Metro Magazine

SEP-OCT 2012

Magazine serving the bus and rail transit & motorcoach operations since 1904

Issue link: https://metromag.epubxp.com/i/83643

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 14 of 111

metro news Pa. transit teaches kids how to use buses with scavenger hunt Designed as an educational scavenger hunt, St. Clair, Pa.-based Schuylkill Transportation System (STS) recently took children throughout Schuylkill County on a free tour of the community. The idea for the event came from Mike Micko, executive director, STS, during one of the agency's marketing meetings. This was the fourth year STS offered the scavenger hunt. The objective of the event is to get kids familiar with using transportation to connect with their community. Ad- ditionally, while there are several colleges in the area, making it important to have young people learn to use the transit sys- tem for when they become college stu- dent commuters, Micko noted that many children will eventually move out of the area when they grow up and attend a col- lege or university in a larger community where they will have to depend on pub- lic transit to get around. "It gives them an idea of how it oper- ates," he said. "The fi rst year it was a success. Our par- ticipants loved it," Joan Breslin, market- ing and service support coordinator, STS, said. "And we're already looking forward to the fi fth [next year]." Thirty-seven students between the ages of 11 and 15 attended and 16 commu- nity businesses signed on as sponsors, including a pizza shop owner and a lo- cal dairy. Sponsors provided lunch, gift cards and other items for the gift bags all students took home as rewards for an- swering the scavenger hunt questions. In total, local sponsors contributed about $1,300 to the project. "This was the best year we had as far as participants," Breslin said. "We tried to keep it to a maximum of 10 [students] per bus route." Students boarded buses on four dif- ferent fi xed routes and toured area businesses and points of interest, such TYPICAL Q'POD REACTION WARNING: Your Drivers Have Just Two Wishes Remaining Schuylkill Transportation System took children throughout Schuylkill County on a tour de- signed to teach them about public transit. as a shopping mall, the YMCA, a mu- seum and a couple secondary education schools. "The kids were excited," Breslin said. "The YMCA lets the participants try out the basketball [court]. They also learn that they can get to these fun places by using our buses. Here at STS we feel that the younger the students are that get on the buses, the better it is for the whole community." Students are taught how to read a bus schedule, etiquette on a bus, and how to signal a driver to let them know they want to board a bus. In addition, the students learn many facts about the history of and architecture in their community. The students set off on the scavenger hunt in search of answers to about 35 historical and "fun fact" questions about Schuylkill County. An STS employee with an answer key accompanied each student group. STS used a variety of buses from its fl eet, including Gillig low-fl oor and Champion buses and a small Ford ve- hicle, Micko said. STS' fl eet consists of 14 fi xed-route vehicles. Breslin added that the tour showed the students that "every vehicle is not going to be the same, and the driver isn't always going to be the same, either." SEPTEMBER • OCTOBER 2012 mETRO mAGAZINE > 11

Articles in this issue

Archives of this issue

view archives of Metro Magazine - SEP-OCT 2012