Students Speak Out on NYC Transit Cuts
New York City high school student leaders and the Straphangers Campaign gathered at City Hall Thursday to condemn Mayor Giuliani's proposed budget plans to cut all funding for free transit school passes. More than 350,000 students at public and private middle and high schools now receive free transit passes during the school year. In his 1995-96 executive budget, the Mayor has proposed cutting all of the city's annual contribution of $128 million to reimburse New York City Transit for the costs of moving school children on city subways and buses. In recent testimony before the City Council, Alan Kiepper, NYC Transit president, said that options for responding to these cuts include charging students and raising fares for all riders. Without free transit passes, a student and her or his family would pay $450 a year to get to school (double that in a two-fare zone). "My classmates travel from all five boroughs," said Sasha Ziman, a senior at Stuyvesant High School. "If there's an end to free transit passes, many of these students will not be able to afford to come to Stuyvesant." "Both my brother and I take the subways to school, so my family would be hard hit if there are no more free transit passes," said Felipe Lee, a A. Philip Randolph High School junior. "Students have enough things deterring them from going to school and hardly need another to add to the list," said City as School student Jeremy Landess. "If transit passes are killed, the city would be the only school district in New York State making students pay to get to school," said Joseph Rappaport, coordinator of the Straphangers Campaign.
