Every weeknight at 8:15, the last Route 6 bus leaves the stop outside Westfield Mall. For many students at our school, that bus is the only way home from work. The problem is that the stores in the mall stay open until nine, and most teens who work there are scheduled until closing.

I work at a shoe store in the mall. Three nights a week, my shift ends at 9:15, an hour after the last bus has gone. On those nights I have two choices: wait for my mother to finish her own shift and drive across town to get me, or walk two and a half miles home along a road with no sidewalks. Many of my coworkers face the same choice. Some of them have quit jobs they needed because they had no way to get home.

The city should extend Route 6 and two other busy routes until at least 10:30 p.m. on weeknights. This change would help more than students. Nurses, restaurant workers, cleaning crews, and others who work evening shifts are stranded by the same schedule. A bus system is supposed to connect people to their jobs, and right now it stops before many of those jobs do.

Some city council members say the city cannot afford later buses because too few people would ride them. But ridership is low after eight o'clock for an obvious reason: there are almost no buses after eight o'clock. People cannot ride a bus that does not exist. The city could test later service on three routes for six months and count the riders before making a permanent decision. If the buses stay empty, the city can end the test. If they fill up, the council will have its answer.

Getting to work should not depend on whether you have a parent with a car. I am asking the council to vote yes on the six-month trial at its meeting on March 12. Later buses would keep students in their jobs, keep workers off dangerous roads, and keep our city's businesses staffed.

Lisa Phillips is a junior at Westfield High School.