College students want more trains

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Per Trains:

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2016/04/18-midwest-college-students

Study: Midwest college students want to ride more passenger trains more often

Students at Midwestern colleges and universities find passenger trains to be an important travel choice and would ride them more often given more frequent service and more targeted marketing, a survey conducted by the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission finds. While only almost a quarter of students who answered questions say they've ridden Amtrak to or from school, more than two thirds say passenger rail is an "important resource" for them to be able to attend school. More than half say they'd more likely ride if service were more frequent.

The survey got almost 19,200 responses from students, faculty and staff at colleges and universities in the nine states that participate in the Commission, which is a compact established by state legislatures whose membership consists of state lawmakers and executive branch officials.

"Not only is there a solid ridership base today, but the survey [also] shows enormous passenger growth potential could result from well-targeted marketing and education campaigns," says David Pearce, the commission's university partnerships committee chair and a Missouri state senator. "That's as good a 'return on investment' as we could hope to find."

"We look forward to working with our partner states, Amtrak and schools in highlighting the advantages of passenger rail for what is clearly a growth market," says commission Chair Tim Hoeffner, director of the Michigan Department of Transportation's Office of Rail.

Sixty-eight percent of students say they consider passenger rail service "important" or "very important" to the country's transportation future. A total 56 percent says they would be more likely to take a train if more frequent service was available.

Little more than half say they were "not at all aware" of state and federal governments' roles in funding passenger trains and determining whether to increase service, and an additional 37 percent were only "somewhat aware."

As far as what would make them more likely to ride trains more often in the future, 44 percent say their nearness to a train station was important, 39 percent wanted more and better discounts, 29 percent wanted more information on train service from their school, and 28 percent wanted their school to provide transportation between campus and the nearest train station.

The commission sponsored the survey between November 2015 and February 2016, though not every person responded, or responded to each question. Seventy-five percent of the responses came from students, while 15 and 10 percent were from staff and faculty, respectively. The Midwest commission's member states are Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.