Free SamTrans service for low-income students now available

SamTrans is offering its youth unlimited pass for qualified students to get free rides on the system for the next six months as part of a pilot program.

The program, designed in partnership with the San Mateo County Office of Education, provides free SamTrans service to low-income students.

All students that are classified as Socioeconomically Disadvantaged (SED) by the California Department of Education are qualified for the new SamTrans Youth Unlimited Pass. SED students include students that are eligible for the Free and Reduced-Price Meal program, students experiencing homelessness, foster-youth, migrant students or students whose parents did not graduate high school.

Approximately 28,000 passes were requested and 20,000 have been distributed to schools with the remainder to be delivered in the near future.

Participating students and parents will receive a survey in March, which will provide SamTrans with information regarding the effectiveness of the program. The overall goals of the program are to reduce transportation costs for low-income families, attract new and more frequent riders and understand the potential operation impacts of providing free fares to a subset of youth riders.

“Everyone deserves a safe and convenient ride to school,” said SamTrans Board Member Charles Stone as one of his final acts as chair. “We at SamTrans are proud to make sure that’s a reality for every child, and we look forward to serving these riders for years to come.”