Shifting Gears: People really hate Amtrak's new dining options
There's no reason to ride a train across the United States.
When I pitched a trip from New York City to Seattle last year, I didn't completely expect to get it approved — but I'm so glad it did.
2019 was Amtrak's best financial year on record, helped in part by record bookings and cost-cutting on food. That's where things get tricky. Nearly a full year after my first taste of the "flexible" dining that replaced full-service meals of the past, the agency finally responded to a FOIA request for the complaints about them.
In 125 pages, riders opine on the lost service, which included custom cooked steaks, omelettes, pancakes, and even fresh seafood. After all, without the meals to look forward to, sitting on a train for multiple days becomes a bleak affair. And microwaved meals don't help. Now, it's unclear when — or even if — they'll come back.
You can read the highlights and full document of thousands of complaints here.
Before we jump into this week's news, don't forget you can subscribe to get this briefing straight to your inbox here. Let's go:
- Someone tried to burn down the former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick's new business. Ghost kitchens, virtual restaurants, cloud kitchens: whatever you call them, they're in high demand.
- Leaked email from Elon Musk reveals the Model Y is experiencing production 'challenges' while passing the Model 3 as the top priority at Tesla's US car factory Tesla CEO Elon Musk also referenced "tough conditions" on one assembly line and said they would soon improve.
- Grubhub, following failed talks with Uber, is now planning to merge with European food delivery service Just Eat. Just Eat's proposed stock-swap deal values Grubhub at $7.3 billion and comes after Uber reportedly abandoned talks due to antitrust concerns.
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- Small cars are still the most dangerous choice on the market, according to a new ranking of vehicles by fatality rate. These 20 models — including cars from Ford, Chevy, Hyundai, and Kia — have the highest rates of driver death, according to a new IIHS study.
- A company turns shipping containers into tiny one bedroom homes built on trailers for $98,500 — see inside. The standard 40-foot long shipping container home comes with a bedroom, five-foot deck, bathroom, living room, and kitchen space.
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- LaGuardia Airport just took the wraps off its newest terminal building designed to help revolutionize New York's worst airport — take a closer look. Former Vice President Joe Biden once likened LaGuardia Airport to being in "some third-world country" due to its aging infrastructure.
- MORGAN STANLEY: These 48 stocks could help investors who want to cash in on the electric-vehicle revolution. Companies like Tesla, Panasonic, and Glencore are among those Morgan Stanley believes could benefit from rising electric-vehicle sales.
- Several Tesla employees reportedly contracted the coronavirus after Elon Musk opened its factory despite shelter-in-place orders. Elon Musk called the shelter-in-place orders — which effectively slowed the virus — fascist and then broke local rules to reopen Tesla's factory.
- Amazon's Prime Air drone delivery team is so secretive that employees are often forced to use fake employer names in public. Employees were not allowed to say who they worked for, so they often used fake team names, like "Project Venice," when asked about their affiliation.