Student Association is giving Syracuse University students the chance to take a students-only bus home for Thanksgiving Break.

SA is providing buses going to major areas around the Northeast, including New York City, New Jersey, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Tickets for the buses cost $99 and are round trip. Funding for the buses comes directly from the ticket sales and the SA budget. Tickets went on sale Sunday.

Aysha Seedat, chair of SA’s Student Life Committee, said companies like Greyhound and Amtrak tend to oversell tickets. However, with SA’s buses, seats are guaranteed. She added that Thanksgiving buses tend to sell out.

Buses will leave Schine on Thursday, Nov. 20 and Friday, Nov. 21 at 5 p.m. Buses leaving for Syracuse depart from the location it dropped off at 10 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 30. As of Wednesday, the bus to Boston on Nov. 21 had already sold out.

SA representative Phil Porter said the organization has had previous success with the tickets and expects nothing different this year. Porter added that he has experienced tardiness on the return trip, but he is confident SA’s bus system is much better than alternative options.

One concern Seedat said has been brought up by parents and students is that they would like buses to make stops on the way to the final destination. The Office of Student Activities has considered that idea, but Seedat said they found “it ends up extending the length of the trip and complicates details.”

SU students appreciate the effort by SA to provide the tickets.

Georgia Pinter, a senior nutrition major, said she was impressed with the organization and convenience of the SA buses because alternative options, such as Amtrak trains, are more expensive and have to make stops during the trip.

“They’re more organized in Syracuse than they are in New York City,” she said. “I’ve had experiences where the bus is three hours late and I get here at like 3 a.m. the day before classes start.”

Pinter added that the tickets for the SA buses are in popular demand.

“You gotta get there really early to get in line,” she said.

Naomi Duttweiler, a freshman in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, said she appreciates the SA bus system, because it provides bus options that other systems don’t provide.

“I think it’s awesome and very convenient because I haven’t been able to find any buses home,” Duttweiler said.

Olivia Monko, a sophomore television, radio and film major, said that using either of the two bus systems is better than driving home.

“Both experiences I’ve had with the bus systems were really good,” Monko said. “Honestly, I think it was faster than if I had taken a car. I felt safe, it was clean.”

Published on September 25, 2014 at 12:01 am

Contact Danny: dmantoot@syr.edu