WRDSB trustees looking into free bus passes for students

At Monday's public school board meeting, an examination into free bus passes for secondary students was at the forefront.

The main reasoning brought forward by delegates was the high cost students face using Grand River Transit services, especially when it comes to families with more than one child. 

“Providing free transportation to secondary school students is one of the best investments we can make in the future health and strength of our community,” said delegate Jean Stacy. 

Stacy called on trustees to explore the feasibility of partnering with the Region of Waterloo and surrounding municipalities to provide the free passes for secondary school students and investigate options for stable funding. 

Elementary aged students are also be considered in the proposal. 

During the meeting, some trustees critiqued the motion, such as Cindy Watson, who cited safety concerns with young students riding on public transit. 

“The issue would be supervision. Who's going to take care of that child when they get on the bus, who's going to make sure that they're safe?”

Other critics included trustee Mike Ramsay, raised issue with existing obligations to The Student Transportation Services of Waterloo Region as well as the cost to implement free passes.

“None of these things are ever free. There's some dollars attached to it and I hope that if we pass this motion that we recognise that it's not free, there is a cost somewhere.” 

Both Rasmay's and Watson's concerns were headed off by Associate Director Graham Shantz.

“We are not looking to make any changes to our regular yellow bus routes that we have in place. This is an investigation that trustees are asking us to do to augment options that families have.” 

Student trustee Vaishnave Raina, a student of Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute, provided her insight into the discussion showing clear support for the motion. 

“As a high school student I go to Cameron Heights and I live 30 minutes away so I use the bus a lot. Those that don't qualify [for regular school bus services] we tend to spend a lot more on just transportation.” 

Trustees voted to move forward with the examination and approved an amendment to include public consultation.