A few days after New Year’s, I had to go to San Jose and pass by the Oakland Coliseum on BART. On the train, I saw a fight. Two people who were arguing started fighting and the train continued moving. One of the two was injured very seriously since the other man had kicked him in the face when he was upset. After that, the man who hit the other man took the other man’s bag and shoes and he got off at the next stop as if nothing had happened. I have seen this behavior in people who used strong drugs, but this person didn’t appear to be on drugs.
Traveling on BART can be scary because something like this always happens. There are always people getting high on drugs. Sometimes the police are there at the stations and there is always more security at the Civic Center.
The bad thing is that if you don’t have money, you can’t ride BART. It is common to see people jump over the pay gates when they don’t see police.
One day I woke up late for school, so I had to use BART, but I didn’t have the money to pay. I jumped. This happened around 8:30 am at Balboa station on my way to Mission High. There were a lot of people on the platform waiting for the train.
The police arrived and the officer asked me if I paid. I said no because I didn’t have the money. He told me I needed to leave the station and if I didn’t leave, I would get a ticket. At that moment I felt bad and angry because I would have to arrive late to school.
The bad part is when you come late, you need to go Room 200 to get a pass and when you are late three times, you get detention after school.
This situation is unfair for students because students should not have to pay for transportation when coming to school.
A possible solution to this problem is for Mission High Students to apply for a Youth Clipper Card and you can get a 50% discount if you are 5-18 years old. To apply you have to go in person and take with you a student identification card with date of birth or Medical benefit card with date of birth.
I think applying for a youth card is a good solution for all young people because a 50% discount is helpful.
I think there should be a special card for students with 70% off, because for some students 50% is still too high of a price. These cards should only work during the school hours. I think that the state should help students in this sense.
An even better option would be the school providing free transportation cards for students.
My conclusion is that there should be more support in transportation for students, since some live far away and need reliable transportation between home and school.
