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Transportation update: district has MBTA card surplus and yellow-bus eligibility rules clarified
Summary
Staff presented a snapshot of families who accepted MBTA commuter cards or yellow-bus service; the district has a surplus of roughly 200 MBTA cards under current funding and may expand eligibility after final enrollment numbers are confirmed.
District staff presented a one-page snapshot of transportation choices families made after the committee’s earlier decisions: who accepted MBTA commuter cards, who qualified for yellow‑bus service (living 2 miles or greater), and who declined.
Cards, eligibility and budget Staff said the district is funded for 820 MBTA commuter cards this year and that current uptake stands at about 620, leaving roughly 200 cards available. The high school eligibility threshold for an MBTA card was lowered from 2.0 miles to 1.5 miles after an initial round of distribution and because the district had a surplus; staff said they may expand eligibility further once final enrollment settles after the start of school.
Yellow-bus criteria and outstanding cases The district applied yellow-bus eligibility for students living two miles or more from assigned schools. Staff noted some pending cases: new enrollments and families who had not yet responded were excluded from the snapshot. Staff said they will re-run counts after the first weeks of school and consider whether to allocate unused MBTA cards to families with after‑school programs or other transportation needs.
Budgetary position and next steps Staff said the current card counts are within the funded budget and that district administrators will revisit the distribution after enrollment stabilizes in the opening weeks. Committee members asked whether cards could be used for after‑school programs and co‑ops; staff said they would consider putting unused cards to those uses where appropriate.
