Students attending New York City public schools receive MetroCards depending on the distance they live from school, as well as their grade level. The MTA provides either half-fare or full-fare MetroCards covering three rides a day. Students living less than half a mile from their school will not receive any MetroCard. New Yorkers rely on the network of subways and buses as their mode of transportation. The MTA takes pride in calling themselves "the yellow school bus" for New York City students. However, most students living in the suburbs do not have to pay for their yellow school bus. The entirety of The Five Boroughs must become accessible to all students, free of charge, regardless of how close they live to their school.

Pupils in the 7th-12th grade who reside between 0.5-1.5 miles away from their school are provided with a half-fare MetroCard. Half-fare passes can only be used on non-express NYCT buses. They are not valid for use on select bus service or subways. On the local bus, students must pay the other half of the fare in exact change, culminating to $20.25 in coins every week. The Office of Pupil Transportation states that half-fare MetroCards are distributed to students who “live close enough to school to walk." This assertion indicates an expectation for students to walk nearly three miles every day to simply go to school, and gives no consideration for extracurricular involvement, extreme weather conditions, or students with disabilities. 

Students who live next door to their school must be provided with a full-fare MetroCard as well. Taking part in extracurricular activities is an important and meaningful element of being a student; it is wrong to expect pupils to pay for transit to and from these activities on their own dime. While it is an official right for pupils to be provided with “An additional two-trip MetroCard when requested for school-approved activities," there are no guidelines defining what constitutes as a "school-approved activity," leaving arbitrary case-by-case judgment to decide when student transportation should be covered. Regardless of this statute, students residing too close to their school to receive a MetroCard are provided with no transit for any activities not "school-approved." Moreover, even students involved in school-related extracurriculars that require an abundance of travel, PSAL athletics, in particular, are left to pay for full transportation to their activities out of pocket. The vast majority of public-schools are inadequately resourced and unable to support this regulation, anyhow. Full access to New York City is restricted to either those who live far enough away from school to receive a full-fare MetroCard or those who can handle the financial burden of transportation. Limiting access to transportation limits access to opportunity. 

Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Carranza have pledged to support New York City students. Students must be supported not only with dedicated teachers and a safe, clean school building but with guaranteed and gratis transportation to school and extracurricular activities as well. Transit access is a foundational element that informs a child’s future just as access to housing or education does. Providing equitable transportation to students is vital to desegregating schools, vital to providing equal opportunity for all, and vital to the well-being of hundreds of thousands of students. The stringent regulations placed on student MetroCards preserve circumstances of racial and socioeconomic inequality, reinforcing the narrative that a child’s zip-code will determine their future. We call upon City, State, education, and transit officials to support New York City's students and provide full-fare MetroCards to all, no matter their grade level or residency distance from their school.