The head of a national movement that encourages youth to ride the bus is pushing for the community to share their experiences about transit, now that the student pass program is at risk of being cut.
Free bus passes are supplied to 30,000 students from Grades seven to 12 but as part of the spring budget, only those on low income will receive it in September.
Dan Hendry, program director for Get on the Bus, tells Acadia News he was shocked when he heard the plan.
“Nationally, we refer to what’s been happening in Halifax as like one of the best examples in Canada because it’s taken six years to get to this point,” says Hendry.
He said it started with about 1,000 kids and progressively moved up.
“That’s logistics, that’s relationships, that’s normalization of transit, that’s family dependence on it,” adds Hendry.
Hendry adds that a program like this also helps reduce congestion, citing a cost benefit and effectiveness analysis his organization did based out of Kingston, Ontario over a span of eight years.
“It takes the equivalent of 72,000 car trips off the road. That’s 342,000 kilometres,” explains Hendry.
More importantly, he says, it saves thousands of hours of family time and reduces absences.
He is calling for action.
“Write to your premier [and] MLA but [it’s] also a challenge for youth to use their voice,” says Hendry.
Province says when they can do more they will
Education Minister Brendan Maguire says the program is a positive thing and acknowledges that it’s going to have an impact, but tough decisions have to be made.
The province is facing a $1.2 billion deficit and has cut millions of dollars worth of programs and services in the budget tabled February 23.
Maguire tells reporters, according to notes from the budget briefing, 33 per cent of 2,600 students that replied, use the bus program – up from 11 per cent.
“We’re not saying [the program] is a negative thing, but what we need to make sure is that kids who can’t afford a bus pass, families that can’t afford to provide a bus pass for a child, they actually get the bus passes,” says Maguire.
“Once we’re in a position to do more, we’ll do more.”
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