The Youth Pass Pilot Program promises to offer youngsters between the ages of 12 and 19 an opportunity to acquire significant discounts for public transportation in and around the Boston, Chelsea, Malden and Somerville areas.

By Amy Swain

July 1 saw the launch of the Youth Pass Pilot Program in Boston. Members of the Youth Affordabili(T) Coalition gathered at Dudley Station in Roxbury for a ribbon cutting ceremony along with many special guests including Mayor Gary Christenson of Malden, Felix Arroyo, Chief of Health and Human Services in Boston, and Omar Boukili, Advisor to Mayor Joseph Curatone of Somerville, among many others.

The program offers discounted fares on public transportation between Boston, Chelsea, Malden and Somerville. Youths between the ages of twelve and nineteen will be eligible for a $26 month pass or a $7 week pass, passes which usually cost commuters $75 and $19. Those between age nineteen and twenty-one will have access to the pass based on criteria of their involvement with an educational or work program.

The goal is to enhance opportunity to inner city adolescents by providing access to affordable transportation as a means of gaining education and employment. As Gladys Vega, Executive Director of the Chelsea Collaborative stated in her address at the ceremony, “If there is an option to pay for the regular T pass versus your parents putting food on the table, you choose to put food on the table.”

Vega addressed the social issues that face small inner city communities. Without an affordable way to access school and work, positive options are limited within low-income areas, while gang behavior and drug related options are not. Providing adolescents with means to school and work opportunity should prove beneficial to the city as a whole. Somerville’s Mayor Curatone refers to Boston as a region, Advisor Boukili has said, “He feels that if one area is failing, we all feel it.”

The year-long pilot program has an estimated cost of $696,000. After its run, officials will determine the benefits compared to that cost. As of July 1, there are one hundred kids enrolled in the program; the estimated cost is based on two hundred fifty enrollments. The MBTA is ready for larger numbers than that, as they have 1500 spots open for the first year test run. Beyond the amount of people utilizing the program, officials are excited about the next generation seeing the importance of and appreciating public transportation, for the purposes of reducing the city’s carbon footprint as well as congestion.

Attempts to implement this program began eight years ago, making the launch a demonstration of the resilience and dedication of Boston’s youth. Malden Mayor Gary Christenson ended his speech with a similar sentiment, a quote from Steve Jobs: “Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them.”

More information, including applications for the program, can be found at mbta.com by clicking the Fares & Gifts tab, and scrolling down to Reduced Fare Programs.