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Survey says: 79% of travelers would pick high speed rail over air travel when possible
In a recent poll of global travelers by SilverRail Technologies, 90% of respondents said they would like to see rail options displayed alongside flights when searching for travel. Rail is suddenly a hot topic (again) as the Obama Administration has pledged $53 billion to create several new high speed rail corridors in the country.
High speed rail is a very realistic alternative in Europe and Asia, but in the US there are very few routes that can currently be replaced by rail transport. When asked whether they would pick rail over air when available:
- 79% would choose train over plane if high-speed rail options existed.
- 61% would choose rail over air if the cost was the same or better.
- 86% of people would accept having the entire time from door-to-door be longer to avoid the process of checking in, security and boarding.
- 66% would willingly add an hour or more of total travel to their trips to avoid the hassles of long lines, airport security and baggage fees.
Just how bad is the packing situation? Some people actually pack underwear in their laptop bag to reduce the weight of their main bag:
- 89% of people take action to avoid paying bag fees, planning packing days in advance and stuffing carry-ons to maximum capacity to avoid checking bags.
- 19% of people surveyed say they pack underwear in a laptop bag to avoid checking bags.
- 61% are frustrated with extra costs added to airline ticket prices and wanted to be secure that the ticket price they paid is the total price.
- Waiting in line is the #1 air travel hassle, according to 72% of people.
- While waiting in line for a pat down, 47 % dream about the easy travel of yesteryear
- 36% wanted family and friends to be able to accompany them to the gate, an impossibility with air travel
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tony Mar 21st 2011 3:44PM
It's dated but this article still applies now
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1215/is_n12_v193/ai_13261300/
Why High Speed Rail has had a tough time showing up in Texas, Southwest Airlines
TheInfamousJ Mar 21st 2011 4:00PM
I'm all for high speed rail, but can we please fix the low-speed rail lines in the southern US which were washed out by Katrina, first?
If I wanted to go from Washington, DC, to Houston , TX, by rail, I used to go down the east coast and then west across the US/Mexico border.
NOW, thanks to Katrina washing out tracks, I'd have to go North, up the East Coast, West, across the US/Canada border, South on the West Coast, and then back East along the US/Mexico border. (O_o) Seriously. This is a problem.
Want more people to take the train? Make it easy to get around the country.
As an aside, I travel Amtrak with a preference and every single time I go to book, trains are booked solid, sold out, and overfull. So people ARE riding the rails. (While moving on the train the entire time, it takes the same amount of time as arrive-at-airport-early-for-security + make at least one connection. Except that you are moving the entire time rather than waiting around in an airport.) Can we add more capacity and routes, now?
Greg Gross Mar 27th 2011 11:51PM
There's no need to replace air routes with high-speed rail, but HSR on selected routes can make America's transportation net much more flexible, efficient and less vulnerable to disruption.
http://imblacknitravel.com
James Mar 25th 2011 1:37PM
High speed rail would be great, but I would be happy with conventional rail if it had priority passage and good schedules and coverage. I'd never enter an airport again for the rest of my life.