The Travelin' Grampa
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The Travelin’ Grampa Touring the U.S.A. without an automobile Focus on safe, fast, convenient, comfortable, cheap travel, via public transit. Vol. 11, No. 9, September 2018 Photo credit: Sydney Chang, The Daily Californian. AC Transit recently introduced a new 51C bus route to serve the Berkeley campus of the University of California, which also is served by its 51A and 51B buses, two of its busiest routes, with more than 19,000 riders daily, linking Berkeley, Oakland, Alameda and intermediate stops, including four BART subway-elevated rail system stations. September is back to school month for public transit When Grampa was a boy, presenters from the local public transit system came to his elementary school once a year, putting on an interesting, entertaining and educational show, emphasizing how to ride enjoyably and safely on its streetcars and buses. He recalls they cited the perils of boys “hitching rides” on the sides of a trolley car, or of roller skating while holding onto one. Decades afterward, public transit systems seemed to largely ignore kids, focusing instead on daily commuters. Lately, however, as the following pages attest, they are paying attention to kids again. Small wonder. Of the 1.6-million Chicago Transit Authority weekday riders, for example, some 135,000, one in 10, are of school-age. About 107,000, ride on buses and 28,000 on “L” (subway elevated) trains. This seems typical. Nationwide, 10% of bus and 4% of rail riders are age 19 or younger, while 7% are students, says an American Public Transportation Association report. 1 . PUBLIC TRANSIT & OUR GRANDKIDS . CTA brings back presentations to school students After a hiatus of several years, the Chicago Transit Authority is again giving school students lessons in traveling safely and enjoyably via public transportation. Last year, it did three elementary schools. This year, it’s doing all Chicago public elementary schools. Using the motto Be Safe on CTA, it’s a 30-minute video and speaker presentation, followed by a Q&A session. Students get an activity book filled with puzzles, quizzes and coloring pages. A large poster for the classroom is given to the teacher. CTA student fare (ages 7 to 20) is 75¢ during school hours. Adult cash fare is $2.25 for bus and $2.50 for an “L” ride. Transfers during school hours 15¢ vs. the usual 25¢. Kids up to age 7 ride free at all times when with a fare paying adult. Gold Coast Transit, Oxnard, Calif., also does such school visits. L. A. Metro prefers students visit it on a field trip Some transit systems prefer students come to them, rather than they go into schools preaching transit use and safety. Typical is L.A. Metro’s student field trip program for Los Angeles County students in grades 1 to 12. It welcomes groups of up to 40 students, plus four faculty and chaperones, trips on Metro bus and/or rail lines to/from any of 21 destinations. Prior to the trip, participants get a “course” in public transit, etc. Metro says it provides “appropriate fare media.” Translation: free rides to/from. Kansas students ride free school days & summertime Parents in school districts where public transit provides students free rides, instead of the district maintaining its own big fleet of yellow school buses, are increasingly pressuring authorities to provide free rides to students during holidays, weekends and summer vacation time. Among latest to offer free rides to students during school days and summertime is Topeka Metro. While Topeka Unified School District arranged for free bus passes for middle and high school students for the 2018-19 school year, Topeka Metro offered summertime (May 14 – Aug. 15) rides to youths ages 18 and under. The transit system has done so since 2013. Past fiscal year, it provided 42,728 such rides. Topeka Metro provides free rides to visit grandparents “Topeka Metro supports our schools, and believes this is what we should be offering to our community – fully integrating our community with public bus service,” says Susan Duffy, general manager. As for the transit system’s Kids Ride Free initiative, she adds: “This provides a safe, reliable way for kids in our community to get to where they need to go during the summer months while saving money. They can ride the bus to pools, the mall, meet their friends or visit grandparents.” Philly area’s SEPTA has a Youth Advisory Council Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) has a Youth Advisory Council, members of which are riders ages 14 to 22 from high schools and colleges in Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery, Delaware, and Chester counties, its general service area. First formed in 2009, the council “advocates student needs, assists in creating promotions, provides outreach to the region's youth, and educates peers about services and special events,” says SEPTA. CTA gives away $150,000 in rides on first day of school On first day of school, Chicago Transit Authority offers free rides to students and accompanying family member. It’s estimated these 147,000-or-so free rides would cost around $150,000 if riders paid regular fare. Free ride program began Sept. 2011. CTA student fare is 75¢ from 5:30 am to 8:30 pm Mon.