The committee debating where to relocate the Greyhound bus terminal is turning to hard data to make its decision instead of relying on opinion-based recommendations as it has until now.

Borough Planning Director Carl Hess said the Intermodal Transit Center committee -- including State College Borough Council member Elizabeth Goreham and representatives from Penn State, Greyhound and the Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA) -- would begin collecting data to verify what locations are closest to students and most accessible by CATA transit lines.

Previously, Synergy Real Estate, a consultant hired by the borough in May 2004, rated a location at Hastings Road and University Drive near the Multi-Sport Track Facility as the best location for the new transportation center.

"The [consultant's] previous findings were more of a 'best guess' based on beliefs," Goreham said.

Gordon Turow, campus planning and design director, said the Multi-Sport Track Facility location was still a "premature" pick as the favorite.

During the committee's most recent meeting, members focused on the additional information needed to best evaluate each site, instead of focusing on actual "pros and cons" of each site, Turow said.

Goreham, the committee chair, said her goal is to find a new location that is within a 10-minute walk for the highest number of students.

Hess said he would use 2000 census information to help find that information. By deciding where the highest number of 18- to 24-year old students live downtown and where the highest number of people live on-campus, Hess said he can determine the closest site for the majority of student bus riders.

Transportation Planner Tim Geibel said his research would also examine each location based on its proximity to current CATA routes, and the frequency of buses on that route. He added that CATA's service times do not currently complement Greyhound's busiest times, Friday and Sunday evenings.

CATA General Manager Hugh Mose said that because of cost, CATA could not modify its popular routes such as the N (Martin Street), R (Waupelani Drive) V (Vairo Boulevard) routes or the Blue and White loops to accommodate a new location.

Kathy Folks, Greyhound terminal manager, said the terminal usually serves about 500 to 600 students on a normal weekend during the fall.

Goreham said the current bus terminal, 152 N. Atherton St., must relocate because of the university's West Campus development plan.

She said she is concerned that students are not being adequately involved in the process.

"The committee seems to think that what students think will only reinforce our thoughts, but maybe we're overconfident in knowing what students want," Goreham said.

Goreham added that Greyhound could distribute a "What If" poll to see where its riders want the new location to be.

Folks said the poll could be a good idea, but the low student population in the summer makes it impossible to try right now. She added that students account for 85 percent of Greyhound's customers.

Hess said the committee will meet Aug. 12 to give its results to Synergy. The two groups will then proceed to narrow down the list of 14 locations.