When Kathryn Pavlovic wants to go home from MSU to Kalamazoo, she doesn’t need to call her parents to come to get her or find a friend to drive.
She just hops on the Amtrak train from the East Lansing station.
Amtrak ridership increases from 2009
Bay City resident Robert Skrzypczak watches as his train arrives Wednesday morning at the Amtrak Station, 1240 S. Harrison Road, in East Lansing. Skrzypczak travels by way of train two to three times a week for business.
“It’s convenient if on short notice, I decide to go home,” Pavlovic said.
Pavlovic, a food science sophomore, joined more than 58,000 riders last year for the Blue Water rail line’s highest level of ridership yet.
The Blue Water rail line runs from Port Huron, Mich., through East Lansing to Chicago, according to Amtrak’s website.
The total number of riders at the East Lansing Amtrak station, 1240 S. Harrison Road, increased about 15 percent from fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2010, said Lori Mullins, East Lansing’s community development analyst.
Ridership has increased for the past seven years, so this year’s increase was expected, she said.
MSU students and East Lansing residents are motivated to use the train for various reasons, she said. Alternative modes of travel rather than driving a car offer many benefits, Mullins said.
“It’s comfortable and convenient and you’re able to get other things done on the train as opposed to driving and essentially wasting that time,” she said.
Students are likely to ride the train, especially since many do not have a car on campus, Mullins said.
The cost also plays a role in train travel, Pavlovic said.
“It’s only an $8 ticket (from East Lansing to Kalamazoo),” she said. “There are always students there, so I always feel comfortable and meet people.”
Increased train travel across Michigan is energy efficient for the state, said Janet Foran, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Transportation, or MDOT.
“We’re hearing that right now (passengers) are choosing rail travel close to home,” Foran said.
There are strong indications that an increase in train travel will continue in Michigan, she said. To support that trend, the East Lansing station should update its current train station, Foran said.
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City officials are looking in to funding opportunities to build a new station at the same site for multiple modes of transportation, including the train and city busses, Mullins said.
“We’re able to clearly demonstrate that there is a need here, and that the existing station is not adequately meeting that need,” she said.
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