Tompkins Consolidated Area Transit (TCAT) riders from one end of Tompkins County to the other will see a host of service expansions and improvements this summer, including new routes, expanded hours and weekend service.

Starting June 6, rural residents will benefit from:

• two new routes -- from Brooktondale to downtown Ithaca, via Ellis Hollow and Cornell University (weekdays), and from South Lansing to Pyramid Mall via North Triphammer Road (weekends);
• new weekend service (three trips each day) for Enfield, Ulysses, Lansing, Groton, Dryden, Caroline, Danby and Newfield; and
• new midday service during the week for Groton, Lansing, Caroline and Danby.

These changes join recently added service from Ludlowville/South Lansing to Cornell and downtown.

The goal is to provide riders with greater access to jobs in downtown Ithaca and in Lansing, as well as increased mobility for the general public.

Also starting June 6, three Cornell routes -- 82, 83 and 84 (Hasbrouck Apartments, North and West campuses and B-lot) -- will be consolidated during the summer months into a new route -- 86 -- 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 the university's central campus, is unaffected.

Ithaca College faculty, staff, and students also have seen improvements. The successful student semester bus pass, instituted in the past year, has accounted for almost 20,000 trips since Sept. 1, 2001. And a few weeks ago, the college began offering its faculty and staff a free bus pass to encourage the bus as an option to driving. In just two weeks, 300 uses were recorded.