The students' union at Mount Saint Vincent University feels like they've been left behind by the municipality's Moving Forward Together plan

Some students at Mount Saint Vincent University feel like they've been left behind by the municipality's Moving Forward Together plan.

The school's students' union has launched an online petition demanding the return of a bus route that used to link them to the downtown core.

On Aug. 20, Halifax Transit made one of the biggest service changes in decades, which included the elimination of Route 18-Universities.

The new Universities Route 4, like its predecessor, starts at Lacewood Drive. However instead of going to The Mount, it heads all the way down Lacewood Dr. and Dutch Village Rd, before taking Joseph Howe Dr. to Windsor St. and down to Dalhousie University.

Route 39, which has been designated by Halifax Transit as the replacement for the eliminated 18 bus for those attending the school, starts at the Lacewood Terminal and does stop along the Bedford Highway at MSVU, however it passes through the north end before crossing over to Dartmouth via the MacKay Bridge and doesn't head downtown.

Running in the opposite direction, the last #39 going to the Lacewood Terminal where students could catch more connections stops near MSVU at 10:13 p.m.

Students' union president Nikki Jamieson said students with late classes are being left without bus service.

"There's lots of folks struggling to get up here, we don't have access to the downtown core anymore and we've just lost a lot of service," she explained. "We feel like it's a complete oversight and we kind of feel a little contempt from the city taking us off of the Universities Route in general."

She said before the changes, Route 18 ran every half hour until midnight, but the replacement Route 39 only runs hourly.

"We need the 18 back because students are being forced to walk or drive, which is inappropriate when we have a transit system in place."

Jamieson added faculty, staff and those living near the university have also been impacted by the changes.

They've been compiling a report showing the impact the changes have had on those attending MSVU.

According to data gathered so far, direct access to the Mount campus dropped from 178 to 139 inbound stops and from 168 to 133 outbound.

They're also trying to gather public support for their cause. Their online petition has over 850 signatures as of 11 a.m. Monday.