Washington – Rep. John Katko has asked Congress for $15 million to pay for the development of rapid transit bus lines in Syracuse, a top priority for the city’s plan to boost its economy and reduce poverty.
The federal money would help Centro open the first of two rapid bus lines aimed at improving transit between some of Syracuse’s poorest neighborhoods and the region’s largest employers, Centro officials say.
Mayor Ben Wash included bus rapid transit in the Syracuse Surge, an economic development plan he unveiled in 2019 with the promise that it would help reduce one of the nation’s highest poverty rates.
The idea is to use the new bus lines to help connect low-skilled workers to entry-level jobs in Syracuse, where 1 in 4 households don’t have a car.
“This has the potential to be as impactful as any other anti-poverty measure that we take,” Walsh told syracuse.com | The Post-Standard.
“We have identified lack of transportation as one of the top barriers to employment for people living in poverty,” Walsh said.
Katko, R-Camillus, made the project the single largest funding request he submitted last week as part of a renewed practice that allows House members to designate spending for projects in their home states or districts.
If approved, the money would be included in a multi-year surface transportation bill that Congress must pass this year.
Walsh and Centro CEO Brian Schultz said they’re encouraged that Katko, a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, made the project a top priority.
Schultz said a study found about 200,000 people per year would use the service on lines that would crisscross Syracuse, providing faster, more frequent service and direct connections between residential neighborhoods and business districts.
Centro would add 10 to 12 new buses, dozens of new bus stops, bus shelters and bus pull-offs on the new rapid routes, Schultz said. The plan also includes the installation of technology that would allow buses on the routes to hold green lights at intersections, avoiding stops.
One of the rapid transit lines would stretch from Syracuse’s Eastwood neighborhood to Onondaga Community College.
The second line would run from the William F. Walsh Regional Transportation Center on the city’s North Side to University Hill, home to three medical centers and Syracuse University.
Additional improvements would be made along the South Salina Street corridor leading to Centro’s downtown hub.
No special lanes would have to be built on any of the routes, Schultz said. Instead, the new buses will cut travel time by running in a constant loop serving only the new designated stops. Fares would remain at $2 per trip.
“The whole idea is to make fewer stops along your busiest corridors,” Schultz said.
Under the plan, a rapid bus from Eastwood would travel down James Street – bypassing turns along side streets on regular routes – and continue to the downtown Centro hub before heading to OCC.
Schultz said a 40-minute trip on the existing line could be reduced to 16 to 18 minutes on the rapid bus line.
Centro also would add longer service hours to the routes, with the goal of attracting new riders to the system.
Schultz said the concept has already proven to be successful in Albany, where an initial rapid bus line attracted 6,000 riders each weekday, spurring the development of two more new lines.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, Centro carried 10 million riders per year, Schultz said. About 75% of the public bus company’s riders live below the poverty line.
The last time Centro added a new bus line was in 2015 as part of the development of the Connective Corridor, linking Syracuse University with Armory Square and downtown Syracuse.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY., helped jump start the Connective Corridor’s construction by designating money for the project as an “earmark” in a spending bill passed by Congress.
Congress banned earmarks in 2011 after a series of high-profile cases in which the spending was linked to corruption and government waste.
But House Democrats agreed in February to bring back member-directed spending for public and nonprofit entities. Republicans quickly agreed to do the same.
Under new transparency rules, members of Congress must publicly display earmark requests on their government websites. The members also must certify that they and their immediate families have no financial interest in the projects.
Katko requested funding for about 20 different projects, including $140,000 for the Syracuse Police Department to buy body-worn cameras that would be used by 14 uniformed sergeants.
Walsh said the sergeants would be the last uniformed officers to be equipped with the cameras, fully implementing a program that began with only 16 cameras when he took office four years ago.
Katko’s transportation funding requests include $10 million to help Onondaga County pay for the widening of Caughdenoy Road in Clay, between Mud Mill Road and Route 31.
He also asked for $8.9 million to help New York state rehabilitate the bridges carrying Airport Road over Interstate 81 in the town of Salina, and $8 million to help Onondaga County complete the final section of the Loop-the-Lake trail around Onondaga Lake. The last segment of the trail would be built in the town of Salina, and include a pedestrian bridge over the CSX railroad tracks.
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