The School Success Transportation Coalition (SSTC) helps make activities and events more accessible for youths and their families across Ithaca City School District (ICSD). ICSD is huge – 150 square miles(!), much bigger than the city in its name and much of it is quite rural. This creates transportation barriers for many families. SSTC has worked with ICSD for over a decade to help everyone who has transportation challenges to be able to participate in important meetings, school plays, sports practices and so much more!
COVID has suspended some of the solutions developed before 2020, but SSTC is working to bring them back. TCAT’s newly announced free bus rides for youth will be a great help; they have always shared free passes with students we identified as in particular need. The Coalition has encouraged activity-based ride-sharing (where the team or group parents aim to help everyone get home), used “group taxis”, offered family transportation via Gadabout for school events, signed high schoolers up for LimeBike Access, and encouraged elementary families to walk or ride bikes to school together (often called Walking or Riding Buses). REDSchoolRides was a group of folks willing to take families to and from meetings and events in their own cars. Virtual meetings have made that far less necessary at this time. The group looks forward to Ithaca’s new bike-sharing initiative later this year.
Different neighborhoods and different aged children benefit from different strategies, so SSTC describes their work as creating a patchwork quilt of transportation solutions!
Check out their website: https://schoolsuccesstc.weebly.com/ or reach out to Carrie Kerr, Coordinator of School Success Transportation Coalition (SSTC) at retirededucatorsdrive@gmail.com or by phone (607) 659-5003 to learn more!
