Hundreds of high school students will take to the streets Downtown Wednesday to rally for the continuation of a free transit pass program that they say is endangered.
At 2:30, students will rally at San Diego High School before marching together with parents down through Park Boulevard to the Metropolitan Transit System building for a press conference.
The Youth Opportunity Pass program was created three years ago to help the city’s youth with their limited access to jobs, after-school activities and connections to other communities.
The funding has been significantly reduced since its inception, spokeswoman Emily Serafy Cox of Mid-City Community Advocacy Network said in a written release, and the future of the program is in jeopardy.
"The transit pass provided for me by my school is critical to my success,” Thong Hoang, a 17-year-old Hoover High School student, said. “I want to make sure the program doesn't die and that other students can have access to transit.”
Once the students and parents reach the MTS building downtown, they will present a poster signed by all rally attendees with those demands to officials. MTS officials will also be invited up to speak and respond.
The rally is organized by the Mid-City CAN Improving Transportation in City Heights Momentum Team of Mid-City CAN. Residents formed the group in 2011 following their increased frustration with poor public transit options in San Diego.
