Ithaca College faculty and staff members and their eligible dependents have the opportunity to use many of the College's recreational facilities.

Employees have access to the many services of the College library, the Campus Center, and the College bookstore (at which employees receive a 10% discount).

Employees also receive blue parking tags, allowing them to park in convenient spaces on campus at no charge. These parking tags also allow employees to ride TCAT for free. (see below for more information on the TCAT bus passes)

The Ithaca College Bus Pass/Parking Permit Program Staff and faculty were advised by a previous e-mail that plans were underway for the bus pass/parking permit program to go into effect after January 15, 2002. That date was significant because that is when the current parking permits were scheduled to expire (January 15). Since the card readers on the T-CAT buses are not yet programmed to accept the new bus passes, your Ithaca College current parking permit will remain in effect until the new program is initiated after February 1, 2002. Once initiated, if you drive to the college, the program calls for you to receive from Parking Services, a bus pass/parking permit and a see- through cardholder for the pass/permit. The pass/permit is a single card with a T-CAT bus pass imprinted on one side and an Ithaca College parking permit on the other. Directions will be provided as to where the holder is to be positioned in the front windshield of your vehicle. If you don't register a vehicle with the college, you will get the pass/permit only.

Your options would then be:

1. If you decide to drive to the college you would put the pass/permit in the pouch with the parking permit side showing to the outside for the parking enforcement officer to see.
2. If you decide to take the bus to the college instead of driving your registered vehicle, you would take the pass/permit with you on the bus and swipe it through the card reader on the bus for the free ride, leaving your vehicle at home.
3. Even if you don't register a vehicle with the college, use option 2 and get a free ride.

The pass/permit will be made available to all faculty, staff and administrative personnel who request one. The purpose of the program is to encourage use of public transportation and thus reduce the increasing demand for infrastructure to support traffic and parking. The College will pick up the cost of the bus rides as an employee benefit in order to encourage such use. You get the additional benefit of saving money on the operating costs of your personal vehicle. The primary intent of this program is to provide public transport to and from work.

We will be evaluating the success of the program during the forthcoming year. The use of each pass will be tracked in order to reimburse TCAT. The tracking information will also be used to measure participation, route demand and to deactivate the passes of people no longer working at the College.

We will introduce the new passes as soon as TCAT is ready to go. Please let us know if you have questions and we encourage your feedback after we are under way! Comments and questions can be sent to parking@ithaca.edu.

For more information regarding bus routes etc. visit the T-CAT website: www.tcatbus.com.

As we begin the Spring 2002 semester, I am pleased to announce that Ithaca College has made arrangements with Sodexho, our dining services contractor, to make a "meal plan" available to all Ithaca College faculty and staff who may wish to take advantage of this opportunity. Over the years, a number of faculty and staff have requested that arrangements be made to permit them to eat in our dining halls. This would allow faculty and staff to interact with students over meals, and expand their dining options, especially for those faculty and staff who are here during the evening hours. The College is excited to offer the following program:

• A block of 10 meals can be purchased by any faculty or staff member for the price of $50. The cost of each meal will be $5.00 (sales tax is included).
• The meals can be used for any meal at any of the dining halls (except for lunch in the Campus Center Dining Hall; Mondays - Thursdays).
• A faculty/staff member's I.D. card will be encoded with "10 meals". Each time they swipe their I.D. card at a dining hall, one meal will be deducted.
• When the 10 meals are used up, another block of 10 can be purchased.
• The block plan can be purchased at the Dining Services Office located in the Terrace Dining Hall.
• The meals have no expiration date so they can be used during the summer months as well.
• There will be no refund on unused meals if someone were to leave their employment at Ithaca College.
• Because this reduced price meal plan is considered a "benefit" to Ithaca College employees, meals are only for the personal use of the individual purchasing the block plan. Meals cannot be used for guests, family members, or others.

You can begin purchasing this block plan as of Monday, February 4, 2002. A schedule of Dining Hall hours will be provided at the time of purchase. If you have any questions about the plan, please feel free to contact the Office of Dining Services at 274-3904.