MEMO: to San Jose Mercury News

RE: Your headline, “Train buffs can take advantage of Amtrak discounts”

(deep breath)

So do ticket agnets ask prospective travelers to prove they are “train buffs?”

To be more specific. Your headline wrongly suggests that the only travelers that might be attracted to train travel are those who have already acquired a special taste. Some attach negative socioeconomic meanings to the term “train buffs.” Please desist.

I think I will not pick at this wound any more except to say that a better headline might have been “Amtrak offers attractive discounts.”

Some of us (gulp) find the “train buff” thing a bit offensive.

Filed under: Amtrak, Passenger Rail Politics, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy