The North+South Passenger Rail design survey has officially closed, and the response from communities across Michigan has been remarkable. As part of the ongoing rail study (which will be wrapping up this spring), the online survey invited the public to share how this future rail line could best serve their travel needs if they were to travel by train. The level of participation exceeded our expectations.
In just over a month, 21,786 people (over 8,000 by day 2!) completed the survey that was widely circulated by media outlets and could be found on the northsouthrail.org website. The survey’s strong turnout provides clear evidence of widespread interest in passenger rail and offers valuable insight into what potential riders see as important elements of their travel experience.
The highest response rates came from Oakland, Washtenaw, and Wayne Counties, which together contributed 7,030 submissions. Given that these are among Michigan’s most populous counties, this was not surprising. Notably, however, the survey reached every corner of the state, with at least one response from every Michigan county!
More than 75% of respondents said they have previously ridden a train in the United States, suggesting that many of the participants may already be familiar with rail travel and its benefits.
We’ll cover all the survey question results in upcoming reports and emails, but let’s get the conversation started with results from the four questions below!
When asked how they would use the service, over 65% indicated they would ride the train for occasional trips, while more than 25% said they would want to use it for both occasional travel and regular commuting if possible.
Vacations, entertainment, outdoor recreation, and visiting family were the most common travel reasons identified, demonstrating rail’s potential to support tourism, generate local economic benefits, and strengthen personal connections statewide.
Interest in travel was fairly evenly distributed across seasons, with a slightly higher preference for fall and summer travel. The current travel patterns across the state lean toward more summer and spring travel by car, so the survey responses may point to pent-up demand for safer, more comfortable winter travel when road conditions can be unpredictable, and could have been on people’s minds given that this was a winter survey.
When asked why people would be interested in rail travel, the top reason was the option to have down-time to do things like read and relax, something it seems we all need more of these days! With a drive time between Traverse City and Detroit around four hours, it’s understandable why many people also answered that they would like the opportunity to walk around and stretch their legs.
When looking at the age of people responding, survey participation was broadly balanced among groups over the age of 25. Given that there was strong coverage by local, more traditional, media outlets it may explain why younger adults responded at lower rates, given that they may get their news more often from other kinds of media sources.
Thank you to everyone who shared their perspectives. Your feedback is helping shape the future of passenger rail in Michigan. Groundwork will produce a formal report of the survey results which should be available to view this spring. More updates will be shared as the study wraps up in the next few months. 
Carolyn Ulstad is Groundwork’s Transportation Program Manager.
carolyn.ulstad@groundworkcenter.org
