Sacramento Regional Transit has approved a 65 percent monthly fare reduction on buses and light rail trains for K-12 students.
Starting Jan. 1, student monthly passes will be cut from $55 to $20. The discount is intended to help boost SacRT's student passenger numbers.
"We've seen through the years that as our fare has increased, our student ridership has declined significantly," says SacRT's Wendy Williams.
The goal, she says, is to reverse that trend and help Sacramento families cope with the financial burden of transportation.
"We're hoping that with this unlimited travel on RT that parents don't have to be that shuttle, don't have to be part of the traffic congestion and it will ultimately reduce greenhouse gas emission," Williams said.
Williams said it's not a permanent price cut yet.
"It's actually a six-month project, a pilot we're looking at doing this for," Williams said. "And then if it works out well and the students are using it, it will likely be made permanent. We'll have to evaluate that down the line."
Williams says the fare reduction is expected to cost the agency about $100,000 in lost revenues. But SacRT is hoping more young people will use mass transit after hearing about the fare reduction which will help compensate for any losses.
Advance sales of the January monthly pass will start Dec. 20.
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