By Sandra Kelly

Buffalo State College students are now ready to travel downtown on Friday and Saturday nights, thanks to the help of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority's late night express service.

“The late night service provides safe, reliable transport for students,” said Dominick Bordonaro, the marketing manager for NFTA.

According to Bordonaro, the Metro Bus does not just provide service to Chippewa Street , downtown Buffalo 's entertainment district. Students also use it to travel downtown to eat, go to concerts and sporting events at HSBC Arena and shop at 24-hour drug stores.

For schedule information and cost go to http://www.nfta.com/metro/Unlimited/buffstate.asp and http://www.nfta.com/metro/latenight.asp .

Although the service is offered late at night, at a time when students will be going to bars, there is little concern about fighting and reckless behavior, according to Bordonaro.

“Students who use the transit are wise enough. They know that if they are irresponsible the program will not be there anymore,” said Bordonaro.

He stated that the late night service is a regular bus route. Buffalo State Collage students are expected to follow the Metro Bus policies . They can be found at http://www.nfta.com/metro/riding_metro.asp .

Buffalo State College students are eager to use the late night service offered by the NFTA.

“I think it's a good thing. I'm glad Buff State has this, it's worth it,” said Mike Chase, a freshman at the college.

He said that he will probably use the service a lot and if it did not exist, he probably would not go to Chippewa Street .

Chase did have one complaint after waiting for the Metro Bus in front of Moot Hall for about 30 minutes.

“I'm disappointed it took so long to get here,” he said.

Anthony Sorrentino, a freshman, said that if fights were to break out, it would most likely be late at night when a lot of the people are drunk and going home.

Some students have used the transportation several times already. Freshman Melissa Clark has used the service about three times so far. She agrees with Sorrentino about the late night fights. If there was a chance it would be when people are going home. She thinks the service is a great idea also.

The students all agreed that the service is a good idea because it cuts down on drunk driving.

Sandra Kelly can be reached at sandykelly@gmail.com

Links :

http://www.nfta.com/metro/Unlimited/buffstate.asp

http://www.nfta.com/metro/riding_metro.asp

http://www.nfta.com/metro/latenight.asp

http://www.buffalo2nite.com/Chippewa_strip_2002.htm