Spring Break
The Daily OrangeSyracuse lacking in mass transportation
By Amy Gochnour
Posted: 10/21/05, 3:21 AM EST Section: Opinion
I was annoyed when I came back to Syracuse having spent this past weekend in New York City. After two days of inexpensive, omnipresent mass transportation, I spent half an hour at 4 a.m. at the bus terminal attempting to find a cab back to campus. When I called Yellow Cab, the operator said they didn't have any cabs available for the next hour and a half. Is there really that much of a demand for cabs at 4 a.m. on a Monday? I mean, it's Syracuse - it's not like there's anything happening.
No wonder people are willing to pay ridiculous amounts of money to keep their cars here on campus; the mass transportation in Syracuse is so inconvenient that there's really no other way for students to get around.
"Buses are a last resort," said Lisa Lahtinen, a senior psychology and communication sciences and disorders major.
Shannon Algeo, a freshman musical theater major, agrees. Most of his classes are off campus at Syracuse Stage, and he finds it difficult to use the buses to get back and forth from class.
"(The buses) could be more reliable," Algeo said. "They seem rather inaccessible to me."
He said it's easier to walk back and forth, sometimes totaling an hour and a half a day, than to try and figure out the erratic bus schedules.
Why does the university have to spend millions of dollars creating a "Connective Corridor" downtown to make up for what the city of Syracuse should be providing already? There's a reason students are so attached to the Hill and don't venture out to explore the rest of the city: There's no way to get there. Or there is, but it's at the end of an hour-and-a-half route meandering through all the parts of Syracuse they warn you not to visit.
Students can try taking the 20-odd bus schedule brochures from Schine Student Center and attempting to map out the shortest route with the fewest amount of transfers. Or going through the entire "taxi cab" section of the Yellow Pages, then paying enough money in fares to cover all their books for next semester. Or, they can choose the most sensible option: pimp themselves out and make friends with the people who do have cars. But I call shotgun.
No wonder people are willing to pay ridiculous amounts of money to keep their cars here on campus; the mass transportation in Syracuse is so inconvenient that there's really no other way for students to get around.
"Buses are a last resort," said Lisa Lahtinen, a senior psychology and communication sciences and disorders major.
Shannon Algeo, a freshman musical theater major, agrees. Most of his classes are off campus at Syracuse Stage, and he finds it difficult to use the buses to get back and forth from class.
"(The buses) could be more reliable," Algeo said. "They seem rather inaccessible to me."
He said it's easier to walk back and forth, sometimes totaling an hour and a half a day, than to try and figure out the erratic bus schedules.
Why does the university have to spend millions of dollars creating a "Connective Corridor" downtown to make up for what the city of Syracuse should be providing already? There's a reason students are so attached to the Hill and don't venture out to explore the rest of the city: There's no way to get there. Or there is, but it's at the end of an hour-and-a-half route meandering through all the parts of Syracuse they warn you not to visit.
Students can try taking the 20-odd bus schedule brochures from Schine Student Center and attempting to map out the shortest route with the fewest amount of transfers. Or going through the entire "taxi cab" section of the Yellow Pages, then paying enough money in fares to cover all their books for next semester. Or, they can choose the most sensible option: pimp themselves out and make friends with the people who do have cars. But I call shotgun.
Amy Gochnour is a junior psychology major. You can e-mail her at argochno@syr.edu.
