Aldie Levine is used to relying on public transportation.

Not owning a car and living off campus in Syracuse’s Westcott neighborhood means the Westcott shuttle service is the third-year Syracuse University College of Law student’s only option for getting to and from Main Campus.

When Centro terminated the 530 bus route to Westcott neighborhood in spring 2011, Levine found it hard to get to campus to use the Barclay Law Library. The route’s termination rendered the Westcott neighborhood without a morning weekend bus to and from the university, she said.

In fall 2012, she created a petition directed at SU Parking and Transit Services to bring back the morning shuttle on the weekends. Parking services received the petition for review earlier this week, Levine said.

“Where I lived before, cars were a burden, not a freedom,” Levine said. “My parents can’t afford to buy me a car, and neither can I, so I’m always dependent upon public transportation.”

Levine started looking for student support for her petition two weeks ago, and has now garnered 120 signatures. Last week, Levine presented her completed petition to SU’s Student Bar Association in hopes of partnering with them to contact parking services, she said. She also hopes to join with the Graduate Student Organization to further strengthen her petition.

After learning about Levine’s concerns, SBA President Kevin Sunderland said he was interested but skeptical about how necessary the new shuttle service would be for the student body.

Sunderland then met with Tomas Gonzalez, College of Law’s senior assistant dean for student life, to get his input on the petition, he said. Both Sunderland and Gonzalez agreed that more information is necessary before any action could be taken.

“We’re really interested in finding out how many students are actually in demand of the service,” Sunderland said. “It’s great if you have a lot of students who support it, but if it only affects 10 people, then it may not be as much of an issue.”

SU Parking and Transit Services has decided to look into the issue, Sunderland said. Sunderland recently worked with the department to decrease parking congestion outside of the Carrier Dome, so a positive relationship between parking services and the SBA already exists, and should aid in the success of Levine’s petition, he said.

SBA and the Graduate Student Organization initially proposed the issue in early fall 2011, Levine said. Parking services responded and said that due to a lack of funding, they could not support the creation of a new morning shuttle, she said.

“I created the petition because despite the SBA and GSO’s efforts in 2011, the response didn’t really address the need,” Levine said. “There’s still a huge wait for the bus to and from campus every weekend.”

Levine said she feels a responsibility to let the administration know where students’ needs lie. With many students living in the Westcott neighborhood, student response has been strong, she said. Levine continues to campaign her cause by bringing attention to the issue on local public transportation.

“The support that I’m getting from students will hopefully illustrate the fact that an extra service could be really useful,” Levine said. “I really think it has the potential to make everyone’s lives better.”

Published on February 5, 2013 at 11:19 pm

Contact Annie: apalme05@syr.edu