Centro’s New Bus Stop Could Be Lifeline for Low-Wage Workers at Syracuse Airport

Syracuse, N.Y. — One of David Hill’s employees called him on a recent rainy morning to say he couldn’t make it to work.

The Syracuse Hancock International Airport food service service worker wasn’t sick, though. Instead, the price of the rideshare he needs to get to his job was up to $65 that day. And he simply didn’t have the money.

“I said, ‘Where are you? I’ll come pick you up.’ And I did,” said Hill, the general manager for Delaware North, the company that operates restaurants at the airport.

It was not a rare occurrence. Hill said he or one of his managers will personally drive an employee to and from work about four times a week. Of the 100 Delaware North workers, he said, about half are Syracuse residents who don’t have an automobile.

But unless they can make a 1.8-mile walk from the nearest Centro bus stop to the airport, their only option often is to spend a significant portion of their pay on services like Lyft and Uber, which typically charge $30 to $35 for a one-way ride to the airport north of the city. The transportation obstacles for many of the 2,500 people working at the airport campus have prompted the Syracuse Regional Airport Authority to reach out to Centro a few times in recent years about the possibility of resuming service to Hancock.

Based on the most recent outreach last spring, rider requests to Centro bus drivers and public survey results, the bus operator is launching a trial service offering 13 weekday and three Saturday roundtrips from downtown Syracuse to the airport.

The trial starts today. The cost to ride a Centro bus from the downtown hub to the airport is just $1 for adults and 50 cents for seniors, children ages 6-9 and people with disabilities.

“We need an inexpensive alternative,” Hill said. “We’re looking forward to it. This is going to help people get to work and keep their jobs.”

Centro service to the airport is not new, but past routes were not financially sustainable, said Steve Koegel, Centro’s vice president of communications and business planning.

The public transportation provider discontinued a regular route that incorporated an airport stop in the late 1990s. It did the same with an express service aimed at employees only in 2009. Low ridership was the reason for ending both services, although the employee shuttle had experienced some success before the economic recession took hold.

But the airport is now much busier than it was 14 years ago. The 2.7 million passengers now coming through Hancock yearly represents 42% growth compared with 2009, and that has contributed to a larger workforce on the campus. And with that growth expected to continue with the Micron computer chip manufacturing facility project, the need for affordable public transportation to get staff to the airport will only get bigger.

“You can feel the growth at the airport,” Koegel said.

Centro also has some data to support the decision to give airport service another try. The agency conducted a public survey that generated 1,049 responses conducted earlier this year as part of its Exploring Tomorrow’s Transit strategic planning project. When asked an open-ended question about areas where more bus service was needed, the airport was the top currently unserved destination, with 7% including it in their response out of more than 600 locations named.

Koegel said Centro bus operators report frequently receiving inquiries about airport service. Some also report having riders who will get off at a stop outside the massive airport campus and walking along the busy airport service road that has no sidewalks.

“It’s easily the No. 1 request that we have,” Koegel said. “We’ve heard from customers and community members about airport service. The challenge is how to make it work and how to make it sustainable.”

Centro officials believe they have found the right approach — at the right time — with the new service. Instead of creating an additional route, the airport stop was incorporated into an existing SY84 line running from the downtown hub to Mattydale. That means the agency doesn’t need to hire new drivers or put an additional bus into service, which means no added expense.

In order to keep the route’s timing aligned so buses arrive at the hub in time for riders who must transfer to another line, Centro is removing some stops on the Mattydale line, which runs along Route 11 heading out of the city. But Koegel said those stops are lightly used.

The new airport stop is intentionally placed at the end of the route so it’s not disruptive to other riders along the route, and the success of the service itself is not completely dependent on airport riders. Centro believe the changes could generate a 10-12% increase ridership for the Mattydale route

“We’re hopeful that the service will work,” Koegel said.

The trial period for the new airport stop will run for six months. Centro will gather data and customer feedback to make a decisions about adjustments to the service, and whether to make the airport route permanent. If the agency wants to make a permanent change, it would need to hold a public hearing.

Both Centro and airport officials do not expect airport travelers to be major users of the bus service. At least not at first. Future growth in business travel could make a route that takes airline passengers to downtown Syracuse a bigger need, Koegel said.

“We don’t really believe people are going to take their bags to the corner on Genesee Street, take the bus to the hub, transfer and then go to the airport,” he said. “It’s really designed for the worker.”

Airport officials are eager for Centro’s trial to begin, saying it’s an important piece to retain and recruit workers.

“We’re so excited for this service,” said Matthew Szwejbka, customer experience manager for the airport authority. “We’re growing rapidly. We need the need staff to support that growth.”

Szwejbka serves on the airport authority’s accessiblity committee, where the lack of cheap public transportation has been frequently discussed. He’s talked to many airport employers, such as Hill at Delaware North, who struggle to fill entry-level positions because of the transportation issue.

“When they’re having to spend $30 or more for an Uber, they’re blowing a good chunk of their salary just to get to a job,” he said. “It’s a barrier to entry. Forgive the pun, but it’s a no-fly zone.”

Helping people overcome those employment barriers is a big part of Centro’s mission, Koegel said.

“It’s hard to put a dollar figure on the ability to get somebody to and from a job,” he said. “That bus route is putting food on the table for their family.”

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