Where's the bus? That's a question a lot of students ask every day at Northwestern High School. After changes to their bus line and many experiences with poor service, students and the Northwestern administration are taking action.

Because of a lack of funding, the 46 line buses that Northwestern students have become accustomed to riding no longer exist. This bus line exclusively served students and took them straight to school. Many people were asking 'how can this be?'

Northwestern High School's Law Academy is finding a way to get this message out there.

"The advocacy program is working to benefit our school and maybe our ideas can help improve the bus service," said Danielle Martin, a student in law program. The academy, joining with the Community Law in Action program has completed research including a survey of hundreds of NWHS students about their experiences on the bus.

They found that students are not happy. Over 80% of students surveyed said that they regularly are forced to ride a bus that is overcrowded.

The MTA service has been making a lot of things difficult for a lot of students in Northwest Baltimore. Another problem is that Northwestern students are continuing to be late to school every day because buses have been passing them by as they wait at bus stops.

"I was passed by on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday last week," commented NWHS Junior Dominic Smith. Students are left with the choice to wait and hope for another bus or miss school altogether when they aren't picked up at their stop.

On October 27, 2003 Dr. Scofield met with Rachel Gingrewish, assistant to the Maryland Secretary of Transportation and Oscar Job, special assistant to the CEO of Baltimore Public School System to discuss issues on how the MTA changes are impacting our students.

Dr. Scofield emphasized the same concerns that the Law Academy has been voicing and was particularly agitated about how the MTA went about informing Northwestern High School about the discontinuation of the 46 line.

"The memo was written on August 22, 2003 but we didn't get it until Sept 3 late in the school day," said Scofield.

The MTA's action forced Dr. Scofield and other affected administrators such as Pimlico Middle School Principal Debra Murry to hatch a plan that would ensure students safety and convenience.

When concerns of the students and administration were revealed, MTA was quick to apologize and brainstorm in an effort to improve service. The Public Relations office at MTA was unaware of the specific meeting but has set up a conference call with The Catalyst for next week.