Starting next school year, Baltimore City students who rely on public transportation to travel to and from school will have a seat at the table with transit leaders.
The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) announced the new Youth Transit Council in early November, with applications for the 20 student members closing on Friday.
The panel of 14-to-18-year-olds will meet virtually with the transit administration at least six times next school year to “raise awareness and understanding of the topics most important to their transit experience,” the MTA website says.
Around 35 thousand Baltimore City students take public transportation in various forms to get to school, said Media Relations Manager Sherry Christian — three thousand of which are considered “eligible” for public transportation commutes.
Representatives from the Baltimore Student Union, a grassroots group of city student leaders, are aiming to use the new council to make commutes safer — especially at night, and without increasing police presence — and more reliable for all students.
“We don’t have any yellow bus service in the district for middle and high schoolers,” said Ethan Eblaghie, senior at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. “So there are a lot of kids that aren’t that old — like even 11-or-12-years-old — that are going without parental supervision on the light rail or on the buses.”
Read more (and listen) at WYPR.
