D.C. students might lose the ability to ride Metro whenever they want on the city’s dime, as the District rolls out new high-tech student transit passes this year. City officials are considering using the new SmarTrip-style cards to prevent students from using their subsidized bus and rail passes at night and on weekends, curbing use as a way to save money and cut down on youth crime.
| Angels looking over Metro Guardian |
| Angels are trying to help Metro reduce the surge of crime on the transit system. |
| The red beret-wearing volunteer safety patrols have worked on and off the Metro system for years, but member Dion “Dino” King says the group stepped up its patrols in the transit system after a Jan. 2 attack in L’Enfant Plaza gained widespread attention. |
| Now the 15-member local crew is patrolling the system about two to three times per week after schools let out and at night, King said. |
| On Feb. 4, for example, the angels patrolled near the Verizon Center as crowds left a Washington Wizards game and then protected a woman at the Anacostia Station while she waited for a taxi, even as a group of teens threatened them. |
| “We welcome them,” said Metro Police Deputy Chief Ronald Pavlik. “It’s always good to have extra eyes and ears on the system.” |
| The department has said it gets spread thin, as it has 420 sworn police positions and 106 security special police to cover the transit system’s 1,500 square miles. – Kytja Weir |
The transit agency also could inactivate a student’s card for a period of time if a kid was suspended from school or misbehaved on Metro, said D.C. Councilman Tommy Wells.
“This can be a tool to help,” said Wells, who also serves on Metro’s board of directors.
Metro functions as the D.C. Public Schools’ bus. About 16,000 D.C. students receive subsidized rides on Metro during the school year, District Department of Transportation spokesman John Lisle said.
For $30, students can buy unlimited monthly bus and rail passes. Or they can opt for a pack of 10 rail trips for $9.50 or a pack of 10 bus trips for $7.50. D.C. foots about half the bill from Metro, Lisle said. In the transit agency’s next budget, the program is slated to cost D.C. $5 million.
Yet Metro has been grappling with juvenile shenanigans. Sometimes it’s just rowdy teens after school. Sometimes it’s more serious, with videotaped assaults and robberies of smartphones.
The transit agency arrested 507 juveniles in 2010, one-fourth of all arrests and a 9 percent increase over 2009, according to Metro. The agency has been redeploying officers to hot spots when schools let out.
“The common thread is it’s the Metro that people are traveling on around the city and doing things they shouldn’t be doing,” said Metro Transit Police Chief Michael Taborn.
The city has been planning on moving its student pass system to a SmarTrip-style card this spring, testing it at School Without Walls starting April 16, Lisle said. The DC OneCards would include students’ names and which schools they attend.
The cards would be capable of allowing Metro to restrict travel after 8 p.m. or on weekends, Lisle said. It would not be an electronic curfew, Wells said, as students could still pay to ride on weekends or at night.
“They’ll have to make a decision if they have to spend their own money,” Wells said.
Lisle said neither city officials nor Metro have decided to use the cards to limit student travel. “It merely becomes a policy option that was not there before,” he said.
