Besides, the activists, part of a group called Youth Way on the MBTA, have their hands full with the troubled behemoth that is the T.
Their involvement with the T began back in 2009, when the group — a coalition of about 100 teens from the Boston-area Youth Organizing Project and the Roxbury Environmental Empowerment project — pushed transportation officials to extend the cutoff time for MBTA student passes to 11 p.m. They argued, quite sensibly, that many kids found it impossible to play sports, get tutoring, or work after school and then get to their last trains and buses by 8 p.m., the old cutoff.
The hours were extended. That was a life-changer for many students, and a huge victory for the group, which also includes the T Riders Union.
“You definitely get the idea that activism works,’’ said Mervin, who will attend Curry College this fall. “You see the power and energy young people have. We’re the ones doing this, and not just adults.’’
And it gave the coalition confidence for its next battle: making the T cheaper for all youths, whether they’re in school or not.
For teenagers in poor neighborhoods, the T is a lifeline. Most of the kids on city trains and buses have obligations, just like adults do: They’re headed to school, or work, or GED classes — toward opportunities that might lift them up and out.
Mervin, who lives with her sister’s family in Cambridge, rides the T to Cambridge Rindge & Latin, to her volleyball games, to violin lessons, and to her meetings in Roxbury — all of the things that have made college possible. In a survey of 2,400 peers, she and the others found that distressingly high numbers of youths miss classes, workdays, or other appointments because they can’t make T fare. In Jamaica Plain tomorrow afternoon, Youth Way will present MBTA General Manager Rich Davey with its report on young riders’ transportation challenges.
Their solution: a Youth Pass, which would cost $10 a month, year-round, to all riders ages 12-21.
