TriMet YouthPass fate determined today

Today, Mayor Sam Adams, Portland Public Schools Superintendent Carole Smith and TriMet General Manager Neil McFarlane will meet to determine the fate of Trimet’s YouthPass program, which allows Portland Public Schools students currently enrolled in high school to ride public transportation for free during the school year.

Since the state legislature decided that the program’s major source of funding, Business Energy Tax Credits, would no longer be allowed to finance student transit costs, the future of TriMet’s YouthPass program has been uncertain.

The current funds for YouthPass will last until the end of 2011. A new source of funding must be found before then if YouthPass is to continue through the end of the school year.

“It is an ongoing conversation on what it is going to take to keep YouthPass through the rest of the year,” said Todd Diskin, youth strategies coordinator for the city of Portland. “The other part of it is figuring out how to fund YouthPass for the long term.”

According to Diskin, the Monday meeting will include discussions about the cost of potential solutions and identifying a source for the funds.

“There are many options on the table. It is up to the three of them,” Diskin said. “[We want to] make sure there is no undue burden on the PPS schools. That is where we are at now.”

The loss of YouthPass could adversely affect students who rely upon it to get to school, like Sophomore Bridgette Lang, a student at Jefferson High School.

“I rely heavily on YouthPass all the time,” she said.

To get to school, Lang takes a 30 minute bus ride every morning. She also takes the bus to volleyball practice, and then rides home from there. She also uses her pass to get to the Multnomah Youth Commission meetings downtown and in Gresham. Lang even uses her pass to occasionally visit family out in Forest Grove.

Without the pass, Lang would have to arrange transport with her family, putting additional strain upon them, or pay $1.50 every time she rides the bus.

“I am at Jefferson, and I know at least half the students there take the [city] bus to school in the morning,” Lang said. “And I know Jefferson is the not the only school, several thousand students take the [city] bus to school and the loss of YouthPass would put a lot of difficulty on them and their families.”

Diskin is hopeful that some kind of agreement will be reached at the upcoming meeting. There are many students, along with their families, waiting for a decision on the program so they can decide what to do next.

According to Diskin, the legislature was clear that YouthPass is a good program, but that tax credits are not the way to fund it.

“Tax credits are not the best way to fund programs,” Diskin said. “It is giving someone who has a lot of money a little more to invest in a project. Inevitably, it is good for the kids and the environment, but someone is making money off the state. There is probably a more direct way.”

Currently, a community organizing campaign is underway on the behalf of YouthPass. This campaign includes updates on social media such as Facebook, having letters signed by students and sent to TriMet, email chains and posters around schools that encourage student involvement.

“The Multnomah Youth Commission wants to make sure nobody forgets what this is really about,” Diskin said. “It is about kids, young people and access. We want to make sure people keep this in the front and center. I think everyone agrees that this is true.”