Would you take a train to work if...?

Question

you had to walk more than a mile to a station (or to work from the nearest station)?

What would be the largest distance you would be willing to walk to a station?

Is there any difference between a train commute that takes an hour and a car commute of the same time?

In your opinion, how can we increase ridership nationwide?

Answer 1

That's what feeder buses are for.  They take people from the station surrounds to the station.  Most Australian capital cities are well provided with feeder bus routes to most stations.  HOw to incease train ridership?  If your area doesn't have a bus to take you to the station lobby the local bus company to provide one.

Answer 2

Yeah, I would.  A train is much more relaxing, since you aren't driving.  You can read, sleep, talk on the phone, whatever.

Answer 3

I commute to NYC from Connecticut and I take the train and hour and 10 minutes the train is better for several reasons

1. you can get work done on the train

2. you can read books you enjoy on the train

3. The train runs on electricity so it is good for the enviornment

4. It is less expensive that parking a car in Mid-Town

Answer 4

I have no clue. There are no trains where I live.

Answer 5

i would rather travel by car trains to far away

Answer 6

I did for several years... I rode my bicycle 2 miles to the station, rode the train 23 miles, and then rode 1/4 mile to work.  I've also walked a mile, taken a 19 mile bus ride, then another bus on the Naval Base, and a 100 yard walk.

Difference 'tween driving or mass transit ? WOW... I LOVE being able to relax for that hour rather than dealing with California traffic and the idiots out there on the road.

ONE thing I've noticed that gets ALOT of rail commuters riding here in the San Francisco Bay Area is the companies that have SHUTTLES from the station to their offices. GOOD parking lots at suburban stations also help... along with good local bus service.

Answer 7

Where I used to live I had to walk about 2 miles to get to the train station I had no choice the same journey by bus could take 2 hours whereas the train journey was 45 minutes.  

I think this would be the limit I would walk to the station.

The distance traveled by a train in the same time as a car would be longer (no traffic jams or red lights)

When you say nationwide I assume you mean in the US, there is a very large train based commuter group in Ireland and the commuter belt going to Dublin is quite large (approx 40 miles) for such a small country only disadvantage I would say that it is quite expensive to travel on the train

Answer 8

No. I would take the train if the station was within a mile from work, but sadly it's more like three miles. It would take me longer to walk that than it would to drive the 25 miles from home. Ironically, the station by my home is less than a mile away. The differences between rail commutes and car commutes depends on the routes. For instance, if I drove to San Diego from my home, it would take probably three hours. The train would take less because there is no potential for traffic. However, it may take closer to the same amount of time for the train to get from the station by my house to the station by my work, because it makes several stops and I may have no traffic. Increasing ridership is based on how convenient it is, so since it's pretty hard to build new tracks, the only way to make it more attractive is to make it easier to get from stations to workplaces. This means shuttles, buses, and other methods would have to be increased. All these things cost money and require transfers and increased commute times, so some people just say it's easier to drive even if it takes longer.

Answer 9

In Britain due to hopelessly congested roads the average commute by train takes half the time or less than the equivalent journey by train particularly if you're commuting into London; parking in London is also very expensive and drivers must pay a daily congestion charge to drive on roads in central London; people do walk to the station but practically every station also has a car park and often bus services too from the surrounding areas. If as I believe the questioner is American, you can increase ridership by introducing frequent speedy services that don't just run in the rush hour either so people can have dinner in town after work for example, before travelling home and use the train at weekends too. My experience of travelling in the U.S. on commuter rail lines around Boston where the State run service also operated at off peak periods and on Sundays, or did when I was there, is that they were well patronised at these times.