BY: BRIGID ODWYER
The students who are left on campus without cars and are a flight away from home have to become creative in ways to get back home for campus-wide breaks. While most of the student body pack up their cars and hit the road, either to Buffalo, Rochester, or Syracuse –some of the closest cities near St. Bonaventure’s campus– students without this option have to try to get home a different way.
One problem is that the two major airports closest to campus are both almost two hours away: Buffalo Niagara International Airport in Cheektowaga and Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport. St. Bonaventure offers a bus ticket to the New York Port Authority in Manhattan for $85 roundtrip. Although this is a nice option for students who need to get to New York City, the Port Authority is at least 25 minutes from either LaGuardia Airport or John F. Kennedy Airport.
Avery Walkoviak, a sophomore strategic communications major from Eugene, Oregon, found herself trying to work around the difficulties of the limited public transportation, and expressed her wish that the campus or city implement a bus system for students to shuttle them to and from the airports for breaks. She said, “After doing some research, I learned that such a bus station does not exist, and I had no way of getting from Bonaventure to Buffalo.”
Since there is no public shuttle system for students to use, Walkoviak was left with the option of paying for an Uber.
“At the last minute, having to pay for an Uber to the airport, which was incredibly stressful as a freshman,” said Walkoviak.
For those who have working parents or friends who may have a car but are not headed in the same direction, the limited options of public transportation can create unnecessary situations.
Niles Arango, a sophomore from Simsbury, Connecticut, said, “I believe if I didn’t find a consistent ride home starting at the beginning of this year, I would find myself stuck at Bonaventure whenever everyone else got to go home for breaks.”
“ Bonaventure is a six-hour drive from my home,” said Arango. “It can become extra complicated for those breaks where I need to pack a lot of my belongings into a small car that isn’t mine.”
Arango, who plays on the men’s rugby team, has seen the stress that holiday breaks and travel situations can put on his international teammates.
“For the most part, my international teammates usually text our team group chat to see if anyone can bring them or pick them up from the airport, because they do not have cars here,” said Arango. “A lot of the time, you can catch them being stranded or waiting long periods of time for someone to give them a ride because everyone else is traveling at the same time, which ultimately leaves them frustrated and stressed.”
Sophomore Audrey Arce, a criminology and psychology major from Los Angeles, California, said, “Coming back to Bonaventure for the start of the spring semester was very complicated. Due to weather-related delays, my flight from LA to Buffalo had to unexpectedly land at JFK, and we had to quickly book a hotel and stay for two days, causing my sister and me to miss the first day of classes.” Arce also mentioned how she, along with other students who utilize the airports for campus breaks, could benefit from a shuttle system.
St. Bonaventure, which is located in Western New York, where the weather consistently dips into the negatives during the winter months, causes the student population to deal with blizzards and extreme weather in their travels to and from school.
Sam Carozza, a senior from Colorado, said, “During my sophomore year in 2024, I was coming back from Colorado, and there were storms in Buffalo that cancelled my flights. I had to spend the night in Dallas with my aunt, and then another night in Pittsburgh. After all that, I had to take a six-seat passenger plane to Bradford Airport, where I slept on a bench for two hours waiting for my roommates to come and pick me up.”
On the Buffalo Niagara International Airport website, there is a list of schools that provide a shuttle system. This list names almost every single school that surrounds St. Bonaventure, but no shuttle to campus or Olean.
Ellen McClain, a sophomore nursing major from Syracuse, had travel plans for Easter break that were postponed when her car needed to be taken into the shop two days before her flight out of the Rochester Airport.
“My car broke down at the last minute, right before my brother and I were supposed to drive to the airport for a break to meet my family down in South Carolina,” said McClain. “There wasn’t enough time to get it fixed, so it left me scrambling to find a ride to the airport with very minimal notice. The airports aren’t close enough to school, where it would make sense financially to have an Uber take us. The campus has no helpful transportation for students to get to any airport.”
McClain also said that she wishes that there was a better system put in place for students who need public transportation.
