Our family has always supported the Lawrence Transit System. We voted for the tax increase to save the T, as did a majority of Lawrence residents in the recent election. Recently, Lawrence public schools announced that school bus service for students living less than 2.5 miles from school would be eliminated. Several parents in the Prairie Meadows neighborhood with students attending South Junior High began looking at solutions to the problem of transporting our children to school.

One possibility was the T bus. I wrote to the public transit administrator and asked if they could either create or alter a route to transport students on the 27th Street corridor between Louisiana Street and Lawrence Avenue as there are at least 20-25 students who live along this corridor.

I received no response from the administrator. Not only is this disrespectful to the people of Lawrence who support the T, but it is also frustrating to see empty buses or buses with two to three passengers around town when there is a community need to transport students to school. One would think that the T administrators would see this as an opportunity to not only fill one of their usually empty buses but also to serve the community’s needs.

I believe that our city commissioners wanted the citizens of Lawrence to support the tax increase to save the T. I also believe that they should hold the Lawrence Transit System accountable to addressing the needs of our community.