Mayor Bowser Kicks Off Expanded ‘Kids Ride Free’ Program

Today, Mayor Muriel Bowser, DC education leaders and students kicked off the first day of enrollment in the ‘Kids Ride Free’ program for the 2015 school year by riding on Metrorail from Archives-Navy Memorial to Anacostia.  Under the newly expanded program, public school students and public charter school students can ride the bus, DC Circulator, and Metrorail — to and from school, and for school-related activities.  Private and parochial school students can register to receive the Metrobus pass.

“Kids Ride Free saves families money and gets kids to school safely and on time,” said Mayor Bowser. “Expanding the initiative to include Metrorail will give our young people more public transit options, which is especially important to the 75 percent of District students who attend schools outside of their neighborhoods.  My Administration is committed to creating pathways to the middle class for District residents and we all know that starts with having access to a quality education.”

Originally created by then-Councilmember Bowser’s legislation in 2013, Kids Ride Free is part of the School Transit Subsidy Program.  In her first budget as Mayor, Bowser expanded the program to include rides on metro.  For an average family with two children who ride the metro to school, Kids Ride Free on rail will save them $600 over the course of the school year.

For more information, visit kidsridefree.dc.gov or call DC Department of Transportation at (202) 673-1740.

About the program:

• Students ages 5 to 21 are eligible to enroll.
• A DC One Card is required to receive the free pass.  For more information, visit dconecard.dc.gov, or contact your school.
• Students must register their DC One Cards at dconecard.dc.gov/manage. After registering, students must enroll in the Kids Ride Free programs at dconecard.dc.gov/manage by signing-in with an email address and clicking the eligibility button under the transit subsidy section.
• Starting with the first day of school, the pass will be available within 24 hours of registering for rail, and up to three days for bus.  Students may tap their DC One Cards on the Metrorail fare gate and their pass will be loaded onto their DC One Cards.
• Please note that service is only available at Metrorail stops within the District of Columbia.  If students exit the bus or rail at a location outside of the District, they will be required to pay an exit fare.