Oil Prices Underline Need for More Passenger Trains
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Release #08-13—June 3, 2008
Statement of Ross B. Capon
Executive Director
National Association of Railroad Passengers
Washington D.C., June 3, 2008—
Transit ridership is at its highest level in 50 years, as reported last night on NBC Nightly News. There have been many other news reports about growing Amtrak and transit ridership. Most stories also have highlighted the historical underinvestment that prevents Amtrak and transit authorities from dealing with much more growth in the near term, and the budgetary problems that are forcing transit service reductions even as more people want to climb on board.
Today’s GM announcement about the closure of four more plants should send a clear message to Washington: we need a rapid and long-overdue ramping up of investment in Amtrak and transit to give people jobs when other parts of the transportation industry are retrenching and to let Americans leave their cars at home when they want to-—which they increasingly do. The time to invest in trains is now.
Nationwide, Amtrak ridership is up 11% for October-April, the first seven months of FY 2008, compared with the same period a year earlier.
American Public Transportation Association (APTA) reports that transit trips rose 3.3% in the January-March quarter, compared with a year earlier, with light rail up 10.3% and commuter railroad trips up 5.7%. Preliminary data indicate an even bigger increase in April.
Meanwhile, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) says March vehicle miles traveled (VMT) on the nation’s highways fell 4.3% from a year earlier, “the sharpest yearly drop for any month in FHWA history…The estimated data show that VMT on all U.S. public roads have dropped since 2006.” In addition, some small airlines have shut down, many small cities are losing air service, and major airlines plan big service reductions.
Last year, NARP released its Grow Trains Campaign to bring intercity passenger rail service to over 300 cities nationwide. In our June 25, 2007 news release, we correctly predicted the current days’ events when we said that “the average price of gas [is] expected to top $4 per gallon in the near future.”
The Grow Trains Campaign is needed now more than ever. Congress and the Administration need to make it happen.
For more on NARP’s Grow Trains Campaign, go to http://www.narprail.org/vision.
The FHWA release, “Americans Driving At Historic Lows”: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/pressroom/fhwa0811.htm
APTA’s June 2 ridership growth release: http://www.apta.com/media/releases/080602_ridership_report.cfm
APTA’s one-page first quarter ridership summary: http://www.apta.com/media/releases/080602_ridership_report.cfm