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PASSENGER RAIL USAGE DID NOT DECLINE MID-CENTURY just because people suddenly "decided" trains were passe, and other modes were better. Government policy played a tremendous role in travelers' decisions. This chart shows that as road spending (annual dollars per capita, all levels of government, adjusted for inflation) grew, so did -- not coincidentally -- passenger rail (intercity and commuter) passenger-miles per capita decline.
Note also that a leveling-off of highway spending per capita after 1970 coincides with a leveling-off in rail use, and (not shown on the table) stronger government investment in rail.
| Annual dollars per capita spent on roads (1994 dollars) | Annual rail passenger-miles per capita |
|
|---|---|---|
| 1947 | 151.69 | 317.1 |
| 1948 | 164.47 | 280.6 |
| 1949 | 185.11 | 236.1 |
| 1950 | 193.16 | 211.0 |
| 1951 | 192.56 | 225.6 |
| 1952 | 204.02 | 217.6 |
| 1953 | 220.21 | 198.9 |
| 1954 | 251.29 | 180.8 |
| 1955 | 260.95 | 173.0 |
| 1956 | 287.05 | 168.1 |
| 1957 | 305.22 | 151.8 |
| 1958 | 323.24 | 134.2 |
| 1959 | 332.62 | 125.1 |
| 1960 | 318.12 | 118.7 |
| 1961 | 331.84 | 111.8 |
| 1962 | 347.16 | 108.2 |
| 1963 | 358.80 | 99.3 |
| 1964 | 368.03 | 96.7 |
| 1965 | 372.59 | 89.7 |
| 1966 | 392.44 | 88.6 |
| 1967 | 399.29 | 77.8 |
| 1968 | 408.44 | 66.3 |
| 1969 | 399.51 | 60.8 |
| 1970 | 414.42 | 53.1 |
| 1971 | 423.53 | 34.0 |
| 1972 | 418.75 | 43.3 |
| 1973 | 406.58 | 43.3 |
| 1974 | 390.97 | 48.4 |
| 1975 | 389.43 | 44.7 |
| 1976 | 371.97 | 48.8 |
| 1977 | 351.77 | 45.5 |
| 1978 | 362.59 | 46.0 |
| 1979 | 360.91 | 50.4 |
| 1980 | 351.29 | 48.6 |
| 1981 | 323.60 | 43.7 |
| 1982 | 304.99 | 47.2 |
| 1983 | 311.85 | 47.6 |
| 1984 | 325.39 | 48.9 |
| 1985 | 352.52 | 48.0 |
| 1986 | 376.45 | 55.5 |
| 1987 | 378.79 | 50.0 |
| 1988 | 372.51 | 52.4 |
| 1989 | 365.48 | 53.1 |
| 1990 | 361.45 | 53.9 |
| 1991 | 358.55 | 54.1 |
| 1992 | 371.09 | 53.1 |
| 1993 | 365.53 | 53.7 |
| 1994 | 367.30 | 50.8 |