Pacific Northwest High-Speed Rail Corridor Amtrak Cascades Passenger Service

1. Pacific Northwest High-Speed Rail Corridor Amtrak Cascades Passenger Service Katy Taylor Assistant Secretary of Administration Lynn Peterson Secretary Ron Pate Rail Director SCORT – Maximizing revenues on state corridors September 24, 2013

2. Pacific Northwest High-Speed Rail Corridor Passenger Rail – Amtrak Cascades • 467-mile corridor • 300 miles in WA • 134 miles in OR • 33 miles in B.C. • BNSF and UP own the tracks Amtrak operates the service • WSDOT pays Amtrak via contract Talgo and Amtrak maintain equipment • Washington pays Talgo via contract • Five trainsets: • Washington owns three • Amtrak owns two • Oregon will add two in 2013 • www.wsdot.wa.gov/rail • www.AmtrakCascades.com

3. Maximizing Revenue Starts with Knowing Your Target Audiences • Do research – qualitative and quantitative. • Gather strong data on who your target audiences are and use that information to maximize media spending and promotions. • Then use your existing resources strategically: • Speak to the people who already like you. • Work with Amtrak to develop an Amtrak Guest Rewards program tailored to your route. Our recent AGR promotion reached 170,000 members at NO COST to us. • We increased the reach by posting to AmtrakCascades.com and our social media channels. • AAA promotion including online advertising at their expense and coverage in the Journey Magazine. • AAA membership makes them acaptive audience (we like that!). • Weekly emails to 230,000 members • Featured in Journeys magazine. • Book online at AAA website.

4. Maximizing Revenue Starts with Knowing Your Target Audiences and Finding Matches • Sounders FC is our local, very-popular, professional soccer team. • Sounders FC and Amtrak Cascades have a very strong demographic match. • Our partnership yields: • Online ads on the Sounders FC site for 13 weeks. • Sounders FC home page ad in weeks 12 and 13. • Six Matchday Magazine insertions. • Email inclusions and an exclusive email to all registered Sounders FC fans. • Social media Tweets from spokes-person Sounders FC midfielder Brad Evans while he is on the train. Bistro display advertising builds on existing partnership: “What are you a fan of? Amtrak Cascades takes you there.”

6. Maximizing Revenue • Use revenue-protected sales: • Sales can incentivize potential customers to try your service. • Using paid media to advertise sales keeps your service name in front of past, current and potential customers. • People searching for your sale price will often buy tickets at other times at a cost greater than the sale price. • Amtrak Pricing and Revenue Management can help you determine which types of sales may be right for you. • Keep an electronic mailing list: • Our Amtrak Cascades list has over 20,000 email addresses. • We use this list for quarterly eNewslettersand other specials.

7. Cost Savings = Reduced Need for Revenue • Use in-house photographers: • Often photos are just as high-quality. • Easier to schedule. • No royalty fees. • No staff time spent tracking royalty rights. • Removes risk of any royalty infringement. • Use in-house recording for radio. • Use in-house graphics. • Radio promotions = free advertising. • Take advantage of Amtrak promotionsfor distressed inventory – both offersare random so buyers cannot detect a pattern: • Rail Sale – offers last-minuteunsold inventory. • Cheap Escapes – offers inventoryunlikely to sell, at a reduced price. Photo credit: Bruce Ikenberry, WSDOT, Amtrak Cascades in the Puyallup Valley with Mt. Rainier in the distance

8. Maximize Revenue via Online Bookings • 60-75 percent of all travel bookings are now completed online: • Make your site user-friendly. • Code your site using responsive design: • Seamless functionality between smartphones, iPhones, tablets and PCs. • Improve your search results (search engines change their algorithms constantly to avoid scammers - we have to change our metadata, page structure and page information to stay ahead of the curve). • Ecommerce support isavailable from Amtrakso you can add the fare finder and other widgets to your website.

9. More Revenue-inducing programs • 2:1 cards incentivize new customers to try Amtrak Cascades. • Social Media – in addition to using social media to boost the marketing programs discussed previously, new social media programs are being developed to further maximize revenue. • Legislatively designated pilot program to partner with businesses (like Victoria Clipper and others) to explore new marketing ventures. The proviso supports the use of a graduate student intern to explore and evaluate new marketing programs. • Schools on Trains – great program to get kids on trains. Benefit is two-fold: • Generates ridership and revenue midweek. • Kids get to experience the train and have a great experience with their peers, which creates young ambassadors for our service.

10. Questions? Ron Pate Director Rail Division (360) 705-6903 paterd@wsdot.wa.gov Web links: • Rail Division - www.wsdot.wa.gov/rail • Amtrak Cascades - www.AmtrakCascades.com • AASHTO Standing Committee on Rail Transportation - http://rail.transportation.org/Pages/default.aspx