Gauging support for the return of rail

The Morning Call ran another front page article on rail this Saturday morning. This article is the first one on public opinion and the findings are interesting.

Gauging support for the return of rail

There hasn't been rail service to NYC for 50 years. If service returns, locals would ride and back it

By Josh Drobnyk | OF THE MORNING CALL | May 30, 2009

Lehigh Valley residents remain less than thrilled about the quality of transportation in the region, while a significant number say they'd be willing to pay higher taxes to bring rail service to the area, a Morning Call/

Muhlenberg College poll shows.

Returning rail to the Valley has been a hot topic for years among transportation planners, who have debated whether a critical mass of residents would take advantage of the service.

Nearly a third of poll respondents said they would use passenger rail about once a month or more if service were established between the Valley and New York City. Just 3 percent said they would use it multiple times each week. Still, even that small number translates into nearly 15,000 adults from Lehigh and Northampton counties.

Overall, only 5 percent of residents rate transportation in the Lehigh Valley as excellent, a number that has remained consistent in the seven-year history of the poll. Forty-five percent rate it as good, while four in 10 say it is not so good or poor.

Asked whether they would be willing to pay higher sales taxes to bring a rail line to the region to connect to New York City, 43 percent said yes, while 47 percent said no. A similar percentage said they would be willing to pay a higher gasoline tax if the money were used to establish more rail transportation across the United States.

''To even have public opinion mixed on the matter of raising taxes is a pretty good indicator that there is some strong support in the Valley to have rail service come back here,'' said Muhlenberg College pollster Christopher Borick, who directed the survey. ''Usually when you ask any tax question, it is not very close.''

Muhlenberg College surveyed 403 residents of Lehigh and Northampton counties between April 13 and May 18. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points. The Allentown college and The Morning Call are partners on a number of surveys each year.

Despite the mixed feelings about transportation in the Valley, nearly four in 10 residents say they are very satisfied with the amount of time it takes them to commute to work, while just 8 percent say they are somewhat or very dissatisfied. More than a quarter said they weren't sure.

Rail service between the Lehigh Valley and New York City ended nearly 50 years ago. One poll respondent, 92-year-old Ralph Weiner, said he recalled occasionally making the trip with his wife for a night out at the theater.

The Allentown native spent much of his career driving 90 minutes to and from Philadelphia, where he worked as a test administrator for the federal government. He said he'd pay more in sales taxes to see train service restored. He said he doesn't drive much anymore, but would hop on a train to the big city perhaps once a month.

''When you have rail traffic to a major city, you are not going to use your car by any means,'' he said, ''which in turn will decrease the flow of traffic.''

Planners and rail enthusiasts have been discussing the idea of trying to restore the service for years. Valley leaders have commissioned a $250,000 study that should be completed around the end of this year. Among the questions to be answered is what the rail ridership could be.

The Morning Call survey provided a glimpse.

The bulk -- 32 percent -- of respondents said they would use passenger rail service a few times a year if it were established between the Valley and New York City. Fourteen percent said they'd use it once a month; 9 percent a few times a month; 4 percent about once a week; and 3 percent multiple times a week. One in five said they would use it less than once a year.

Rates of potential ridership were greater among younger residents and minorities, according to survey responses. One in eight nonwhites and 18- to 34-year-olds said they'd use the service multiple times per week.

Paul Marin, chairman of the passenger rail panel of the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp., cautioned against reading much into the survey findings. He said it's difficult to get an accurate read on who and how often people would use the train when they don't know where exactly it would stop or how much it would cost to ride. He likened it to asking people how much they would use the freeway before interstate highways were built beginning in the mid-1950s.

''My contention is that we are simply at a point -- at the front end -- of a massive program of rail for the country,'' he said, noting President Barack Obama's plan to spend $13 billion-plus on high-speed rail in the next five years.