Measuring the Benefits of Intercity Passenger Rail: A Study

if the service did not exist (approximately 70 percent of passengers) and those that would not
have made the trip at all if the service did not exist (30 percent). In the context of passenger
spending, any spending by passengers who reported that they would forgo their trip in the
absence of the service would also be lost if the rail service were discontinued. Table 5-32 reports
passenger spending on lodging, meals, shopping, and entertainment, by induced or non-induced
trip type. Researchers developed these estimates by multiplying average passenger spending by
each trip type and study period by the estimates of induced and non-induced trips for each travel
period, as reported in Table 5-27.
Table 5-32: Heartland Flyer Passenger Spending by Trip Type, FFY 2009
Trip Type Total Spending Average Spending
Induced $3,349,214 $162.75
Not Induced $7,897,806 $149.06
Researchers estimate that passengers who reported that they would forgo their trip in the
absence of the Heartland Flyer spend an average of $162.75 on lodging, meals, shopping, and
entertainment during their trips, which is about $14 more than passengers who would make their
trip using alternative travel modes. While this is not a major discrepancy (approximately
10 percent difference), this finding demonstrates that discontinuing the Heartland Flyer would,
on a per-visitor basis, have a larger impact on the communities it serves, since the lost revenue
from induced trips is higher than the trips that would shift to other modes in the absence of the
service.
There are several caveats that are worth noting regarding the passenger spending and
economic impacts findings of this study. The estimates of passenger spending obtained in this
survey are subject to some of the limitations previously discussed near Table 5-17, most notably
the fact that it was necessary for some travelers to estimate spending levels, as the actual
spending had not occurred at the time the survey was completed. It is also important to point out
that not all the estimated spending took place immediately in the communities served by the
Heartland Flyer. It is impossible to know exactly where the spending occurred; for example, the
data do not indicate how much was spent in the local area (i.e., the area surrounding the station)
and how much was spent elsewhere in the region surrounding the communities with stations.
However, the averages reported in this section are likely good approximations of the true average
spending levels. It should also be noted that the sales tax revenue computations only consider
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