MEDIA ADVISORY: Harris Poll: Public Wants Rail
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Friday, February 10, 2006
For Immediate Release
A Harris poll released February 8 found that, “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…The modes of transportation which the largest number 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 comparable percentage for “long-distance travel by car” was just 10%, long-distance bus service 6%.
(Note: An internet search on “Harris poll” right now brings up the organization’s homepage with details on this poll, headlined 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.)
Freight rail also received strong support in the survey: “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%).” 47% of respondents were primarily concerted about safety, while 44% were concerned about energy efficiency and 29% by cost. Survey participants also want to see federal government involvement to continue, “When it comes to the transportation system ‘in the nation as a whole,’ two-thirds (68%) of adults believe this should be a responsibility of the federal government.”
Our brief summary is also available on our weekly news hotline.