A few follow-ups to points raised in the comments to the previous post:
said...You've heard of these groups of more than 2 people called "families", yes?
Yes of course! I was one of 7 myself. First of all, as you might expect, Amtrak maintains discounts for children 15 and younger, fully 1/2 off:
Child 2 - 15 50% Up to two children per paying adult. Children must travel with adult. 1, 2 Infant Under 2 Free One infant per paying adult. Infants must ride on adult's lap.
Also, as Steve points out in the comments, Amtrak maintains an off-season discount program from November to May which offers free companion travel (2 for the price of one) for trips from Seattle to Portland. Fully half the year! This ends on the May 23rd, but is something to keep in mind for your spring travel next year.
But my point extends to any number of people, discounts or no. It all comes down to how much your time, the environment, &c., are worth to you. Some are better off driving and some not, but in order to know who is which, it's necessary to look at the numbers, to help overcome our natural biases.
I've extended the calculator to take these options into account here. Simply adjust the size of your party, the cost of tickets, or the MPG of your car, to get personalized information of what the costs are.
- I wish they would offer a multi person ticket rate, I like taking public transit but I'm never alone so the cost just does not work out.
See the above points about discounts and such. Again, I'm not saying rail makes sense for everyone everywhere. I do think that people (even transit-savvy people) underestimate their options when it comes to Amtrak, though.
So even if you're skeptical, please do check out the updated calculator and fill in your info, to get a real sense of the costs and how it compares to driving.