With the school year beginning many students are enjoying the use of Amtrak by taking the train from their home to school and also benefiting from the great services provided by the Mass Transit District. As someone who has used Amtrak and the MTD, I appreciate not only the benefit public transportation serves in helping individuals get around but the positive impact it has for our environment.

I am thankful to see that State Representative Naomi Jakobsson voted for a state budget that increased funding for Amtrak by $12 million to provide additional routes throughout the state including one additional route from Chicago to Carbondale with stops in Champaign. The budget also increased the local MTD’s funding by about $500,000 for a total of a little more than $11 million. The investment in public transportation is producing a positive result. According to an Associated Press report in July, Amtrak users in Illinois for 2005 was up 12.5 percent from a year earlier and 40.8 percent from 2003. This investment is benefiting hundreds of thousands of Illinois residents, including residents of the Champaign-Urbana area. I will continue to support Jakobsson to help promote environmentally friendly public transportation in Illinois.

Gail Schnitzer

Sophomore in LAS