Cortland+Public+Transportation

[|Katherine Hunsberger], [|Dan Miller], [|Jon Podoliak]

Cortland Public Transportation needs improvement. There is a bus system, but not many people know about it. If more people knew about it and the schedules were easier to understand, then more people would use it. It would be helpful to have easy-to-understand posters for each bus route and actually put them around town at bus stops. Click [|here] to view the bus routes. The point of this project is to work towards decreasing air pollution one step at a time by convincing people in the city of Cortland to use more public transportation.

**__Current Transportation Options in Cortland:__** There are not many transportation options available in Cortland. The main types of transportation include personal automobiles, taxis, and pedestrians. There is also a bus service called the Cortland Transit. The Cortland Transit has a total of six bus routes. One of the bus routes even goes all the way to TC3 in Dryden. Another bus route goes to Marathon and Cincinnatus.

There is a railroad that runs through Cortland. However, “the City's railroad system is used only for freight and shipping; no passenger service is available. One unique feature found in the City's rail system is the ‘Rail to Truck Yard’ which allows businesses and industry to receive shipments by rail and then truck them to their own site.” (1) 

There is an airport in Cortland. However, this is not a very big airport. It can be used for the refueling, landing, and take-off of personal planes.

**__Cortland City Transit History:__** After 1882 - Cortland & Homer Horse Railroad Co. Prior to 1894 - Cortland & Homer Street Railway 1894-1901 - Cortland & Homer Traction Co. 1901-1931 - Cortland County Traction Co. (Mohawk-Hudson Power Co.) 1931 - streetcars discontinued After 1931 - Cortland County Bus Lines (2)

(3)

Public transportation helps reduce air pollution. "A 2002 study by the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute found that public transportation in the U.S uses approximately half the fuel required by cars, SUV's and light trucks. In addition, the study noted that 'private vehicles emit about 95 percent more carbon monoxide, 92 percent more volatile organic compounds and about twice as much carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide than public vehicles for every passenger mile traveled.'"(4) Currently, there are many nations that have successful public transportation options. These nations are trying to decrease the use of personal automobiles. Such nations include Germany, Japan and China. They use many different ways of transportation including trolleys, bullet trains, and bikes. There has been discussion about a NYS Highspeed Rail, but there has been no real progress made thus far. In Cortland, currently there are no real bike routes available to the public. Cortland would benefit more if more bike paths were available and the road was shared with bicyclists. If Cortland were able to improve its public transportation, traffic would flow easier. "Traffic congestion is no longer just a big city problem. [People] spend five times as long stalled in traffic in small and medium-sized cities than in 1982, and this figure is growing at a far faster rate than in larger cities." (5)

[|Cortland First Transit Bus Routes] [|Public Transportation Takes Us There] [|Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority]
 * __See Also: __**

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