(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Kathy Matheson on August 15.)
PHILADELPHIA — More than 36,000 middle and high school students in the city will be able to take public transit to school for free when classes begin next month, officials said Tuesday.
The $20 million initiative means Philadelphia will no longer be the only district in Pennsylvania that requires some students to pay their own way to school, state Sen. Vincent Fumo said.
“It was grossly unfair and we think we’ve rectified that,” said Fumo, D-Phila., at a news conference at school district headquarters. “Every child should be able to get to school without having to pay for it.”
Under the plan announced by Fumo and Gov. Ed Rendell, the state will provide free weekly transit passes for city students in grades 7-12 who live more than 1.5 miles from school. Eligible students include those attending public, charter and private schools, as well as Catholic schools, officials said.
“You can’t learn unless you get to school. It’s that simple,” said James Nevels, chairman of the School Reform Commission, which oversees the district.
The passes will cost the state about $17 million a year, and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority will pay the school district more than $3 million annually to administer the program, officials said.
The money will come from a new law that allots about $946 million a year over the next decade for highways, bridges and mass-transit systems. It will be funded by proposed new tolls on Interstate 80 and toll increases on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
About 32,000 Philadelphia students get to school each day using SEPTA, the state’s largest mass-transit agency. Approximately 14,000 receive free tokens while the rest pay a subsidized rate of $1 each way, officials said. Elementary school students have traditional school bus service.
It’s unclear how a system evolved in which Philadelphia students were required to pay for school transportation while their peers across the state were not, Fumo spokesman Ken Snyder said.
But starting next month, about 36,000 city students will receive free transit passes. Students who live closer than 1.5 miles to their schools can ride SEPTA at a reduced rate.
Saeda Washington, 17, said she has been paying a subsidized rate to ride SEPTA buses to her high school in the city’s Kensington section. Now, she’ll be saving that money during her senior year, which starts Sept. 10.
Washington and student Marcella Gibbs, also 17, attended the news conference and held signs thanking officials.
“We really appreciate it,” Washington said.
City officials have been concerned about students taking SEPTA since the agency announced it would abolish 60-cent transfers between routes, forcing riders to pay a second fare. The city has sued to block the elimination of transfers, saying it would disproportionately affect students and the poor.
The city will continue with the suit because there are still about 50,000 adult riders who would suffer financially without the transfers, City Solicitor Romulo Diaz Jr. said Tuesday.
SEPTA is awaiting a judge’s ruling on the issue, agency spokesman Richard Maloney said.