Youth Transforming Transit

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Originally appears in the Spring 2020 issue.

By Dan Hendry

In Kingston, Ontario, we have developed a simple but powerful model to transform public transportation, and it starts with training our youth.
We are doing this from two systemic changes: 1) educating high school students on how to ride the bus with “on-bus” orientation, and 2) subsidizing free transit for student riders until the end of their Grade 12 year.
For our youth, these programs have helped develop independence, responsibility, and confidence; removed transportation as a barrier; and enabled students the flexibility to travel to various activities, including off-site learning, volunteering, work, sports and recreation, and extra-curricular activities.
For our schools, increased transit usage contributes to less congestion around school sites and increases opportunities for schools to involve their students in our community, while reducing the cost and environmental impact of field trips.
For our community, increasing ridership on public transit reduces the number of single-occupant vehicles on the road, and helps normalize transit as an efficient, green, and reliable mode of transportation. It has been proven that our program leads to a higher likelihood of young people taking public transit in the future.