Good on you for standing up for access to transportation and giving members of your community and beyond options! I love traveling by Amtrak! 50+ signatures already!

Montgomery is a beautiful, developing city. Over the past few years, we have reached new heights in our tourism industry. People are traveling from all around the world to see what we have to offer. Tourists fly in by way of plane, bus, or automobile...which is great; they do have options.

However, on the other hand, for the residents of Montgomery and surrounding areas, do they have options? There are more than 60,000 workers that drive to Montgomery everyday to go to work. There are even more individuals who drive back and forth to Birmingham, Auburn, and Atlanta to visit annually. Do they have options? No, people have to drive to get to their destination safely, affordably, and comfortably.

The City of Montgomery has implemented or they have a plan to implement an occupation tax in which workers who commute to Montgomery to work, have to pay a tax in order for the City to maintain its roads and other infrastructure due to the heavy worker traffic. However, if we had an Amtrak in Montgomery with connection to Birmingham and Atlanta, with stops in Auburn and other connecting cities, we wouldn’t have to implement an occupation tax because people would have options, and wouldn’t have to drive as much.

Also, the 500,000+ tourists who visit Montgomery annually, would have another option as well. Most tourists fly into Birmingham or Atlanta airport. So once Amtrak is implemented, they would have the option to travel directly by train. LET’S BRING AMTRAK TO MONTGOMERY!!!!