New York State Senator Jeremy Cooney (D-Rochester) said on Friday that first impressions are important, and the current bus station located near Amtrak on Cumberland Street is not doing much to entice people who visit here.
Cooney and other officials and transportation advocates gathered at that site as Cooney said he is pushing for $15 million in state funding.
He said the money would be used to expand the Amtrak station with an attached facility that would be geared for long distance bus companies, like Trailways and Greyhound.
The senator noted that the smaller Trailways station that is located near the train station now was always meant to be temporary, but it’s been around for 12 years.
And Cooney said it’s not a good look when people visit the area, like college students and their families.
“When they get off the bus with their parents to tour the University of Rochester, we don’t want them in a 12-year-old, former temporary shelter,” said Cooney. “We want them to feel like they’re entering Rochester, and this is a good place to study, to learn and possibly live in afterwards.”
Cooney noted that the late Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (for whom the Amtrak station is named), had always envisioned having an intermodal station for buses and trains.
Mary Staropoli is executive director of the transportation advocacy group, Reconnect Rochester.
She said that a new bus terminal could allow a variety of bus companies to all be located in one spot. Staropoli said right now, other long distance bus companies don’t have a regular facility located near the train station.
“So what they're doing is they're dropping off and picking up people at various places around downtown,” said Staropoli. “It puts passengers in really inconvenient and sometimes unsafe situations, waiting for long periods of time on street corners, with nowhere safe or warm or comfortable to wait, much less any nice amenities.”
Staropoli said the proposed expansion would help passengers easily move from one mode of transportation to another.
“So that they can arrive by train or by bus and seamlessly connect to our local bus service or to, Uber (or) Lyft services, to our e-bike and e-scooter share, to our electric car share, and to have all of those things really all in one place to make it a seamless experience,” said Staropoli.
Staropoli said this is also an issue of transportation equity, allowing people who use the bus to enjoy some of the same amenities that people who use planes or trains have access to.
Cooney said he will also pursue federal funds for this project.
