As I sat furiously answering emails from high school students around the city last night, on the phone with a student from Queens I’d never met, and trying to keep up with constant facebook notifications from strangers, I told my mother I thought the MTA’s proposal to cut student MetroCards was a blessing in disguise. I didn’t really mean it, of course, but it is clear to anyone working on this issue that the students of this city are uniting and mobilizing to make their voices heard.
There have been student organized rallies and protests, petition drives and press conferences. And the next phase begins this week: a MetroCard drive, organized by the NYC Student Union.
At the end of this week, first semester student MetroCards will expire. Student representatives from schools around the city will be collecting their classmate’s MetroCards, asking them to write a brief message on their card before handing it in. The message should be about how the MetroCard cut will affect them, or anything they want to say about the MTA’s plan.
In the first week of March, the MTA will hold its public hearing’s on the proposed service cuts. (They have not put up the official announcement yet, but keep checking the website to register). Student Union members will be testifying at as many hearings as possible, and will be bringing thousands of MetroCards as testimony. We will read a few of the messages, then leave the rest as written testimony and as a symbol of the thousands of students who are united behind the need for free transportation to school.
The first step, of course, was to create a facebook group called “NYC STUDENTS! DON’T THROW AWAY YOUR EXPIRED METROCARDS.” The response was tremendous. A few hours after creating the group we had thousands of members. Then the emails started coming, from students wanting to help collect MetroCards. I created a spreadsheet with all the information.
So, amid my anger about these looming cuts and my exhaustion from being up all night organizing, I feel a new kind of hope and energy from seeing my fellow students coming together to take action.
Tell yourself, your kids, and your students: don’t throw away your first semester MetroCard Friday after it expires! And if you’re interested in helping collect metrocards from your school, please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
CAUTION: Do not let this post convince you that enough is being done around this issue. Get involved!
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