Authorizing the Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities to hold hearings examining the status of transit mobility and access for Philadelphia's students and the expansion of the SEPTA Student Fare Program.

Authorizing the Committee on Transportation and Public Utilities to hold hearings examining the status of transit mobility and access for Philadelphia’s students and the expansion of the SEPTA Student Fare Program. WHEREAS, With almost 200,000 students enrolled in the School District of Philadelphia (SDP), the City of Philadelphia has one of the largest school districts in the United States; and WHEREAS, Philadelphia offers a wide range of Out-of-School Time (OST) programs and initiatives to support students after school hours, including 90 programs run by Philadelphia Parks and Recreation; and the Literacy Enrichment Afterschool Program (LEAP), a free, drop-in, after school program offered at 54 Library locations across the City. Furthermore, many older students hold jobs, and do community service activities, outside the home and often outside their own neighborhood or the neighborhood of their schools; and WHEREAS, A growing body of research into the critical development phase of adolescence, roughly defined as young people aged 12-25, identifies that this period requires support and opportunity for exploration and identity formation, which necessarily includes the ability to move throughout the City safely; and WHEREAS, As currently allowable under PA State Code 1949 on Pupil Transportation, school districts may provide free transportation to students who live over 1.5 miles away from or school, or if they would need to walk on what PennDOT deems as a hazard route. Within …