Sycamore residents might be able ride Huskie buses in as early as two weeks if a contract regarding their use of the system is completed by Friday.

The completion of the contract between Sycamore, the Student Association Mass Transit Board and the American Transit Corporation would permit Sycamore residents to use the system if they pay fares or purchase $40 bus passes.

Transit board Chairman Dave Emerick said Oct. 20 that the transit board is “losing money” on Route 9, which travels to downtown Sycamore. Low ridership on the portion of the route that services downtown Sycamore is due in part to the fact that Sycamore residents cannot legally ride the system until the contract is finalized, he said.

The parties have been discussing the contract since July, he said.

Emerick added that Route 9 will be a “revenue maker” once the contract is completed. “It irks me that this contract is not done yet,” he said.

The results of a 1988 spring semester Huskie Line ridership survey indicate that 65 percent of off-campus students who responded would not use a route that serviced downtown Sycamore. But Emerick said at the transit board’s meeting Monday that faculty, staff and Sycamore residents will make up a large portion of ridership on the route.

Also Monday, the board voted to support the concept of providing a campus security phone system on NIU’s campus, and to stress that the phone system would be unrelated to the Late Night Ride Service, although both services “have the same goal” to provide a safer campus. The transit board provides the Late Night Ride Service through student funding.

Lisa Gunn, SA Welfare Adviser, said the distinction was made between the two services because “the Late Night (Ride) Service can’t cover everything the phone system would be able to. If there’s an assault or an attack on campus, the (University Police) are a better place to go than late night service.”

The phone system would be monitored by a dispatcher at the UP station, Gunn said. The phone system might be installed on campus by the 1989 fall semester.