TCAT to let youth ride for free

At its March 24 meeting, the TCAT Board of Directors approved the launch of a new program, FreeRyde, that allows anyone who is 17 years old or younger to ride TCAT buses for free. FreeRyde, which goes into effect May 29, was “inspired and supported by local youth advocates and educators,” according to a recent press release.

Under this new program, any youth ages 13 and under will be able to simply step on a TCAT bus and ride for free. Teens between ages 14 and 17, or those older than 17 but still in high school, also get to ride free but will need to obtain a FreeRyde pass, the artwork of which was designed by TCAT graphics artist Jenn Jennings. Teens will swipe this mag-stripe card upon boarding.

The FreeRyde card, which is still in development, allows bus operators to better distinguish local youth from area college students and adults, according to the release. More information is available at tcatbus.com/freeryde.

TCAT sources agree that the two local youth advocates crucial for bringing this project to fruition are Kate Shanks-Booth, the Tompkins County director of youth services, and Ever Stokes, program coordinator of Youth Employment Service (YES) at the Ithaca Youth Bureau. Both approached TCAT Assistant General Manager Matt Yarrow with the idea of allowing teens in youth employment programs to ride for free.

“There’s always been a need for transportation, but it just really, really seemed to be something that kind of came to the surface because of COVID,” Shanks-Booth said. “There’s a meeting called the YERT meeting, which is the Youth Employment Resource Team. And so, in this meeting, they were talking about different things that they were working on. And Ever Stokes … said, ‘It would be really great if the kids who had summer youth employment could ride the bus for free.’”

Stokes explained that “transportation is a huge issue” in Tompkins County due to its makeup of one city — Ithaca — surrounded by a plethora of more rural towns and villages.

“For youth, it’s worse because you don’t have the mobility,” they said. “Most of them don’t have the ability to get themselves around completely independently. And obviously, in helping teens with jobs, that’s a huge factor in where they can work and what opportunities are available to them.”

The idea of breaking down some of those transportation barriers for youth is one that has been floating around their and others’ minds for a while, Stokes said.

“Most youth service providers and employment providers have been working with TCAT for years but more in a Band-Aid way where we’re purchasing passes to help teens that need the help the most,” they said. “But we can’t really afford to give them to everyone, so we can’t actually publicize them as much as we’d like to. So, there’s kind of a vicious cycle with that.”

Stokes attempted to move the idea forward a little over a year ago, approaching Laura Lewis, now acting mayor of the city of Ithaca and a member of the TCAT Board of Directors, to bring up the idea. Unfortunately, progress hit a standstill after that, so Stokes “kept sharing” their idea at every youth service meeting they went to. Soon, their efforts paid off, as it was at that fateful YERT meeting that Shanks-Booth proposed approaching TCAT.

As Yarrow explained, he was on board with the idea immediately. He said that various TCAT staff had been “kicking around the idea of expanding ridership privileges of youth for some time,” but COVID-19 halted efforts to move the idea forward. So, when Stokes and Shanks-Booth approached him, he was eager to get the ball rolling once again.

While Stokes and Shanks-Booth originally made the proposal from the youth employment angle, Yarrow was happy to think bigger.

“I had kind of paid attention [in] years previous to the number of rides that we get from youth 17 and under and knew that it wasn’t a ton of people compared to our total ridership numbers,” he said. “And also, knowing that youth currently pay half fare, I figured, ‘Well, it can’t be all that much revenue that we’re taking in from this particular demographic.’ So, I ran the numbers, and indeed, that was the case. And so, it’s a lot easier to think big when it doesn’t create a massive budget deficit that you then have to fill.”

In addition, a universal, free program for youth helps alleviate the administrative burden on youth organizations and school districts, Yarrow said. And when he made a “heat map” of where youth ridership occurred throughout the county most often, it further showed that the program wouldn’t impact the busiest routes.

“In fact, it may spread ridership around throughout the city of Ithaca and hopefully the county,” he said. “We have the capacity to handle more riders in this demographic. And so, just knowing that we could do a lot of good without major impacts, to me, that’s just a no-brainer. That’s a program that we want to move ahead with.”

Once Yarrow was on board, the TCAT Board of Directors soon followed suit. Program organizers later met with superintendents of school districts throughout the county, who gave a universally positive response. Area leaders who work with youth were also excited, as Stokes explained.

“It’s a huge win because this is something that we see as a challenge all the time,” they said. “It’s not the only challenge, but this is one step. There still are people who live too far from public transportation, but now, we can kind of shift our collective energy towards solving those problems. And I think that we can also shift our energy toward educating young people and parents about the safety of the bus, how to use it, and just helping more children, teens, families feel confident about having people on the buses.”

Shanks-Booth said she’s seen similar feedback in her work.

“It’s not very often that you get … to address a major barrier that can affect everyone,” she said. “We literally did a happy dance in my office when we saw this pass the board because we were so happy. It’s great to feel like you can actually make a difference, and the fact that it was a collective response from the community to a really important need for youth and everyone, to just be able to make a dent in that, it was a good feeling.”

Going forward, Stokes said that the YES program will be distributing much of the FreeRyde passes, but area school districts are also expected to distribute them in the fall. In addition, the Youth Bureau is hoping to establish a “transportation ambassador” position at TCAT over the summer to “have some teens helping to educate their peers and also younger children about how to navigate the bus and how to use the new system,” Stokes said.

Overall, area youth advocates are excited for FreeRyde’s launch at the end of next month. Shanks-Booth said she sees it having a profound impact on county youth and their families.

“I really hope that this is something that the kids, especially those who live in rural areas, who come and have their first work experience are able to sort of have some of that independence, to come and go from work and just really allow them to take ownership of that experience and help them grow and develop,” she said. “We live in a great place that has great service so you don’t need a car; you can get around. And so, I’m really excited to see where that goes.”

To learn more about FreeRyde, visit the previously listed website. More information on TCAT can be found at tcatbus.com.

Jessica Wickham is the managing editor of Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to editorial@vizellamedia.com.