As I write this, a polar vortex is blowing through Ithaca. The real temperature is 2° Fahrenheit but with windchill it feels like -24°. Needless to say, it's not nice weather to be waiting outside for the bus. Unfortunately, that’s what I, and so many other students, have to do. Countless times, I’ve checked the arrival schedule only to get to the stop and find out the bus is delayed an extra 10 or 15 minutes. Those extra minutes matter when you’re standing in the cold or rushing to class. Time is money, and those few minutes can cost someone making it on time to a prelim or earnings from a work-study shift.
It's easy to assume a late bus is just rotten luck, but unfortunately the truth is much more sinister. TCAT has an agreement with Cornell University to provide a certain number of hours of service to its students, faculty, and staff per day. Cornell pays for these services and this contribution makes up 15% of TCAT’s budget. When a bus is late and the schedule is slowed down, less service is provided than expected or agreed to in the contract. When this happens, Cornell charges TCAT a penalty essentially clawing back some of the money they provided. Last year Cornell charged TCAT $440,000 in such penalties according to internal calculations provided by the TCAT General Manager Matthew Rosenbloom-Jones. That’s money that would otherwise have been used to maintain buses, pay drivers and make sure TCAT does run on time in the future.
In November of last year, The Sun reported on Cornell’s $280,000 additional contribution to TCAT. Cornell’s Vice President for University Relations, Kyle Kimball, touted the agreement as a happy step on the road to financial sustainability. The article noted then that the contribution was significantly less than the $500,000 TCAT requested but didn’t mention that this amount is $160,000 less than they have taken from TCAT throughout the year through fines and penalties. Cornell claims to want financial transparency from TCAT, emphasizing the “sunlight measures” they fought for in their contract, but seldom are these penalties discussed as part of that.
The incentive structure here is clear. Cornell offers insufficient contributions, refusing to match the support provided by the (far less financially endowed) local governments of Ithaca and Tompkins County. With limited funds TCAT cannot afford to replace aging buses and improve facilities, leading to equipment failures that impact service. Reliability suffers as a result and Cornell takes back some of what they contributed leading to further financial strain on the already precarious system. When it reaches a crisis point, Cornell swoops in with a ‘generous’ gift to take credit for saving the system that they themselves set up to fail.
This disinvestment has longer term consequences as well. When we can’t rely on TCAT to be there when we need it, people turn to other methods, opting to drive their personal cars rather than risk an unreliable bus. When ridership drops the system loses even more money. The TCAT general manager describes this vicious cycle best in a quote originally given to the Ithaca Voice, “The reason we don’t want to decrease service is we want to avoid this feedback loop where service is reduced. Less people ride, which means a decline in state funding, which is tied to ridership, and then it means another round of service cuts, and then it just spirals. That’s what we’re trying to avoid here.”
So how do we avoid it? To stop the collapse of the transportation system that our university and city rely on, we have to go to the heart of the problem: Cornell. Luckily, we have an opportunity. According to the General Manager, TCAT is going to be starting negotiations with the University this spring on their service agreement which dictates everything about how Cornell pays for the rides we use. As students who ride the TCAT, we have a direct interest in having a bus system that runs well and our voices matter.
Last year, students called and emailed Cornell’s Director of Community Relations Jennifer Tavares urging her and the University administration to increase their proposed contribution from the $31,000 initial offer. It was in part because of this pressure that the final contribution was raised to $280,000. We can demand that Cornell contribute more to TCAT and eliminate the predatory penalty system that takes that money back. With increased funds TCAT can repair its fleet of existing buses and make long-term investments in its facilities, making buses more reliable and delivering the service we deserve.
If every student who read this article took two minutes to send an email to or call Cornell administration and asked their parents to do the same, then they would start to feel the pressure. They aren’t the ones waiting for a late bus in -24 degree weather — we are. We need to make sure they know how it feels.
Sam Poole is a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences. He can be reached at sap262@cornell.edu.
The Sun is interested in publishing a broad and diverse set of content from the Cornell and greater Ithaca community. We want to hear what you have to say about this topic or any of our pieces. Here are some guidelines on how to submit. And here’s our email: opinion-editor@cornellsun.com.
