USHSR Response to anti HSR polls... USHSR 7th June 2012

We wanted to bring to your  attention the newly released poll conducted in a way that misleads the public  about the California high speed rail project. As you may know there has been a  well-funded, anti-high speed rail campaign underway for several years led by a  handful of extreme think tanks including the Reason Foundation, the Heritage  Foundation, the Cato Institute and others who receive significant funding from  oil and road interests who view high speed rail as a threat to their profits, as  the articles below spell out.  

Together these think tanks have been  cranking out a flood of negative op-eds, opinion pieces, "studies", articles,  and stories full of myths, inaccuracies, distortions, exaggerations,  and outlandish  claims in an attempt to discredit high speed rail and  the many benefits it will  deliver to America. They attack every new  rail project in America calling them  all "the train to nowhere", saying  no one will ride, and they won't make a  profit. They have been proven  wrong time after time, yet they continue to crank  out the myths they  know are not true.
These myths are then bounced relentlessly  around the  public echo chamber of media through an extensive network of   newspapers, magazines, talk radio, websites, blogs, TV talk shows, "news   entertainment" shows, etc. saturating the airways with misinformation,  and  casting doubts nationwide about high speed rail.

These two  recent articles lay out what's been going on:

San Francisco Chronicle:  The great high-speed rail lie 
Sun Sentinel:  Real reason behind decision to derail high-speed rail

The think tank's op-eds, opinion pieces, "studies", and articles are always  extremely one-sided. You NEVER hear them making the same criticisms of road  projects (which really never do make any money, or solve congestion), or  acknowledging the fact that oil prices are continuing to rise and America's  entire transportation system is becoming less and less affordable for everyone,  and will be in big trouble in the coming years as oil prices are projected to  double.

These think tanks always  ignore the huge national congestion problem that grows worse daily - costing the  nation over $156 billion in wasted time and fuel stuck on our highways and  runways. The think tanks consistently ignore the fact that more road building  always leads to larger traffic jams, and that roads and aviation have always  been heavily subsidized. They always ignore the fact that we import close to 70%  of the oil we consume, costing the nation over $600 billion per year, and these  numbers continue to grow. 

The think tanks always ignore the fact that all rail  systems carry far more people than original projections, and continue to claim  that all ridership projections are overstated, when they have been proven wrong  every time! They always state that high speed rail systems lose money,  continuing to site discredited studies - while the truth is that EVERY high  speed rail system in the world is highly successful, and very  profitable.
For more information on the myth spreading think  tanks and their activities and tactics:
Fact vs. Fiction 
 


The recent attack on California's high speed rail system came in the form of a biased poll, and is dissected by the Californians for High Speed Rail:
 
USC/Los Angeles Times High-Speed Rail Poll Misleads Public

CA4HSR Analysis Reveals Bias in Poll Questions

San Francisco, CA, June 4, 2012 - Californians For High  Speed Rail (CA4HSR), a grassroots, statewide coalition of HSR supporters, issued  the following statement and analysis about the newly released USC Dornsife/Los  Angeles Times high-speed rail poll:

"CA4HSR is deeply concerned by the misleading nature of the USC Dornsife/Los  Angeles Times high-speed rail poll. Several of the survey questions set-up false  choices and contain he-said, she-said statements in the absence of  well-researched and accurate information, thus unfairly influencing and biasing  poll respondents," said Daniel Krause, executive director of Californians For  High Speed rail.

"We feel the poll has done the public a great and unfortunate disservice. It  continues a pattern in our public discourse that downplays the positive impacts  of HSR. The public has been inundated by false claims that HSR will compete with  schools and other priorities while it is shut out from hearing about how HSR  will generate significant revenue for the State over the next few years and how  it will lay the foundation for long-term economic prosperity and environmental  transformation. Unfortunately, the USC-Los Angeles Times poll's line of  questioning continues to skew the debate against HSR.

CA4HSR is confident that given information - based on expert opinion rather  than the hearsay from those biased against the project - Californians would  fully embrace moving forward with the HSR project," said Krause.

CA4HSR Analysis of USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll Questions

Below is CA4HSR's analysis of HSR-related questions from the USC Dornsife/Los  Angeles times May 17-21st, 2012 poll. (Note: not all questions are  analyzed as some were very straightforward. For some questions listed below, we  have listed excerpts instead of full-length texts.) To access the poll, click here.

1a. Excerpt from Poll Question 41: The total  cost of the project has increased by 35 billion dollars.

