Well, here goes.
I am proud to say that I am a youth without an ID.
However, this has turned me into a second class bus rider. I am not an adult, I am a kid, and therefore I need ID in order to even be accepted on the bus sometimes. Mostly, they don't ask, but when they do, and I am forced to admit I do not have it, I get dirty looks, threats, and although I have not yet, it could get me kicked off of the bus. I don't recall this situation very well, but I do believe a teenager was arrested once for not having ID and was given a ticket.
To my horror, this sounds like most forms of large, sensitive areas of discrimination. And we here are not discriminated for being without an ID, we are discriminated for being youth. Why do I say this? Well, are adults forced to carry around ID cards or be kicked off of the bus? And while Senior Citizens are supposed to, who's gonna kick one of them off a bus?
So, simply put, Youth are second class bus riders.
You probably put this in place to avoid fare evasion. First off, why are you only trying to stop Youth from evading fares? Is it part of an assumption that Youth are more likely to evade fares than grownups? Second, maybe to avoid fare evasion, try not raising fares every year, even years that TriMet is doing good and gas is going down. In fact, these fare increases you are pushing are just going to drive the few youth that DO evade fares to need to more, and even more people will start. And so will adults, and even senior citizens.
You may say that school IDs make up for this, as well as the school bus pass program. But what about Summertime? What about those who do not attend major high schools, attend middle school or even are homeschooled, like I. Maybe you could start reaching the program out to them, and consider overall that the cost and the process of getting an ID is complicated from what I hear.
Overall, you seriously need to fix up the system for the youth. We are discriminated, often ignored and there is little we are able to do about it, considering you plan your meetings during the early morning, during school hours and when most youth can finally snag the opportunity to sleep in. All in all, I really needed to get that off of my chest.
P.S. This is directed at the Board of Directors. It being obvious that they probably won't read my blog, this will most likely be my speech for the meeting Wednesday.
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