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The Maryland Curiosity Bureau

Why Don’t Baltimore City Schools Have School Buses?

An MTA CityLink Navy bus pulls up on Eastern Avenue. Students from Cristo Rey Jesuit High School ride this line to & from school. (photo credit Aaron Henkin / WYPR
An MTA CityLink Navy bus pulls up on Eastern Avenue. Students from Cristo Rey Jesuit High School ride this line to & from school. (photo credit Aaron Henkin / WYPR

Ask MTA administrators and transit activists, and you’ll get the same answer: No idea. It’s just been that way forever. This episode, we find a fifty-year-old archival newspaper article that reveals some clues, and we hear from present-day student commuters about how well the system is working out for them today.

Isabelle takes the CityLink Navy bus to & from school daily. The ride can range from 15 minutes to 2 hours. (Photo credit Aaron Henkin / WYPR)
Isabelle takes the CityLink Navy bus to & from school daily. The ride can range from 15 minutes to 2 hours. (Photo credit Aaron Henkin / WYPR)

This episode, we hear from:

MDOT MTA Administrator Holly Arnold

Student bus commuters Isabelle, Imani, and Na’im

Ruth Farfel and Kwane Wyatt of The Fund for Educational Excellence

Aaron creates and produces original radio programs and podcasts for WYPR. His current project is The Maryland Curiosity Bureau. Aaron's neighborhood documentary series, Out of the Blocks, earned the 2018 national Edward R Murrow Award. His past work includes the long-running weekly cultural program, The Signal, and the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings series, Tapestry of the Times. Aaron's stories have aired nationally on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered.