Editor’s note: Wellesley Middle School Social Studies students as part of a Civics Action Projects has this week taken over The Swellesley Report‘s letters-to-the-editor page. The students are well-versed in their topics, have carefully researched all angles, and are ready to present their opinions to the community. Thank you to the WMS Social Studies teachers for organizing this community-based project.
To the editor:
Kids need info about safer transport; be the ones to tell them!
One challenge students face is not having rides to and from places. Oftentimes, parents can not take their kids to and from places, causing them to walk. Some distances are too far and the weather is too varied for walking every day. Walking home has always been promoted as a solution, but the challenge is deeper than that. Having more public services that students are aware of will allow this problem to be fixed.
Our research shows that students are open to having different modes of travel. In the survey that we sent out, 66.7% of respondents stated that they felt safe with public transportation. This is important because the service wasn’t a comfortable one to use, students wouldn’t look into taking it. Also, 57% of respondents stated that they would like more bus stops in Wellesley.
As we looked at all this data we came to a solution—using Catch Connect. Catch Connect is a service run by the MetroWest Regional Transit Authority (MWRTA) that is already in place and takes anyone from door-to-door within Wellesley for the low price of $2. While Catch Connect isn’t really a bus, it still serves the same purpose without the extra walking! Students who already use Catch Connect said that this was a useful tool. It can be accessed through an app, almost like Uber or Lyft.
This service runs from 6:45am to 6:45pm in the Wellesley area. There are rules and regulations that students need to follow for it to be an easy and safe ride. Visit https://www.mwrta.com/catch for more information.
We hope that reading this will help people learn and understand the great potential of Catch Connect. While it is running now, it may not continue to operate if there is no support behind it. This solves many problems for students, and it could help more if it is expanded. Spreading the word will allow students as well as adults to know a possible solution to their transportation challenges.
Alyssa Toussaint
Wellesley Middle School student
