C-U knows how to get there
By SCOTT SIEVERS
News-Gazette Correspondent

   SAVOY – When it comes to finding the route best traveled, Champaign-Urbana's transportation wonks seem to have that whole getting-from-Point A-to-Point B-thing all figured out.
   With an award-winning bus system and commutes so short they've earned Money magazine's highest rating nationwide for drive times, Champaign-Urbana boasts a transportation system many say is top-notch. Those wanting to get from here to there can choose a variety of routes in Champaign-Urbana, from hopping into a car or onto a bus to boarding a train or plane.
   Kenneth Bergman of Champaign had one less choice than some recently.
   "My truck broke down. It's in the shop, so I'm riding the bus," Bergman said while waiting at the Illinois Terminal in downtown Champaign for a bus to take him to his job at Plastipak Packaging. Taking the bus makes more sense to Bergman than calling for a taxicab or counting on a friend for a ride.
   "They're not dependable. There's always that excuse, 'Oh, I couldn't find you,' or 'I woke up late.' That kind of strains on a friendship when you want to get to work. ... The buses, most of the time, don't forget."
   Upstairs in the terminal, Maciej Mocek was also headed to work but in Hong Kong. The Urbana man was waiting for the Amtrak train to take him to Chicago, where he would fly to Tokyo, Japan, before landing in China to meet up with his father.
   "I chose this (the train) because I think it is more dependable than driving a car, especially in this kind of weather," Mocek said on a snowy morning. "I think there shouldn't be any delays, and with the car, you never know, you get stuck. I cannot afford to miss that flight."
   Wanda Cooper and Shirley McIntyre didn't want to miss their flights, either. The sisters had flown in for their father's birthday, and they were waiting at University of Illinois Willard Airport in Savoy to fly back to their homes – Cooper's in Arlington, Texas, and McIntyre's in Tampa, Fla.
   "I like (Willard Airport) because I travel through a lot of big airports, and this one is easy to get in and out, get your luggage pretty quickly," said Cooper, an IBM employee.
   McIntyre would rather fly into Willard than flying into Chicago or Indianapolis and then finding a ride into Champaign-Urbana.
   "I don't like to inconvenience other people. I just like to fly into here, get a taxi or whatever, go where I'm going," she said.
   "I prefer just flying in locally. The cost doesn't matter to me," McIntyre said. "It's just the convenience, and I don't want to inconvenience other people to pick me up, to drive to Indianapolis."
   That's exactly the sort of thing Jon Rector likes to hear. As Willard's marketing director, Rector wants travelers to consider flying out of Willard instead of first traveling to Bloomington, Indianapolis, Chicago or St. Louis to catch a plane.
   "Our real strength is that we provide access to anywhere in the world, and it's just real close to the customer's back yard," he said. "You can get on a plane from here and go to Chicago, St. Louis, Indy, Pittsburgh and Detroit, and from there you can connect to anywhere in your wildest dreams."
   Problem is, customers haven't been doing that. Only about half of Champaign-Urbana fliers take off at Willard, with the bulk of the rest flying out of Indianapolis, Rector said.
   And Bloomington's airport, which once trailed far behind Willard in air carrier passenger boardings, now has surged, thanks to the addition of low-fare carriers Airtran and Frontier Airlines in the late 1990s. Those carriers have drawn passengers away from nearby airports, including Willard, said Elizabeth Isham Cory, a Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman.
   Many travelers – like Hong Kong-bound Mocek – think flying out of Willard would be too expensive. But Rector said that's not really the case.
   "You can get a great price out of here," he said.
   He's right, too. A News-Gazette search of air fares offered on the Internet found that, while it can sometimes cost more to fly out of Willard, it's often cheaper or not much more expensive than flying out of other airports. Flying round-trip to Los Angeles on March 17 and returning on March 24 cost $230 out of Indianapolis on United Airlines, $239 out of Chicago on America West, and $250 out of Willard. But that same trip a month earlier again cost $230 out of Indianapolis on United Airlines, but cost $279 out of Chicago on American Airlines, though it cost $250 out of Willard on American Airlines. Travelers tend to get better fares if they book their flights early, Rector said.
   Still, some travelers balk at flying on the sorts of small planes that often serve smaller airports.
   "One time I had to fly from Champaign to Indianapolis," Cooper said. "Really bad weather, and the pilot asked us to put our luggage in the middle of the plane to balance the weight, and then the turbulence was just terrible. With a bigger plane, I'd feel more comfortable."
   Like Cooper, Barry Miller routinely flies out of Willard.
   "I tell you one thing that would be nice is if we had jet service instead of the turbo props," said Miller of Champaign, while he waited to fly to Los Angeles. "For one thing, it's hard on the ears because they're noisy. I'd much prefer to be in a small jet, and I know that's been considered here."
   It has, but whether the fleets serving Willard will be jets is up to the airlines, Rector said. Nonetheless, the airport will likely get jets in the next few years because that's the way the industry is headed, he said.
   Willard will be seeing a few larger planes in the near future. As of March 2, Trans World Express will be using 30-seat planes instead of 19-seat aircraft for all of its six daily flights, Rector said.
