The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced on Monday, March 13 that it has reached its 2023 ridership goal for the GoPass pilot program four months ahead of schedule, attracting 10 million additional rides by offering free transit to K-12 and community college students.
The GoPass pilot program, launched in August 2021, provides unlimited free rides to students K-12 in participating districts on Metro lines and 13 other county transit agency lines. By March 7, it had given students a whopping 10 million extra rides.
According to LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, in the last 16 months more than 100,000 LAUSD students, mostly from low-income families, used public transportation, took more than 7 million rides to go to school or access museums, or get to an internship or to extra-curricular opportunities.
Metro reported that students from Santa Monica College and Long Beach schools were also heavy users of the GoPass program.
“One important way to ensure equity for our students and their families is to help provide transportation for traveling to and from school,” Jill Baker, superintendent of Long Beach Unified School District, said in a statement.
“The success of GoPass shows the need for public transit for K-12 and community college students, and that if we make transit affordable and accessible for them, they will use it,” Ara Najarian, Glendale City Council member and Metro board chair, said in a statement.
GoPasses are available to students at 16 county community colleges and at 90 K-12 district schools, charter networks and private schools. LAUSD is the largest user of the program.
“GoPass is an important part of Metro’s strategy to provide critical support for students and their families while building back ridership post-pandemic,” Stephanie Wiggins, Metro CEO, said in a statement.
“By offering free rides to K-12 and community college students and teaching them how to access the transit system through their schools, we’re building up their familiarity and comfort with public transportation, and creating lifetime transit users in the process.”
For more information about Metro’s GoPass, visit https://bit.ly/3Td7hNa
