Monday, May 02, 2011

Report from SEPTA's Youth Advisory Council

from the inbox:

SEPTA’s Youth Advisory Council (YAC) delivered a comprehensive report on the needs of Philadelphia’s young riders to the SEPTA Board at its April plenary meeting. The report, entitled A Philadelphia Youth Rider Agenda, was the product of a 9-month process which consisted of surveying 800 college and high school students and conducting two
public forums. Respondents were asked for information on their ridership habits, factors which influence their usage of SEPTA, and whether potential service improvements would entice them to ride the system more frequently.

Based on respondents’ ranking of priority issues, the report made five Core Recommendations for increasing youth ridership. These included offering an expanded selection ofhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif discounted student passes, improving late-night service, increasing the focus on public safety, facilitating greater access to fare instruments at colleges, and extending high school pass privileges for student workers. The report recommended that youth groups and university administrations work with SEPTA leadership to realize implementation of the goals. In the week preceding its public release, the document was endorsed by the Philadelphia Youth
Commission, the official body of youth representation in City government.

The YAC was created by SEPTA in September 2009 to function as its “primary outreach group to riders ages 14 to 22,” and has previously been recognized by the Board for its youth engagement work at local high schools and colleges. In September 2011, the YAC will begin a second service evaluation project focused on studying the needs of youth riders in Philadelphia’s suburban counties. A Philadelphia Youth Rider Agenda is available for download in PDF format on the YAC’s official webpage at www.septa.org/partners/yac.

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