   "That may not sound like much, but with the 30-seater planes you get a flight attendant, you get beverages and a bathroom," he said. The extra seats also allow more people to take the flights to St. Louis, and the greater supply could lower fares.
   Even lower fares might not get William Standifer of Calumet City near Chicago to fly into Champaign-Urbana.
   "I don't see what the advantage would be for a short distance like that," said Standifer, who waited at the Illinois Terminal to board an Amtrak train to take him home after visiting family in Champaign-Urbana for the weekend. Standifer said he normally would have driven, but his vehicle had broken down. "And like I said, I'm a rail fan anyway," he said.
   Seems Standifer isn't alone. Amtrak ridership is up both across Illinois and in Champaign-Urbana, according to Amtrak and the Illinois Department of Transportation.
   Olga Culbertson of Rantoul and Cindy Sampson of Fisher waited along with Standifer for the Amtrak train to Chicago. The two women were heading north on business, and they planned on returning in the evening.
   "I don't like to drive in the snow. It's safety reasons," Culbertson said when asked why she was taking the train.
   Neither Culbertson nor Sampson considered flying to Chicago, and Sampson also felt that the train was the way to go "because I'm kind of worried about the weather, so I just figured this was safer than driving."
   Amtrak trains run roundtrips north to Chicago and south to Carbondale twice daily, but if demand keeps up, that could change.
   "There is a lot of interest in the community with improved rail service, and I think there would be a lot of folks using it," said William Volk, managing director of the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District. "A lot of people don't like to drive in Chicago, take the Dan Ryan, fight the parking," and they don't have to when they take the train, he said.
   A recent study recommended running six round trips daily between Champaign-Urbana and Chicago, Volk said. Those trips, though, probably won't occur until between 2005 and 2010, he said.
   In the meantime, count on Volk keeping busy with the transit district's Illinois Terminal and its bus service.
   In addition to serving Amtrak and the district's own buses, the terminal serves Greyhound, Illini Swallow and Trailways bus services. And the district is trying to make the terminal pay for its own operations by leasing out office space. About 75 percent of that space is leased, Volk said.
   With Champaign-Urbana continually growing, the demands on the bus service have also grown, he said.
   "At this point, the urbanized areas have grown, and the cities – Champaign-Urbana and Savoy – have gone beyond our district boundaries," Volk said. "We get repeated calls and requests for service beyond our district boundaries. We're getting them right now. We get repeated calls for service to the airport and Savoy. ... We've even gotten calls and interest from Rantoul to establish bus service."
   With big employers and even Champaign-Urbana's new Catholic high school lying outside its boundaries, the transit district is contemplating how much service it can offer.
   Kevin Severado of Champaign counts on the bus to get him to his job at Mosa Extreme Sports in the research park on North Mattis Avenue.
   "I don't have my own transportation," he said. And while he finds most of the bus routes work well, Severado would like to see the routes extended. "Certain places that people need to get to, the bus only goes so far and then leaves you with a walk."
   In addition to considering new routes, the transit district is looking at ways to simplify and speed up the bus service already in place. One idea is to have park and ride lots. Another is to use express buses that stop less frequently than current buses do. By stopping less, they can drive their routes faster.
   "That way you would be able to move much more quickly and reduce travel times, so that the distance from southeast Urbana to Parkland (College) would be more closely aligned with what you could do with a car," said Volk, who noted that such a trip can take more than twice as long by bus now as it does by car. "You're not going to move people to take the bus if they can choose to take a car in that
   "That way you would be able to move much more quickly and reduce travel times, so that the distance from southeast Urbana to Parkland (College) would be more closely aligned with what you could do with a car," said Volk, who noted that such a trip can take more than twice as long by bus now as it does by car. "You're not going to move people to take the bus if they can choose to take a car in that situation."
   Illinois Department of Transportation traffic counts show that traffic has become heavier on many routes throughout the area.
   "You can see a marked difference in the last 10 years," said department spokesman Shannon Alderman.
   Part of U.S. 150 from Champaign to Mahomet has seen increased traffic, and a pending agreement among the city of Champaign, Champaign County and the village of Mahomet to route commercial development through a corridor along the route is expected by some to attract more.
   A project to construct a new Olympian Drive continues.
   The present Olympian Drive isn't much to look at.
   "It's just basically a township road from Market (Street) to (Prospect Avenue)," said Dennis Unzicker, county engineer for Champaign County.
   And that's the problem. As industry continues to build on Champaign-Urbana's north sides, many see a need for a heavier-duty roadway that connects these newly developing areas and allows access to the highways and interstates.
   "The road that's there now is hardly able to hold up," Unzicker said.
   The proposed project would extend the current east-west roadway to link Mattis Avenue on Champaign's northwest side to U.S. 45 on Urbana's northeast side, Unzicker said. First to be built with two lanes separated with a grass median, the roadway would later be expanded to four lanes, he said.
   "Olympian Drive needs to be completed," said state Rep. Tim Johnson, R-Sidney. "It's a major access route across the northern part of the cities, and that needs to be completed ASAP."
   The city of Champaign, the city of Urbana and Champaign County are still sorting out the details of an agreement to share the costs of the Olympian Drive project, Unzicker said.

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