Students upset over eliminated Stuy Town bus route

After NYU discontinued its bus service to Peter Cooper Village-Stuyvesant Town at the beginning of the semester, many students who live in Stuy Town brought their complaints about the change to the NYU Student Senators Council.

In response, the SSC is currently working with the university to address the issue; recently, the council submitted a proposal to the administration asking to reinstate bus service to Stuy Town during peak hours.

Because the proposal has not been approved yet, SSC members declined to give specific information about the proposal but said they were confident it would be accepted.

The student senators have had meetings with administrators, who seem willing to accommodate students, according to Steinhardt junior Katie Sylvester, a student senator and chair of the council's Student Services Committee.

"We take student input seriously and the request is under review, but no determination has yet been made," NYU spokesman John Beckman said.

The C route, which previously provided bus service to Stuy Town and the East Village area, was eliminated this year due to budget cuts.

Stuy Town houses many NYU students, particularly those from the Graduate School of Arts and Science who receive housing there through NYU's Office of Residential Life and Housing Services. According to Wagner graduate student Steven Jean, a student senator at-large, Stuy Town is also home to many graduate students from the Stern School of Business. Jean said Stern promoted the housing complex as a good place to live for its students, citing the advantages of NYU's bus service there. Stuy Town also houses several NYU professors and administrators.

Stern graduate student J.C. Uva, a student senator who lives in Stuy Town, said he now usually walks to campus, adding that many students who live in Stuy Town do the same.

Steinhardt junior Natan Edelsburg has lived in Stuy Town since May 2008 and used the bus service regularly. He said he was upset about not being appropriately informed of the changes at the start of the semester.

"NYU has the right to cut funds wherever they feel necessary; it's a private institution,"  Edelsburg said. "My discontent was in their maybe-unintentional sneakiness." 

Steinhardt senior Cory Simmons-Edler, who moved to Stuy Town this year and chose his apartment there partly because of its proximity to the bus stop, said the reinstatement of bus service to Stuy Town would be beneficial.

"I think there are a lot of people who would use it," Simmons-Edler said.

Valerie Bogard is a staff writer.