As of June 7, students in the Washoe County School District will be able to ride RTC buses for free with their student IDs and the Token Transit App.
If a student does not have a phone to access the app, then RTC will provide a paper pass for the student.
This initiative is supposed to help alleviate stress in the community caused by issues like student absenteeism, which was a major factor with this partnership.
“We want to take a load off of working families, and we see this as less of an expense for our communities and also as creating a lot of autonomy for our kids," said Alexis Hill, chair of the County Commission and Washoe RTC. "And it will reduce chronic absenteeism, which is a major focus of our school district.”
Beth Smith, the president of the Washoe County School Board, tells us, “We expect this program to help with chronic absenteeism because, think about a walk when the weather is not so great outside, and imagine if you can take a bus to the bus stop that is conveniently located near your house. We know that we cannot educate kids that are not in our schools, and by providing more bus rides in partnership with the RTC, we know we can do that.”
There was also the concern for how far a student has to walk because of zoning issues.
"Yes, actually, in some areas we have different levels of walk zones," said Smith. "So our elementary school students have a one mile walk zone, middle school is two miles, and high school is three miles away, and so for some students being able to ride a bus is going to take off a lot of time for their walking transit in the morning."
It's also an opportunity for students who have jobs to get to their destinations without having to worry about money for transportation.
If you are nervous about your child riding the bus, you should go over expectations with them.
RTC says the system is safe to use, but isn’t staffed like a school bus, and some students may need a neighbor or older sibling to ride with them, especially if they are six or younger.
