Getting Around Town

You may have noticed that I just can’t seem to let go of certain things. Over the years certain themes resurface with some regularity.

Here’s one: public transit. Way back in 2013 I had a zany idea for a transit-oriented summer camp option.

Just had a brilliant, brilliant idea. CA and hocogov need to partner on a camp/recreational course for kids where all activities involve learning how to use Howard County Transit to get to the activity site. You want to change attitudes about public Transit? Kid + fun + knowledgeable, adequate supervision.

I returned to this concept in a post entitled “The People on the Bus” in June of 2023 when I learned that the RTA was making presentations in HoCo high schools to help students learn how to ride public transit.

My parents used public transit a lot, I used it some, my children very little, if at all. Yet there are compelling environmental reasons to use public transit instead of individual automobiles. What would we need to do to turn the use of public transit in the other direction?

A recent Facebook post from Glenwood Academy caught my eye.

Image from Glenwood Academy social media

Practicing a mock "Uber drive" - learning how to access various modes of transportation- our scholars practiced scheduling the ride and meeting the "driver"

Glenwood Academy is a nonpublic special education facility that works with students who have language-based learning differences. (I wrote about them last Spring.) Learning how to independently navigate the multiple steps involved in using a ride-sharing service is a valuable life skill. No, it’s not taking public transit but it is a hands-on educational experience that will give students more autonomy. I like that.

Truth in advertising: Glenwood Academy is no longer in Glenwood. They moved to Eldersburg during the summer of 2024 because they needed a facility with more space. Do students from Howard County still attend Glenwood? Yes, they do. Which means that, as far as I am concerned, Glenwood Academy is still a local story for the purposes of this blog.

I still think that public transit is important and that it’s a good investment to teach kids how to use it. They should feel confident that they can get around town safely and successfully. It can (and should) become a part of how they experience our community.

It’s also true that ride-sharing services have become an accepted mode of travel and it’s good to know how to use them, too. Embedded in a simulation like the one at Glenwood Academy are numerous skills that these students are working on daily in an “academic” sense. Truthfully, something like this could be equally valuable in a public school setting, if it were possible to dedicate the time to make it happen.

Autonomy. Independence. Success. Safety. There’s a lot to be gained in learning how to get around.

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