The Difficulty of Teaching Teens To Ride the Bus

From the 21st Century Dad blog we learn the lessons on how truly difficult it is to entice teens to use transit (Teaching Teens How to Use Public Transit, May 12). 21st Century Dad tells us that the promise of autonomy didn't exactly close the sale when trying to talk his teen into taking the bus. But sticking it to the oil companies seemed to resonate a bit.

21st Century Dad's teen "hated" the bus. The lad seemed a bit challenged at understanding things because on one trip he missed his bus twice. Hmmm... But rather than blame the teen, I'd surmise that the barriers to getting teens to ride the bus and use the system properly aren't all that different than for adults. We need easy-to-understand information in lots of places and some how-to guides so people feel comfortable with trying transit. We did a study of teens and riding the bus in Arlington in 2006 that says as much. As a result we worked with the Teen Unit at our Parks Department and Arlington County Public Schools to help us work with teens to develop our iRide - teen transit initiative. Its a start.

21st Century Dad's experience just points out that we in the industry still have some work to do.

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Chris Hamilton is the Commuter Services Chief for Arlington County, manager of CommuterPageBlog and a Metro/biking commuter from Rosemont in Alexandria.

Comments

[mattotoole]

During my high school years in Australia we all took public trains and buses to school. There was no such thing as a "school bus." Since public transit was free for school kids we took it everywhere else too. We had independence and self-sufficiency most American teens can only dream of.

Most American bus systems are not user-friendly. Because it would take away valuable advertising space, schedules and route maps are rarely posted at bus stops. Often the only way to find out how to get where you're going is to ask a surly and impatient bus driver. This is enough to put anyone off, let alone an anxious teenager.

[Elliott - 21st Century Dad]

You're right, adults have difficulty too. In today's instant gratification world, deciphering bus timetables and maps take a little more effort than most people are willing to put forth.

There's also a social stigma. Many people believe only poor people ride the bus. People ride the bus because it's an affordable option. $40 a month for a bus pass sure beats $600/month for a car payment, insurance, gas, and your monthly share of maintenance costs.