When state Transportation Secretary Richard Davey wouldn't meet with protesters calling for a discounted "Youth Pass" for teen T riders, they sat down in his office in the Park Square transportation building and wouldn't leave - until State Police made them, and transported them over to their South Boston and Charles River barracks for booking on trespassing charges, according to O'Ryan Johnson, who reports they were released on $40 bail apiece.
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You should travel more
By RickW
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 11:37am
"one of the worst public transit systems in the county"
Have you been to the rest of the country?
There is no free ride.
By bulgingbuick
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 9:11am
Everyone should pay for the privilege of riding on a train that will beak down.
$28/month for student unlimited pass?
By dvg
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 9:38am
That's half a day of work at minimum wage for a full month of unlimited transportation within a 10 mile radius of Downtown Boston. Doesn't seem like a terrible injustice to me.
Let me know if I am missing something.
I just copied and pasted the info I found on the MBTA website this morning:
Students ride the T for 50 percent off the price of standard T fares and are eligible for a Monday through Friday pass for $25/month as well as 7-day pass for $28/month. Student T-Passes are good for unlimited travel on Bus, Subway, Express Bus, and Commuter Rail Zones 1A, 1, and 2 on school days.
Discounted rides or passes require a Student CharlieCard or CharlieTicket, available at participating junior high and high schools. See your school administrator for details.
Student passes are very limited
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 9:45am
Only during the school year, not after 8pm.
Also, you can only get them through the school using bizarre gymnastics and have to be outside of the walk zone to qualify during the year.
Again, not available in the summer, even for summer school.
Sorry, try again.
Well even still, that takes
By DTP
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 9:49am
Well even still, that takes care of half the arguments for a youth pass - getting to school.
And if you need it to get to work as well, get a monthly - at $70, that's $2.33 per day. I highly doubt there is anyone out there who cannot spare $2.33 worth of their daily pay for transportation.
Your numbers are slightly off
By Waquiot
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 11:52am
You are assuming a 7 day workweek. At 5 days (or 20 days a month,) under the new fare structure it would be $3.75, or less than a half hour work per shift.
I'm the crotchety old man on this one. I got my C Pass for $28 for 3 months the summer between junior and senior years in high school, and I didn't gripe about it. I also remember that the student passes were not usable after 6 PM, and looking at the new fare proposal, I don't see any limits on them. They have weekend passes!!!! I paid the fare for every Saturday and Sunday I worked during the school year, again without griping about it.
If you are working, you incur costs. If you somehow don't want to deal with the costs, that's on you. This reminds me of people who gripe about the graduated income tax. Yes, you are making that much more than before, and the money you make over x is taxed 3% higher. Do you really not want the 60% of the wages that are not taken for taxes in spite of the 40% that are taken for taxes?
On the other hand, if they get this pass, I won't be crying about it.
(I edited the subject- poor grammar from me)
My apologies, you are correct
By DTP
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 11:41am
My apologies, you are correct. I worded that poorly, but the $2.33/day still holds true. Counting only M-F it becomes $3.27 per day.
Financial math
By Kaz
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 11:40am
Nobody should be working 30 day months, let alone a youth employee.
At 20 workdays, that's $3.50/day...which isn't really much of a discount over a $4 round-trip cost on the subway/buses. The monthly pass is much more of a convenience than it is a discount program. Also, if you're working at $8/hr (minimum wage), then that's pretty much a half-hour of your work day or 6% of your GROSS (if you're even allowed to work an 8-hour shift which likely puts you in range of benefits...so 6% is the low-end of the scale) lost just to get to and from work alone.
Yes, if you only ever take
By DTP
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 2:59pm
Yes, if you only ever take the T to work, it is less than a $1/day discount.
But that's still a discount. That's still $10/month you're saving.
And the savings add up if you occasionally use the T for other things. Say you go out to dinner downtown after work. Say you come into the city on the weekends. Each of those additional trips has no additional cost.
No F'n way
By anon
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 10:17am
"The coalition is calling for a $10-a-month MBTA youth pass, “which would be available to young people ages 12 to 21, valid for use year-round without time or day restrictions,” according to a coalition statement."
21? If you can't afford a T pass at age 18 you're a loooza.
And you are ...
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 3:03pm
If you have to make statements like this to feel all tingly, you are a loooza.
Not the way to do it.
By DEMO
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 12:01pm
I do not agree with the (activist) adults in this situation
I have been and remain a longtime supporter of youth led advocacy, but the adults should not have allowed youth to be arrested for this.
However small the offense may turn out to be, it is not okay.
Yes affordable youth passes are important.
Not as important, however as a clear record for those youth involved.
It's kind of ironic that
By DTP
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 3:33pm
It's kind of ironic that these people are complaining about not being able to afford something, so in response they go out and get a criminal record, which will only hurt their ability to get a job!
Criminal Record?
By SwirlyGrrl
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 4:23pm
I mean, I know the first amendment has been nullified by a private-public consortium and the prison industrial complex loves to take in a much larger chunk of our population than anywhere else and all ... but I don't think this is a criminal offense.
What were you
By roadman
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 4:40pm
arrested for kid?
Trespassing.
And they all moved away from me on the bench
with apologies to Arlo Guthrie
And
By Scratchie
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 4:43pm
... creating a nuisance.
Public transit as regulated public utility (not public good)
By issacg
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 4:11pm
With respect to the T's miserable finances, did anyone else see this interesting article from CityLab (f/k/a Atlantic Cities)?
Privatization, no...
By Kaz
Tue, 06/10/2014 - 6:59pm
Do you know how hard it is to figure out the cost/schedule of some of the buses in the UK because there are 20 different websites of varying degrees of quality and information?
No thanks. One crappy MBTA website is fine enough for me.
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