Student Assembly

As introduced Thursday, 25 January 2007.

Whereas, transportation costs for students going to and from campus using local bussing services is substantially higher than if the Student Assembly would itself charter buses for students, thus ensuring them a good deal and stimulating other bussing services to provide more competitive prices;

Whereas, the Student Assembly shall, upon passage of this resolution, pursue such a program to transport Cornell undergraduates from the Cornell campus to Syracuse Hancock International Airport (SHIA) and vice versa for this Spring Break to lower said transportation costs;

Whereas, the writer of this resolution has consulted with Cornell Transportation, Class Councils, Concert Commission, and the WSH Ticket Office to discover the best and most effective method for the Student Assembly to offer this initiative;

Whereas, if this initiative is to be implemented, it needs to begin as soon as possible since students have already begun finalizing their Spring Break trips, and purchasing a plane ticket at SHIA for Spring Break and using this new bus service by the Student Assembly go hand-in-hand;

Whereas, reservations for other charter buses were not available due to the proximity of the date, and two 41-passenger Cornell buses have already been reserved for Friday, March 16th; Saturday, March 17th; and Sunday March 25th;

Whereas, twelve one-way trips can be offered using two buses effectively, allowing for a total of 246 passengers (assuming only round-trip � though the 41 passenger buses offered by Cornell Transportation have limited luggage capacity, and, thus, the back row of 5 seats should most likely be reserved for additional bags, allowing for a total of 216 passengers);

Whereas, selling the tickets from the Willard Straight Hall Ticket Office is the best and most effective sales method, especially in consideration of the fact that it is widely used among other campus organizations so students will be aware of its location and it will allow them to use Cornell Card, Credit Card, cash, and checks, all with the assurance that their money will be handled professionally;

Whereas, the total cost for the program includes the following: (1) two buses will cost an estimated $3200, (2) the WSH Ticket Office charges about a 5% fee on total ticket sales, (3) the printing of the tickets will cost around $30;

Whereas, advertisement should only be done through free mediums for this program to keep the price of the bus tickets as low as possible (free advertisements methods include a bulk email, Daily Sun article, and Facebook);

Be it therefore resolved that tickets begin to go on sale for this program at the Willard Straight Hall Ticket Office, where each one-way bus trip will be limited to 36 tickets for a total of 216 passengers;

Be it further resolved that the tickets sell for a price of $15 one-way and $25 round-trip (the bus initiative will thus financially break even at about 135 people, and gain about $25 for each additional passenger and loose about $25 for each passenger below 135);

Be it further resolved that the bus schedule be as follows:

To SHIA: From SHIA: Friday, March 16th Sunday, March 25th Trip 1 Trip 1 6:00am — RPU 12:00pm 6:15am — Baker Flag Pole Trip 2 6:30am — Collegetown 2:00pm 8:00am — Syracuse Trip 3 Trip 2 4:00pm 8:00am — RPU Trip 4 8:15am — Baker Flag Pole 6:00pm 8:30am — Collegetown Trip 5 10:00am — Syracuse 8:00pm Trip 3 Trip 6 10:00am — RPU 10:00pm 10:15am — Baker Flag Pole *Buses will drop people off at RPU, 10:30am — Collegetown Baker Flag Pole, and Collegetown 12:00pm — Syracuse Trip 4 12:00pm — RPU 12:15pm — Baker Flag Pole 12:30pm — Collegetown 2:00pm — Syracuse Trip 5 2:00pm — RPU 2:15pm — Baker Flag Pole 2:30pm — Collegetown 4:00pm — Syracuse Saturday, March 17th Trip 6 6:00am — RPU 6:15am — Baker Flag Pole 6:30am — Collegetown 8:00am - Syracuse

Be it further resolved that the Student Assembly will approach the 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 Class Councils to request that they send an email to each class regarding this program;

Be it further resolved that the Student Assembly will approach the Cornell Daily Sun to ask to be allowed to print either an article or column regarding this program;

Be it finally resolved that a report will be given by the writer of this resolution to the Student Assembly on Thursday, February 24th detailing the total ticket sales at the WSH ticket office on that date (after which a vote will then be taken, and if a majority of SA members at that time feel that not enough tickets have been sold for the program to continue, all tickets will be refunded to the students and the buses will be unreserved at no cost).

Respectfully Submitted,

Vincent Hartman ‘08 At-Large Representative