As a student at UIS, I often feel that my residence on campus here is not very close to many of the amenities in Springfield, including evening bus service. As the grant money was very limited for evening transit service, access to the colleges in southeast Springfield was put on the back-burner so that work places could be accessed by bus first and foremost, which for the most part I agree with.
So since transit is so limited out here, the university has decided to run a student shuttle from the university every hour to Capital City Shopping Center where students can "transfer" to the Southeast side night bus to access the rest of the city. While this isn't a perfect situation for many reasons, it is definitely progress. Two criticisms:
Non-university students, such as those who attend Lincoln Land Community College, and also residents who live in the apartments near the university, are not able to use the shuttle. This is due to the fact that the university is only able to be liable for students of its own institution.
However, I have a small solution. One that may not come easily, but one that guarantees a ride home for all students and residents of the area. UIUC in Urbana-Champaign lobbied to have a fee levied on students of $38 per semester to pay for better mass transit on the C-U MTD. This allowed for CUMTD to have night service going until 3:00 a.m. and also Sunday service.
My proposal: levy a fee on UIS, LLCC, and CACC students to pay for better bus service, while allowing all students in Springfield to use the service for free. Additionally, those living around the college complexes will be able to have access to transit, albeit for the normal fare. This will open the door to so many great changes in the community, namely the on-campus population at UIS will be able to attend without bringing a car, which is very important for namely one reason: Sangamon Auditorium. One criticism of patrons and students is that parking is very hard to find on auditorium show nights. Night service would allow more students to use transit to get to and from class if they live off-campus. For on-campus students, more students would be encouraged to leave the car at home and live using the bus.
While I own a car, I seldom use it unless a very busy day of meetings happens. I tend to use the bus as much as I can because, let's face it, although it does take some time to figure out, the gasoline savings are amazing. I have spent $26.00 on gasoline so far. For the average college student that has a very busy lifestyle, that is pretty good.
Now, huge changes aren't necessary to save gasoline. For example, using the bus even just one day per week will save 15% gasoline. If everyone rode the bus just one day a week, we would probably save upwards 15% of our gasoline in a year. Now granted, grocery shopping now almost entirely requires a car, and certain kinds of shopping trips require a vehicle of some sort. But if you live in one of Springfield's central neighborhoods and work downtown, small changes to your schedule can allow you to use the bus and save all of that parking money each month. If you do indeed need to drive your car to work, parking under the Old Capitol or in a municipal garage at the daily rate will still save you money.
It is through small change that we will be able to beat our environmental issues. Sweeping change is too swift for the American people to handle, while no change is not good either. Let's work together to make the world a better place.
