It’s been nearly a year since a Banner investigation revealed just how hard it is for Baltimore children to get to school on time — and the devastating consequences of that decades-old struggle.

City and school system leaders want the state to take responsibility for improving long, unreliable transit rides to school in Baltimore.

But Maryland’s most powerful lawmakers, who will start reviewing next year’s budget in January, remain mum on the issue.

City Council President Zeke Cohen, the only top elected official in the city or state who agreed to an interview about students’ commutes, said city leaders are united in their effort to force the state to accelerate a $1.1 billion plan introduced this June to improve bus transit, called BMORE BUS.

Cohen said he hears just as many complaints from people who say they can’t get to their jobs at the Port of Baltimore because public transportation is so bad.

“It’s one of the worst public transit systems of any similarly sized city in the United States of America,” he said, “and that it is not only a significant deficit for our children, but for adults as well.”

But the governor and the state legislature would have to approve more funding sooner, and they’re facing a $1.4 billion budget gap for 2027.

Gov. Wes Moore, Senate President Bill Ferguson and former House of Delegates Speaker Adrienne A. Jones all declined to comment on what action should be taken to improve students’ commutes.

Ferguson represents Baltimore in the legislature, and Moore lived in Baltimore before becoming governor and campaigned on a pledge to help the city. Jones, from Baltimore County, resigned from her position earlier this month.

Del. Joseline Peña-Melnyk, who was elected speaker of the House in mid-December, did not return a request for comment.

Other major cities have a reliable public transit system that students can use to get to school on time, Jonas Poggi, Mayor Brandon Scott’s press secretary, said in a statement. For decades the state has underinvested in public transit for Baltimore, he said.

“It is still the state’s duty to reverse their historic decisions that have led to where we are today,” he said.

‘Our kids can’t wait 10 years’

In 2015, Gov. Larry Hogan cut plans for the Red Line, a light rail and subway project that would have run trains from Woodlawn in Baltimore County to Bayview in East Baltimore. The line would have provided another important link for students traveling to school, but Maryland forfeited $900 million in federal money that was set aside for the project. And Hogan redirected state money for the Red Line to highway projects in the suburbs and rural counties. While Moore has pledged to revive the Red Line, its future remains murky.

A Banner analysis in February found one-quarter of public buses Baltimore students ride to school are late or never show up. On their trips, students say, they are sexually harassed and witness drug use, shootings and stabbings. Students miss critical instruction time and too often fail their first-period classes.

Officials at the state agency that runs the buses, the Maryland Transit Administration, have said they can do little more to solve the problem because they are limited by federal transit rules and would need significant increases in state funding.

Pressure to improve students’ commutes has been building in recent months.

City school officials for the first time this year acknowledged the need to find a solution but have not taken action. They’ve said adding yellow buses — estimated to cost between $30 million and $50 million more than the school system currently spends on transportation — would be too costly. School officials have said only that they are exploring less expensive options, including working with MTA to improve service.

Both Cohen and the mayor said they will consider alternatives. But the idea of adding yellow buses for middle and high school students doesn’t hold the same appeal, Cohen said, because it won’t benefit as many people.

The Associated Student Congress of Baltimore City, which is the student leadership organization, said they are researching challenges with transit and making it the group’s priority to advocate for change this year.

The Parent and Community Advisory Board, an organization that advises the city school board, is surveying parents about their concerns. They have also met with MTA officials and city schools staff overseeing transportation to understand what’s preventing them from improving service.

“I definitely think it’s something that people are talking about,” said Chartae’ Anderson, the advisory board’s vice chair. Anderson wants officials to talk directly to the community about their biggest issues with transit to ensure that the money is spent on solving the worst problems.

The $1.1 billion BMORE bus plan aims to make buses more reliable and run them more frequently, but it will be a decade before it is complete. The current timetable leaves a generation of city public school students without a reliable means of getting to school.

“Our kids can’t wait 10 years to get to school,” said Cohen. “And people that work either in Baltimore County or on the opposite side of the city, can’t wait 10 years to get to work.”

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.