Steve Elgart, 67, an economist, was heading to New York on a Megabus for a business meeting and dinner. He booked a return ticket on Megabus at 11:20 p.m. but decided, since he lives in Valley Forge, to call the car service that he uses when he flies out of Philadelphia's airport.

"I asked how much would it be to pick me up in New York City tonight at the restaurant, so I can get home three hours earlier," Elgart said.

With Amtrak service suspended, the ripple effect has hurt shops and eateries inside 30th Street Station.

"We usually serve a high volume of people in the mornings, and have five people on shift and both registers open," said Porsha Thompson, supervisor at Saxbys Coffee. "Wednesday we had three people on shift and only one register open. It was real slow. Today is the same thing."

Saxbys sales were down $1,500 on Wednesday. On a normal day, sales are $3,000, Thompson said.

"It's definitely slower than usual," said Dan Yu, supervisor at the Old Nelson Food Co. store in 30th Street Station. "A lot of the people traveling to New York, especially, would stop by, get coffee and a sandwich for the trip. We don't really have the morning rush, and lunchtime was not as much traffic."