1b. CA4HSR Analysis: This is a misleading statement. It  takes the original constant dollar cost of approximately $33 billion and  compares it with a year-of-expenditure cost of $68.4 billion from the new  business plan. The original estimate's year-of expenditure cost was  approximately $42 billion. Therefore the actual apple-to-apple costs have  increased by around $26 billion. Granted, that this is an increase but not  nearly as much as $35 billion.

2a. Excerpt from Poll Question 41 - Some people  say that voters should not be asked to go back to the ballot to vote again.....  Other people say that we should put the decision to borrow 9 billion dollars for  a high-speed rail project back on the ballot...and there are doubts that the  high-speed train can actually turn a profit.

2b. CA4HSR Analysis: Relying on unnamed "some people" for  the pro-HSR side and "other people" for the anti-HSR viewpoint, and asking the  subject to endorse one of the two viewpoints is not a professional or reliable  approach to a poll. Who exactly are these people and do they know what they are  talking about? This methodology forces people to endorse either one potentially  biased viewpoint or another.

For example let's take the statement "...there are doubts that the  high-speed train can actually turn a profit." The question needs to be ask,  who is doing the doubting? And why are they given such prominence when the  experience all over the world has proven that HSR systems are consistently  profitable operationally. Nonetheless, the poll goes ahead and asks a question  that casts doubt on the profitability in conflict with global  experience.

CA4HSR speculates that the assertion doubting profitability is likely  emanating from a study called "The CHSRA Knows Their Proposed High-Speed Train  Will Forever Need a Subsidy" by Enthoven et. al, the same Peninsula-based group  who have claimed HSR will cost over $200 billion. The study challenges the  operating costs of the project, hence the potential profitability. The data used  for the Enthoven study has been identified as inaccurate by the International Union of Railways, thoroughly  debunking the results (though not the fault of the authors, but incorrect  nonetheless).
 
3a. Poll Question 44 - In terms of rail transportation, would you  rather the state spend money on a statewide high speed train or improvements to  rail transportation in your own area?
 
3b. CA4HSR Analysis: This question is clearly designed to  give the impression that HSR is in competition with local rail systems. This is  egregiously misleading because local rail systems will actually benefit  tremendously from California HSR program because upward of $2.5 billion of Prop  1A funds will be used to upgrade commuter rail service in HSR corridors and  other connecting rail transit systems. HSR funding has only bolstered local and  regional rail systems and is certainly not in competition with  them.
 
4a. Poll Question 46  - How often do you think you would use this  high-speed rail line between Southern California and the San Francisco Bay Area  - more than once a week, once a week, once or twice a month, several times a  year, hardly ever, or never?
 
4b. CA4HSR Analysis: While this is a valid question, the  results will likely change once people understand the system better and how to  incorporate it into their lives. Additionally, HSR would benefit those using  highways and airports as congestion would be relieved, easing travel for  everyone on all modes.
 
About Californians For High Speed Rail
 
Californians For High Speed Rail (CA4HSR) is a grassroots, statewide  coalition of high speed rail supporters advocating for the high speed rail  project approved by California voters in November 2008. Founded in 2005, we  exist to educate, inform, and organize Californians about ways they can help  make high speed rail a reality in the Golden State. Additionally, CA4HSR also  encourages sustainable development of the high speed rail (HSR) system, promotes  the building of HSR stations in city centers, transit-oriented developments, as  well as developing/improving feeder transit systems. More info:  www.ca4hsr.org 


 
Please  take the time to forward this email on to all your contacts in California and  across America, especially to elected officials to make them aware of  the well-funded anti-high speed rail campaign and the underhanded tactics of  these extreme think tanks. Their goal is to prevent high speed rail from ever  getting underway in America, and to keep us all stuck in traffic, and dependent  on ever costly fossil fuels. These think tanks don't speak for Americans, or  even a tiny percent of the people of this great nation, yet their considerable  influence affects every American and every business each day keeping us stuck in  outmoded forms of transportation when there are better solutions available.  America deserves a better future than this!

As the Los Angeles Times correctly stated earlier this  year:

"If  Californians have the patience and the political will to stick with it, they'll  have a project with extraordinary environmental, economic and transportation  benefits. If they don't, they'll have worsening congestion, rising pollution and  soaring transit expenses as gasoline prices continue their inevitable rise. We  like the first vision of the future better."

As  the nation enters a new era of tight budgets, high energy prices, and paralyzing  congestion, HSR will play an important role across America by delivering new  transportation options that save time, money, and energy for many decades to  come.  Its time to stop debating and start building!

Sincerely,   

Andy Kunz
 President & CEO
 US High Speed Rail Association