Jorge Werthein

education in the U.S.

An Education Basic

Nearly 600,000 students in the New York City area take the bus or subway to school. For years, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has given most of them three free rides per school day. With the transit agency facing severe budget deficits and paring staff and services, it has threatened to eliminate all student passes. Officials say it would save $214 million a year.

The transportation authority’s situation is dire. But when it comes to public education, this is as basic as it gets: young people can’t learn if they can’t get to class. The authority, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Albany need to make that commute as affordable as possible.

For 15 years, the state, the city and the transit agency have each contributed at least $45 million for student transportation. The city is promising its $45 million, but the state cut last year’s contribution to $6 million. That leaves a big gap for the transit agency to fill at a time when there is no money to fill it.

One partial stopgap would be to limit the number of free rides to two per day. The third ride was allowed for an after-school program that often is beneficial but not absolutely essential. A much better answer, and one that would do more to close the authority’s budget gap, is to start charging the drivers who use four toll-free bridges into Manhattan.

Richard Ravitch, now the lieutenant governor, proposed this idea last year as part of a broader plan for new fare increases and fees from everyone who uses the public transit system. Albany was willing to extract money from riders, businesses and taxi passengers but let those drivers off the hook.

One politician who staunchly resisted the new tolls has now reversed course. State Senator Pedro Espada Jr., a Bronx Democrat, announced last week that he favors a $2 dollar-per-car toll for the four bridges, with the money deployed to help save student discounts.

Mr. Espada has had trouble getting people to stand with him, partly because he is being investigated by state and federal officials for campaign violations. Still, the tolls are a sound, fair idea that would also bring more stability to the transit agency’s finances.

In most places, children get a free ride in a big yellow school bus. In New York City, the buses and subways play the role of that yellow bus. The city’s students should be able to keep their free or cut-rate rides.

editorial, The New York Times