by Ardhys De Leon, staff reporter

Students facing public transportation problems and parents highly unsatisfied can all be traced back to one cause; metrocards weren’t given out on the first day of school.

“Every time I have to take the bus home, I ask the bus drivers for rides because I don’t have money for the fare. Without the MetroCard I can’t guarantee that I will be getting to and from school every day,” junior Marla Rivera said.

On the first day MetroCards, administration informed some students that they will not be given out until the second week of school.

“It’s too chaotic and it’s impossible [to give them out on the first day] because they have to be entered and sequenced,” school aid Ms. Russo said.

This situation left parents upset because they had to pay for their student’s bus transportation or else their child might not be able to get to school.

“It affects me because I need to give him money for two rides and the more days he waits the more money I have to give him. In the morning when he’s in a rush he gets frustrated finding spare change,” the parent of a junior student said.

Bus drivers are not allowed to let students on the bus if they do not have their student MetroCards, which explains why some students have been getting kicked off the bus.

“If you don’t have a MetroCard, you have to pay,” a Queens MTA bus driver said.

In other words, WJPS students are not going to be allowed on the bus, even if it isn’t their fault that the school did not provide them with their MetroCards. Although some drivers allowed students on the bus, not all bus drivers did this because it’s against regulations.

“I wasn’t allowed on the bus twice because I didn’t have my metrocard. It took me an hour to get home,” junior Alexsandra Borkowski said.

This event  had left students who didn’t have the fair to give the usual, but true excuse, “My school has not given me my MetroCard yet.”

Student metrocards were successfully handed out in the course of two days to the students.
“Everyone who got one and everyone who chose to have one [got their metrocards],” Ms. Russo said.

In the event that a student loses or gets their metrocard stolen, they must contact Ms. Russo and report it. This will not only speed up the process in which the student will receive their new metrocard, but it will also deactivate the old one. This is done so that no one can use it and the school does not lose money.

  “It’s mandatory to deactivate them [and] if I have them in supply I’ll give them [to the student] in a few days,” Ms. Russo said.