As the Binghamton University administration and Student Association work to resolve the legal problems plaguing Off Campus College Transport, students impatiently await a solution.
“You can’t have college without transportation, and not everyone can bring a car,” said Beth Resnick, a biological sciences major. “The University needs to cough up the money, consolidate or just cancel buses where the city buses go.”
Though OCCT, BU’s student-run bus service, is eligible for nonprofit tax-exempt status, it has not yet been recognized because of a 24-year-old error. As a result, the organization is unable to legally contract with the University.
“I am very confident the buses will not be shut down,” SA President Matt Landau told Pipe Dream yesterday. “The University and the SA are working on an agreement.”
According to a statement released by Landau on Monday, it would take an extra $600,000 for the SA to keep OCCT afloat. Unless the legal problems are resolved and the University is able to pay its share of the OCCT budget, the SA will not be able to continue full OCCT services after Oct. 10.
“We would like to assure all involved that the Student Association has been working fervently on this issue for the past two years in hopes of a resolution,” Landau said in the statement. “Unfortunately, time is a constraint, and recently we have had to face the very real consideration of a complete shutdown of services until the University administration deposits their share of the transportation fee.”
Brian Rose, vice president for Student Affairs, and Michael McGoff, acting vice president for administration, released a statement to B-Line on Wednesday.
“The University wishes to reassure students that it is committed to maintaining uninterrupted blue bus transportation services,” they said.
According to Elaine Liu, the OCCT Service Manager, nothing has changed in the past week.
“The University did decide to buy us three new buses,” she said. “That was another issue we’ve been working with them on, so they went ahead and OK’d that. We’re hoping to get them in five to six months.”
OCCT operates 11 buses on 10 routes.
George Bagnetto, the commissioner for Broome County’s Department of Public Transportation, which operates the local public buses that also service campus, said that as long as the manpower is available, BC Transit will do what extra it can to fill the void should OCCT shut down.
“Well, temporarily, obviously it would have an impact on our system,” he said. “Long term, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Bagnetto said that he’s heard everything secondhand so far.
“No one from SUNY has talked to me about it,” he said. “I’ve gotten no official calls.”
Students pay for unlimited usage of BC Transit buses.
BU students like Molly Goldblatt, a creative writing major, remain unsatisfied.
“I think that whatever it [the problem] is, they should fix it. We paid a certain amount of money for transportation, and we should have our buses,” she said while riding an OCCT blue bus yesterday.
Hillside and Susquehanna Communities residents are especially concerned with the situation.
“I live in Hillside, and I can’t come even to the Lecture Hall by walking,” said Basak Oztunc, a political science major. “I really need the buses. I don’t [know] what the problem is, but the solution shouldn’t be canceling the buses.”
Some believe a lack of buses would hurt not just students, but the University as well.
“Discontinuation of OCCT buses not only makes going to class less desirable, but makes Binghamton, as a school, less desirable to go to,” said Mark Ng, an actuarial science major. “Off-campus housing is a good 20-plus-minute walk and … buses are important to the students.”
According to Landau, an open forum will be scheduled soon to discuss the issue.
Check Pipe Dream for forum scheduling information and further OCCT updates.