When I look back at my first semester at Syracuse University, I don’t remember the Student Association as a student government. I remember it as a busing organization.

The numerous emails and information that flooded my inbox gave me the idea that SA basically organized student transit.

After doing some research with Student Life Chair Aysha Seedat and Student Life Committee member Phil Porter, I got a bit of an inside look on how buses work.

SA is in charge of promoting two types of busing services: bi-weekly buses to Target and Wegmans and buses around the time of university holidays to the Regional Transport Center.  These buses are set up and paid for by the university, but SA has the sole responsibility of ensuring that students use the service.

It is clear that these buses are not being used properly. This isn’t a matter of how much SA promotes its service; it’s about how they go about targeting the student population.

Seedat was able to provide data from two trips: the Jan. 11 trips to the Regional Transport Center and Hancock Airport, as well as the number of students that used the Wegmans and Target buses on Sunday.

Thirty-eight students used the buses to get back from the Regional Transportation Center while 22 used them to get back from Hancock International Airport on Jan. 11. Sixty students total out of 14,000 undergraduates—that’s four hundredths of the student body utilizing this free service.

On Sunday, the numbers were even worse. Only 14 undergraduates utilized the service—one hundredth of the student body.

Although it cannot be expected that every student will utilize the transportation provided by SA, a better effort should be put toward promoting busing or advocating for a new form of transportation.

By collecting data and using their results, SA can gauge what will be a better fit for the student body. Right now, with practically no data and a promotion system run by word of mouth and emails, the busing system is far from a success.

While the Student Life Committee has many other exciting initiatives on its docket, SA needs to fix its original mess before it starts something new.

A lot of money is put into busing and it is simply irresponsible to let the buses run as they currently do.

SA needs to ensure that all functions they sponsor are fiscally reasonable to keep running.  After this semester, if SA cannot get more students to use the buses and hits a point where it realizes that busing is not economical then it needs to work with the university to come up with a solution.

SA is similar to the US government. Although it does not have a debt, it is in charge of a substantial amount of money that needs to be used responsibly.

In a day and age where SU struggles with financial woes, SA cannot become another organization that frivolously spends its money.  As a voice of the students, they need to set an example. If busing costs too much money and is not benefiting enough students, then the service needs to be eliminated.

Samantha Netzband is a freshman Political Science major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at sanetzba@syr.edu and reached on Twitter @syr2017. 

Published on February 6, 2014 at 2:04 am