London is one of the few larger cities in Ontario without a discounted transit rate for high school students. Many high school teens as well as some city councillors are looking to make a change.
“I don’t see any reason why we don’t have them. They say the money will have to come from somewhere but that’s why we’ve been collecting students together to get this done.” explains Moeez Tahir, a grade 12 student at Oakridge Secondary. “For students that go to schools that don’t provide school busing, you’re kind of left in a tough spot.”
But the fight for bus passes doesn’t just stop a simple discounted rate for students.
“What I think would be good is if we look to the school boards and say ‘Why don’t you look to LTC to provide busing for all of your students,'” says Ward 6 councillor Phil Squire. “I’ve been pushing for this since I was elected so I’m very keen on this.”
But if LTC takes over busing and all high school students can ride the city bus at any time, one may believe this would raise safety concerns for those students using the bus at later hours.
“I don’t think safety would be a concern, once you get into those grade nine and ten years you start to develop more responsibility.” says Tahir “Plus the bus passes would really only be used for school and school events during school hours.”
Currently the idea of better busing for high schoolers is up in the air and nothing is going to get done until further conversation continues between both school boards and London Transit.
