Baltimore Students Have to Adjust to Newly Limited Access to Buses

Yvonne Wenger reports on the most recent responses by a political leader in Baltimore to changes in bus fares affecting students.

Recently "the Maryland Transit Administration and the Baltimore school system reached an agreement that limits the nighttime hours students can ride MTA buses for free," and City Councilman Zeke Cohen is leading the response by hosting a 'bake sale for buses,' according to Wenger.

"The old contract between the MTA and school system allowed students to ride the buses for free from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. with the student access card, S-Pass," adds Wegner, "[a] new agreement between the two cuts the free rides off at 6 p.m."

Meanwhile, the school district and state are caught in a blame game about the responsibility for the students unable to attend after-school function extending beyond 6 p.m.

An article by Luke Broadwater from December 2016 provides an earlier report on the political fallout of the decision to cut the hours of free rides. In December, Councilmember Cohen was also the voice of concern about the new policy.