-Fri. Adult cash fare $2.25 bus, $2.50 “L” train. Senior $1.10 bus, $1.25 “L” train. 2 . PUBLIC TRANSIT & OUR GRANDKIDS . Photo credit: Simon Greenhill, The Daily Californian; Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, aka AC Transit. UC Berkeley student shows AC Transit bus driver her EasyPass Clipper card (sample at right) that provides students unlimited free AC Transit rides. It’s also a reloadable farecard for BART, Caltrain and San Francisco Muni rides. AC Transit EasyPass gives Berkeley students unlimited free rides University of California - Berkeley is doing away with bus pass stickers on student ID cards. Instead, its 35,000 students will use county bus system AC Transit’s EasyPass Clipper farecard for unlimited free rides on AC Transit buses. Bear Transit, campus bus system, also switched to the EasyPass card. In addition, the card serves as a reloadable “smart” Clipper farecard, accepted by the BART subway- elevated system, Caltrain regional railroad, San Francisco Muni bus and rail system, and 19 other San Francisco Bay area public transportation systems, including ferryboats. Northwestern Polytechnic University and Mills College also now use EasyPass Clipper card. UC Berkeley has used sticker-type bus passes to provide free rides since 1999, paid for by all students as part of their semester student fee. Stickers “posed numerous problems for bus operations, since they could not deactivate the passes or stop people from selling or replicating them,” AC Transit spokesperson Robert Lyles told The Daily Californian, UC Berkeley student-run newspaper. Photo credits: Metropolitan Transportation Commission; Bay Area Rapid Transit; San Francisco State University. Regional Transit Connection Senior Clipper card, BART Youth Clipper, and San Francisco State University Gator Pass. BART & Muni accept Gator Pass as a farecard BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) and Muni (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency) recently began accepting San Francisco State University’s electronic photo ID Gator Pass as a discount/free ride farecard. It now provides a 25% discount on BART rides to and from Daly City BART station, while also offering unlimited Muni bus and rail rides. The card also serves as a: library card, print/copy card, access card and meal plan card. Only good during the school year, not during summertime or winter break. Also, not accepted for rides on San Francisco cable cars, the Caltrain regional railroad, and suburban transit systems such as AC Transit, Golden Gate Transit, and SamTrans. Grampa has a Senior Clipper card, which any senior traveler to the Bay Area should get. It gives better a 50% discount or better on most bus, rail and ferry rides there. 3 . PUBLIC TRANSIT & OUR GRANDKIDS . Students hear they can shape passenger transport’s future Every other year, the American Public Transportation Association holds an event where 50 high school juniors and seniors learn about the importance of public transport and career opportunities it offers. Latest one was last year in Washington DC, where APTA is HQed. Student participants learned what the public transit industry is today, what it could become in the future, and roles they could play in helping shape the industry of tomorrow. In our nation’s capital, the noun “summit” conjures up an image of presidents and premiers at a highest-level gathering. Thus, APTA chose Youth Summit as the title for this annual event. Students learn about: public transport’s economic and environmental benefits, how it helps communities prosper, the impact on it of local, state and federal policies, and the many likely career opportunities. Students toured Capitol Hill, U.S. Dept. of Transportation offices, and local bus and rail system control centers. Industry managers and experts described various career tracks, suiting a wide range of individual interests. For more: https://youtu.be/CujuD9VoyCQ Photo credit: American Public Transportation Association. High school juniors and seniors at APTA June 2017 annual Youth Summit pose with Doran Barnes, APTA chairman. Transit systems hold annual Career Day for students In the next several years, more than half the public transit industry workers is likely to retire. So, the American Public Transportation Association has launched a National Public Transportation Career Day, aimed primarily at – not college students – but those in grades K thru 12. In response, a number of transit systems held a Career Day this past May 17. Some gave students tours of their vehicles and facilities. Others went to schools, providing interactive demonstrations. APTA hopes to encourage every USA transit system into holding such an annual event.