The Metro-North currently offers several discounted tickets for their passengers, including seniors, children, handicapped passengers, veterans and active military personnel, and for families traveling with up to four children other the age of 11.

In addition to these discounts, as of July 2013, the Metro-North began offering discount tickets to grade school students who were traveling to and from school.

Metro-North offers an extensive variety of discounted ticket prices, even to certain colleges. However, Pace is not one of them. This inhibits students’ ability to save money on their commutes.

One of the greatest benefits of being a Pace student is receiving so many unique internship opportunities, almost all of which are outside of Pleasantville. If students don’t have cars, the Metro-North is the only way that they can get to these jobs or internships within a reasonable amount of time.

Two semesters ago, I was one of those students. Twice a week, I had to catch two separate Metro-North lines and a bus to get to my internship in Rye. It cost me at least $18 to get to and from my internship. Despite having to catch three vehicles and the high cost, I still considered myself one of the luckier students.

Pace alumnus James Best used to commute to his NBC internship in New York City two to three times a week during the spring semester of his senior year. According to him, even though his internship was paid, he used one hundred percent of what he received on train and subway fare.

The cost of commuting to and from the city is so high in Best’s opinion that according to him, the only way students should commute there on a regular basis is if they’re getting paid.

“If [students] don’t have a paid internship, then I would say it’s not worth taking an internship in the city,” Best said.

Other than the Metro-North, Pace students have only two other options for public transportation in Pleasantville. There’s the number 15 bus that costs $2.75 to ride, and the complimentary shuttle between the city and Pleasantville campuses.

However, the number 15 bus is not ideal when in a hurry. I caught the number 15 twice, and both times, it took me almost two hours to go where the train could have taken me in less than twenty minutes. Also, it only runs through Pleasantville five times a day and only  Monday through Friday. The shuttle between the two campuses also runs Monday through Friday only, has limited space, and only does four runs throughout the day.

Because of this, the Metro-North remains the only feasible option for reliable public transport for Pace students. If there is a way for the university to work with the Metro-North like other colleges in the area have, this would provide a helpful service to Pace students.