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.... 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%.

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.¡±