Transportation in Syracuse

Public transportation

Syracuse is served by the Central New York Regional Transportation Authority, or CNYRTA. The CNYRTA administers a bus service called CENTRO which runs more than a hundred bus lines around Syracuse and into its suburbs, as well as to outlying metropolitan area cities such as Auburn, Fulton, and Oswego. CENTRO one-way fare is still $1, with an additional 25¢ charge for travel to and from the outermost suburbs, generally more than 5-6 miles from downtown. Further trips have additional fare zones. The CENTRO service is free for Syracuse University Students within a specified zone on display of a valid SUID card.

OnTrack is the Syracuse commuter train line. The line runs from Colvin Street on the city’s South Side via Syracuse University and Armory Square to the Carousel Center. Financing was finally approved in April 2004 to build a bridge over Park Street that would allow OnTrack to reach the William F. Walsh Regional Transportation Center, Regional Market, and Alliance Bank Stadium. This service sees roughly 60 riders a day[8] and is used mostly by Syracuse University students. OnTrack was launched in 1994, and has experienced periods of growth and decline. As of December 2005, the Park Street Bridge has not been built. A direct link to the transportation center might profit the line as a result of passengers arriving without cars. OnTrack’s already-completed platform is adjacent to Amtrak’s.

The Pyramid Companies have also proposed a monorail linking the university to the airport via downtown, their proposed DestiNY Resort, the transportation center, and their proposed DestiNY Technology Park. The cost of such a line has been estimated at $750 million.

Local millionaire Tom McDonald has also proposed a gondola lift system, called Salt City Aerial Transit (S.C.A.T.), to link the university to the transportation center using a similar route. The first segment from SU to Downtown has been estimated to cost $5 million, which McDonald plans to raise the money himself. Due to the perceived low operating costs, the system could run continuously.

Commute

According to the 2000 Census, this is how people aged 16 and over commute to work:
65.9% drive alone
13.7% carpool
10.1% walk
6.8% use public busses (CENTRO)
0.6% bike
0.2% use a taxicab
0.013% use elevated rail (OnTrack)

Rail

The city lies on Amtrak’s Empire Service, Lake Shore Limited, and Maple Leaf lines.

The Empire Service runs several times daily from Niagara Falls to New York Penn Station, with major stops in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, and Albany along the way.

The Lake Shore Limited connects Syracuse to the same cities as above (except Niagara Falls), but continues westward from Buffalo to Chicago via Cleveland and Toledo. This train completes one roundtrip daily.

Also completing one roundtrip a day, the Maple Leaf follows the path of the Empire Service train, but continues to Toronto.

Amtrak’s station is part of the William F. Walsh Regional Transportation Center.

Bus

Greyhound Lines and Trailways provide long-distance bus service. Both also use the William F. Walsh Regional Transportation Center in the north of the city.

Air service

Syracuse is served by the Syracuse Hancock International Airport in nearby Salina, near Mattydale. The airport is served by 17 airlines (9 major), which provide non-stop flights to destinations as far away as Dallas-Fort Worth, as well as several daily flights to other important airline hubs and business centers such as Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC. Six cargo carriers also serve the airport.

Roads

Interstate 81 (Canada to Knoxville) runs north-south through Syracuse, and provides access to Canada, Pennsylvania and points south. Its downtown portion is extremely narrow, only consisting of four lanes and essentially no onramps. It forms a physical and psychological border between downtown and University Hill, an issue both Syracuse University and local politicians are trying to address.

Interstate 90 (Seattle to Boston), also known as the New York State Thruway runs east-west, just north of the city. It provides access to Rochester, Buffalo, Albany, and the north-south (Interstate 87) part of the Thruway which leads to New York City.

Interstate 690 runs east-west through the city, and provides access to Interstate 90 the thruway toll road, as well as to Syracuse’s northwestern and eastern suburbs. A spur off I-690 directly west of the city, NY-695, provides freeway access to the southwestern suburbs. It meets Interstate 81 in downtown Syracuse in a highly-complex and incomplete intersection. Most of its routing through the city directly replaced elevated rail lines, a fact quite notable by the city’s former main rail terminal, where the freeway spans the width between the terminal and its outermost platform. In 1981 artist Duke Epolito erected sculptures of “passengers” on the far platform. The piece is entitled “Waiting for a Night Train.”

Interstate 481 forms an eastern loop around the city and continues to the northwest as NY-481 to Fulton and Oswego, on the shore of Lake Ontario. U.S. Highway 11 (Canada to New Orleans) passes through Syracuse, including downtown, and it follows the route of Salina and State Streets. U.S. Highway 20 (Boston to Newport, Oregon) passes south of Syracuse.