An initiative to allow students unlimited local CATA bus rides for a monthly fee continues, though a Graduate Student Association petition is about 28,500 signatures away from the group's goal.

Graduate Student Association (GSA) President Raghavan Balaji proposed the initiative to allow students unlimited on- and off-campus bus rides for a charge of $7 a month. He currently boasts 1,500 signatures on a petition to have its idea considered by university administrators.

GSA's goal is to collect 30,000 names by the end of this semester.

Though GSA has discussed raising the activity fee to accommodate for the bus passes, the source of the funds has yet to be determined.

"The major hitch is talking to the authorities and passing it at the [Penn State] Board of Trustees [meeting]," Balaji said. "Once we have all the students with us, the next step is to convince [Penn State President Graham] Spanier."

Balaji said he encourages all students to support the idea as it will make their lives easier and make outside venues more accessible.

"This would open up a lot of new options for students," he said. "Before, they would go to Wal-Mart once a week. Now they can go to the mall, Wal-Mart, absolutely everywhere they want."

Recently, Centre Area Transit Authority (CATA) service development manager Eric Bernier met with GSA to discuss the feasibility of the plan.

"Basically they have been working off some estimates we gave them a couple of years ago," Bernier said. "I'm not sure anything ever came of it. They have picked up where their predecessors left off."

Bernier said similar plans have had histories of success at Cornell University, the University of Illinois, the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and other schools across the country.

"Those universities aren't in the exact same situation as we are though," he said. "We have so many students already using the Loop for free and many off-campus students using Centre Line for free with arrangements through their landlords -- we are partially there already."

Balaji said the "free" arrangements are often misleading to many students.

"A lot of students think that they don't need what we are talking about because they get free bus service at their apartment complex," he said.

"What students think is that the bus is free, but it's actually just being added to the rent."

He also said this initiative would make CATA's current $35 route passes nearly obsolete.

Bernier said CATA will begin looking into the initiative as soon as GSA's idea has gained widespread student and administrator support. GSA has tried to accomplish this through having petition sign-up tables in the HUB-Robeson Center.

Balaji said it is "disappointing" that few students are aware of the idea.

"We want to cover all bases and make it as easy as possible for students to sign up," he said. "The number of interested students each day is increasing exponentially."

Balaji said students can also be on the petition by sending a blank e-mail to PSUCATA@psu.edu.

"We need to see some support for this," Bernier said. "You can't just all of a sudden one day say it is going to happen. It would take quite a bit of preparation."