By KAYLA MATTEO
Staff Writer
A new bus route introduced with the restructuring of the Capital District Transit Authority bus routes has been a great help to students and residents who live on and south of Madison Avenue. The new route, which runs from Crossgates Mall to the Rensselaer Amtrak Station on Madison and Washington Avenues twice an hour, replaces portions of the now discontinued routes 3 and 4. It has stops at The State University at Albany, Albany High School, and The College of Saint Rose, making this a very student-oriented route.
“It’s convenient. I wish they had made it three years ago. There’s never been any real service for SUNY students who live on the Madison corridor and the southern neighborhoods except for a once an hour SUNY shuttle,” said Andy Kissner, a State University at Albany senior.
This shuttle is for SUNY students only, and while it stops at request, it is mainly for getting back and forth between the East Campus in East Greenbush and the Main Campus via Madison Avenue. Kissner used to ride CDTA route 11, the UAlbany Shuttle, to school but now takes the 114 which stops closer to his home on Yates Street.
“It’s also really great that I can get to the train station from my apartment by only taking one quick bus. I used to have to transfer and it would take about an hour,” continued Kissner, who travels to New York City by train occasionally.
Route 114 was introduced with several other new routes to CDTA on Nov. 13. While it is too early to tell how the route is doing in comparison to others because it has only been running for a few weeks now, the route is popular especially because of its connection to the train and Greyhound bus stations, said Ross Farrell, senior transportation manager for CDTA.
114 is also convenient for non-students and those who use other routes because there are more buses which means the routes are less crowded.
“The 10 and the 11 [routes] were always so packed with people, sometimes they wouldn’t even stop,” said Elisabeth George, who rides the bus to her job at University Plaza. “Now there’s a lot less people on all the routes which makes them quicker,” she continued, “And the 114 is closer to where I live so I don’t have to walk so far alone at night if I go somewhere like the mall.”
Many students live south of Madison Avenue on streets like Yates, Morris, and Myrtle. This new route will definitely improve the safety of these students who ride the bus to and from school. Full time student residents who used the SUNY campus in previous summers could only take route 12 there, which was all the way on Washington Avenue, about a half mile from Madison Avenue. Now they can take the 114 as well.
The College of Saint Rose has seen an increase in student and staff riders.
“Due to these improvements, our numbers have increased as students and employees now have a free way to to commute to the College daily – saving the cost of the yearly parking permit,” according to Pat Buckley, director of purchasing and auxiliary services. “Since the expanded routes were announced to the community our weekly numbers went from an average of 2,800 per week to an average of 3,100 per week,” she added.
While the bus route switch was confusing for many when it first began but most riders are accustomed to the new changes now. “I thought it was very well handled, but I knew about the route changes several weeks in advance,” said Kissner of the changes, “I’m very happy with them.”
