C-TRAN Youth Opportunity Pass

Target Audience: The target audience for this entry was middle school and high school students and families enrolled in partnering school districts in Clark County.

Strategy Objective:To assist low-income students in overcoming their transportation barriers, C-TRAN initially collaborated with the city of Vancouver, Vancouver Public Schools and Evergreen Public Schools to provide free annual bus passes and after school access to local community centers. More school districts were added in subsequent years, and in the past year was opened to any student, regardless of income, in participating districts. The program's implementation was seen as an investment in our community to help build ridership and make more efficient use of already deployed resources by filling empty seats.

Situation Challenge: Approximately half of all students who attend public schools within the Vancouver urban growth boundary qualify for the federal free and reduced lunch program. Because of these circumstances, many students have a difficult time securing funds that allow them access to public transit and often find themselves without the ability to get to after school jobs or activities.

Results Impact: Since the program's inception in 2015, the program has expanded to include a total of five school districts plus the Washington State School for the Blind and the Washington School for the Deaf. Through the removal of income restrictions, pass distribution has increased from 1,500 annually to over 15,000 in 2018 and is now available to any student currently enrolled at a school within a partnering district. While many transit agencies across the United States are seeing a decline in ridership, C-TRAN has seen a four percent increase in its overall ridership this year that is, in part, the result of the successful expansion of the Youth Opportunity Pass program and the improved transit access it provides our community's youth.

Why Submit: The Youth Opportunity Pass is a shining example of what can be achieved when partners collaborate to solve a shared concern. The program has helped a population of young citizens gain access to the transit services they need and, at the same time, introduced the benefits of public transit to others who may never have used it. The Youth Opportunity Pass is increasing today's ridership by creating new transit riders and lifelong supporters of public transportation.