Centro bus services changed routes March 1 in response to a $6 million budget deficit. The change could affect Syracuse University faculty and students traveling downtown or to the Carousel Center Mall.

Centro discontinued the Minoa/Suburban East and Oak Darlington routes. Changes in stops and times have occurred for East Colvin, Western Lights, Fairmount, Stolp-Strathmore, Baldwinsville, Camillus and SU Nob Hill routes. Centro changed the schedule of the Carousel Mall route and discontinued its stop at Manlius.

Service changes were first proposed in May 2009 in response to loss of state funding. To help New York’s deficit, the state planned cuts in areas including school aid, Medicaid and transportation.

Students were primarily concerned with changes to travel off campus, especially to the Carousel Mall or downtown.

‘It already takes long enough to go to the mall, and when kids have to go, they’re stuck between times because they have to get to the mall and get right back,’ said Karina Gutierrez, a sophomore hospitality management major and South Campus resident.

Gutierrez said she experiences difficulty with finding time to go places because of the bus schedules. Buses do not route directly from South Campus to downtown.

‘Either buses are extra early or extremely late,’ Gutierrez said.

Scot Vanderpool, manager of SU parking and transit services, said the cutbacks have nothing to do with the university.

‘The Nob Hill route is a city route that operates through our campus, and those cuts on the Nob Hill route were limited to trips that didn’t carry many students, if any,’ Vanderpool said. The Nob Hill Express route, initiated in fall 2009, carries more off-campus students than any of the other routes.

The North, South and East campus bus routes will not be affected by the changes, he said.

‘Eighty-five percent of (bus travel) involves getting students back and forth from South Campus housing – last year we transported nearly 2 million students, which is an increase of nearly 8 percent from the year before,’ Vanderpool said. ‘The students really depend on this service.’

Faculty and staff who rely on the Fairmount bus route to take them from a suburban parking lot to campus may also be affected, Vanderpool said.

Vanderpool said SU parking and transit is currently reviewing existing bus routes but did not foresee any major changes for the fall.

Service reductions are occurring nationwide due to the economy.

Syracuse is not the only city experiencing cuts to its transportation systems. A $750 million budget deficit in New York City has caused the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to propose service changes and phase out discounted student fares. The New Jersey Transit also suffered cutbacks and had to increase fare by 25 percent.

Naida Serak, a first-year architecture graduate student, lives off campus and takes the bus every day. Serak said she thinks the Centro bus system should be adding more relevant bus routes instead of taking any away.

‘The Connective Corridor doesn’t really make sense to me,’ Serak said. ‘It goes to the areas where there’s absolutely nothing going on. There’s no residential areas or businesses like coffee shops on it. It’s an awkward route, and you’re really on it for longer than you need to be.’

dkmcbrid@syr.edu

Published on March 8, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Dara: dkmcbrid@syr.edu | @daramcbride