Americans Would Like to See a Larger Share of Passengers and Freight Going By Rail in Future

Trains Magazine General Discussion
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The Harris Poll® #14, February 8, 2006

Americans Would Like to See a Larger Share of Passengers and Freight Going By Rail in Future
Safety and energy efficiency seen as top priorities for future of passenger transportation

As personal travel and freight transportation grows in the future, the American public would like to see an increasing proportion of that traffic going by rail. Commuter and long-distance trains top the list of nine modes of transportation that adults would like to see “have an increasing share of passenger transportation.” When it comes to freight, railroads top the list of six modes of transportation that adults would like to see “have an increasing share of all goods and commodities movements in the United States.”

These are the results of a nationwide Harris Poll of 1,961 U.S. adults conducted online by Harris Interactive® between December 8 and 14, 2005.

Key findings from this survey include:

The modes of transportation which the largest numbers of adults would like to see “have an increasing share of passenger transportation” are:

Commuter trains (44%)
Long-distance trains (35%)
Local bus service (23%), and
Airlines (23%)

The transportation modes which the smallest numbers of adults would like to see have a bigger share of passenger traffic are:

Long-distance bus service (6%)
Pedestrian travel (8%)
Long-distance travel by car (10%)
Local travel by car (11%), and
Travel by bicycle (11%)

Freight railroads (63%) come far ahead of all other modes that adults would like to see have an increasing share of freight transportation. They are followed by:

Air freight (35%), and
Trucks (24%)

The modes which the smallest numbers of adults would like to see have an increasing share of freight transportation are:

Inland barges (8%)
Pipelines (1

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To bad the present national leadership can’t read.

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They can read just fine. What people tell a pollster and what they tell their congressman are seldom the same thing.

Mac

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In the case of British politicians, it’s not their ability to read that’s in question, it’s their ability to listen!

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Well, there are some areas where the US is like the Brits.

6

Passenger traffic in the future? forget it. If nothing has been done to this date on long distance passenger service you can bet you will never see train travel again, Railroads couldn’t wait to get out of passenger revenue, they simply let the service deteriorate to the point of no recovery and pleaded to abandon the system and won. Now reluctently, they are playing around with inter-city, short passenger traffic with the help of massive government handouts, so, anyone lucky enough to have ever enjoyed the luxury of great passenger service a long time ago, just enjoy the memories because it ain’t coming back Earl, unless you go to Austria.

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People are all in favour of new and better rail links and trams and that, but their reasoning is actually that they do want the trains and trams, but for other people to ride so it gets them off the road ,thus leaving an emptier road for the respondant.

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Wow. Anyone here read some of my posts in other threads, such as “Amtrak’s Future”? The demand for passenger rail is there, but it is more regional passenger rail. Make that higher speed passenger rail as well. Anyone who says that people aren’t riding that trains has not ridden a passenger train in some time. The demand is there.

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What people say and what people do are not always the same thing.

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EXACTLY!!! That’s one reason I think highly of Mr. Gunn, because when he was head of the Metro in the DC area he actually rode the subway and the buses rather than the limousine his predecessor used.

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It’s encouraging to see these kind of positive numbers for passenger rail, but what impresses me as well is that those polled are also thinking about moving more freight by rail. Given that we are seeing a rise in overall freight traffic on all modes, with predictions for between a 75% to 100% increase over the next 20 years, it is important that the general public is “getting this” as an issue.

Let’s not forget folks, this wasn’t as poll of people like us who are interested in railroads. This is the general public, and for them to show these kind of numbers is no small matter. I e-mailed the results to a few current and former legislators I know here in Ohio and their eyes got as wide as the lens on a conductor’s lantern. Don’t sell a poll like this short. The Harris organization has a very good reputation and legislators DO pay attention to polls like this.