Ask a Cornell student about public transportation in Ithaca, and he or she will most likely sigh and describe being stranded at the mall, waiting forty-five minutes for a bus to Wegmans or accidentally ending up at Ithaca College. As much as drivers complain about parking and snow, getting beyond Collegetown without a car is often difficult. Certainly, the TCAT bus system is extensive (it was recently named the best public transit system of its size in North America), but for those of us accustomed to big city public transportation, no amount of complaining can make up for the hassles of being carless in Ithaca.
The stop nearest to my West Campus house is at the bottom of the Slope, but few lines use it, so I have to hike to and from central campus to take the bus. While this is not particularly difficult in good weather, walking home in the dead of winter while carrying five bags of groceries and sliding down the icy hill is pretty miserable. Although I have not had any major bus-related catastrophes, I have wasted an excessive amount of time waiting for buses, often panicking that I had missed the last one home.
Partly due to transportation limitations, many students spend very little time off campus. But as someone who loves an occasional change of scenery, I try to get outside the Cornell bubble as much as I can, whether that means eating dinner on the Commons, channeling my inner child at the Sciencenter, or buying quarts of strawberries at the Farmers Market. While walking to the Commons is enjoyable in the summer, hiking along busy Route 13 to the Farmers Market is less pleasant, and going beyond Ithaca without a car is nearly impossible. Currently, the most annoying consequence my carlessness is not being able to visit the beautiful state parks. (It doesn’t help that it keeps raining on the weekends.)
But as difficult as it is to get around Ithaca, it’s sometimes hard to tell whether the positives of car ownership would outweigh the negatives. One of my friends has been towed twice after his car broke down. I know countless people who have gotten tickets on campus, in Collegetown, and even right outside my co-op. And then there’s the winter. Between unplowed parking lots and icy roads, I don’t think I would even want to risk driving. But despite these pitfalls, I do long for the ability to go to Stewart Park when I want to, to no longer feel guilty that my friends are going out of their way to drive me—and to know that if I buy the wrong thing, I can actually get back to the store to return it.
— Natanya Auerbach ’13