Briefs

TCAT service changes: Beginning today, June 6, Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) bus passengers in the Cornell area will experience service changes, including new and consolidated routes, expanded hours and weekend service.

Residents of outlying areas will benefit from a new weekday route (53) from Brooktondale to downtown Ithaca via Ellis Hollow and Cornell; new weekend service (three trips each day) to and from Enfield, Ulysses, Lansing, Groton, Dryden, Caroline, Danby and Newfield; and new midday service during the week for Groton, Lansing, Caroline and Danby. These additions join recently added service from Ludlowville/South Lansing to Cornell and downtown.

Also beginning June 6, three Cornell campus routes -- 82, 83 and 84 (Hasbrouck Apartments, North and West campuses and B lot) -- will be consolidated into a new route 86 during the summer months until late August, when the separate routes will be reinstated in time for the new semester. This change is designed to make more efficient use of TCAT resources and facilities at a time when ridership on these routes declines dramatically.

The more heavily used Route 81, which connects Cornell's A and B lots to central campus, will be unaffected.

Route 86 will connect the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts in Collegetown to campus points including the Baker Hall flagpole, Robert Purcell Community Center, Hasbrouck Appartments and Risley Hall, once an hour, starting at 9:30 a.m. and ending at 5:30 p.m.

For more information or to give feedback, call 277-RIDE, or visit www.tcatbus.com.

Transportation Services hours: Transportation Services summer office hours, at 116 Maple Ave., are 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m.